INTRODUCTION

The environment has received increasing attention over the past five to ten years, driven by mounting evidence of global warming – and of health concerns tied to pollution in China, India and many other developing countries. Growing environmental awareness has clearly been reflected in marketing, as seemingly every multinational company has developed advertising or public relations to highlight its initiatives in this arena. It has also had a major impact in the packaging world, because packaging is often cited as a source of waste – and a potential opportunity to simultaneously cut costs and reduce environmental impact. This opportunity, along with considerable pressure from retailers (most notably Walmart's Sustainable Packaging Scorecard program), has led nearly all suppliers to begin developing more environmentally-friendly packaging systems.