Free voluntary standards for Glass and PET packaging
Par Dominique Simon
Le 01/04/2014
Le 01/04/2014
Quality management at the International centre for bottling
Cetie is currently setting up a number of QSE-themed working groups.
This opening up of Cetie's action deserves some explanation.
L&C put some questions to Dominique Simon (Chair of QSE Cetie working group), who is coordinating the establishment of these groups:
L&C: What has led Cetie to add safety and environmental considerations to its quality remit?
Cetie is a renowned reference for the technical aspects and operational control of quality, but the quality of bottled products placed on the market is now increasingly subject to reference frameworks that go beyond the basic functions of a container. While the food contact of packages and hygiene has long been part of compulsory quality criteria, other aspects of product safety for consumers and environmental issues are gaining importance. Quality managers must thus take into account varied demands concerning - if we take the example of allergens - GMOs and nanoparticles, etc., and ensure compliance with specific reference frameworks. The environmental concerns addressed tend to be concrete, such as package recycling and the ecological footprint of products. These issues are often highly complex and irrational attitudes can sometimes take root in the absence of established and undisputed knowledge. Environmental issues moreover have a truly global dimension for which standardisation and acknowledged reference frameworks can compensate for the absence of harmonised regulations between countries or economic groupings. Cetie's role is precisely one of clarifying - between bottlers and their packaging component suppliers - what action must be taken in practical terms to meet market requirements, on the basis of what has already been set up and according to experience feedback from our members.
L&C: How does Cetie intend to organise this work?
The QSE working group has identified five focus areas and formed a sub-group for each one, with the following objectives:
- WG1 Attestations: Establish harmonised responses to the varied requests made to packaging suppliers and packaging-component suppliers, taking into account any specific requirements in the most common destination countries for bottled products.
- WG 2 Recycling: Collect the relevant information on material recycling processes in order to supplement and centralise the information on good practices for the eco-design of packaging
- WG3 Eco-responsibility: This subject covers the eco-design of packaging, environmental data and their utilisation over the entire value chain. This subject is particularly topical with the ongoing launch of the EU Commission's "Product Environmental Footprint" pilot projects for food products, and the similar initiative already in progress in France - The ADEME-AFNOR Platform - for the display of environmental information on consumer products, resulting from the French "Grenelle de l’Environnement" environmental forum. Cetie's role here would be to establish - specifically for the bottling sector - the methodologies, good practices and database references that emerge from these initiatives and those resulting from the work of industrial branches, such as the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER).
- WG 4 Revision of the Cetie "Quality Guidelines": The 14 Quality Guidelines documents published by Cetie will be reviewed and revised if necessary - several of them date back more than 20 years and only two of them exist in English. It is worth noting that the statistics on the downloading of these documents from our website help us decide on priorities. Consequently, Quality Guidelines No.9 "Control of filling volumes of product prepacked in glass containers" and No. 10 "Safety of prepacked liquid foodstuffs" are the first documents currently subject to revision. They will be followed by Quality Guidelines No. 11 "Inspection on bottling lines", and No.14 "Hygiene control on still wine bottling lines".
- WG 5 QSE Certification: The aim is to identify and help raise awareness of the possibilities of equivalence between the certification reference frameworks in order to avoid multiple audits and simultaneous information requests for the same given general goal in the QSE domain. This group is using the work of the "Global Food Safety Initiative" (GFSI) as its starting basis.
L&C: How is the work of all these sub-groups organised in practice?
The principle is that to make real and rapid progress, there should preferably be small-sized teams dedicated to a specific subject, who can exchange information by e-mail and phone meetings whenever necessary. The new extranet tool for Cetie members will serve as a basis for pooling and developing the working documents. The work of these sub-groups as a whole will be supervised by the "Plenary" QSE group which should meet about three times a year. The five sub-groups have been set up and are now starting their work.
L&C: Who can participate in this work?
As is the case with all Cetie's activities, participation in the working groups is limited to members of Cetie. Membership is open to any company or organisation that is a stakeholder in the bottling sector, which in principle includes the readers of "Liquides et Conditionnements". Anyone who wishes to participate can contact Cetie via the website www.cetie.org or by writing directly to D. Ducruet dducruet@cetie.org to obtain all the necessary information.
Interview of G.Goubin with Dominique Simon Chair of QSE Cetie working group
Published in Liquides & Conditionnement N°370 (April 2014)
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