“With the emergence of extended producer responsibility and other potential packaging legislation in the coming years, this is a critical time for our industry to offer a compelling voice,” said Gail Tavill, vice president of sustainable development at ConAgra Foods Inc. and vice president of the newly formed American Institution for Packaging and the Environment, which will be based in East Lansing, Mich.

“We’re committed to providing necessary expertise and insight to ensure sustainable management of packaging throughout its life cycle.”

The 10 founding corporations include five brand owners: Coca-Cola Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co., ConAgra, Procter & Gamble Co. and Kellogg Co. It also includes three major raw material companies -- Dow Chemical Co., DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, and MeadWestvaco Corp. -- and two packaging converters, Sealed Air Corp. and Tetra Pak Inc.

Ameripen will highlight packaging’s improving sustainability profile and the sector’s efforts to reduce packaging waste, according to Joan Pierce, vice president of packaging sustainability at Colgate-Palmolive, who will serve as Ameripen president.

During a discussion at the Plastics Recycling Conference in New Orleans March 2 about extended producer responsibility and whether the government should be involved in efforts to improve recycling and reduce packaging waste, Pierce made it crystal clear that she believes companies can resolve the issue on their own.

“I do not feel legislation is necessary to resolve this issue,” she said. “We certainly do have a problem, but if you have every stakeholder sitting at a table with an open mind, you will get a solution. We have the technology, the desire and we will achieve the results. We don’t need a legislator to tell us what to do.”

The group, founded March 7, will have its first annual meeting June 22. Ameripen membership is open to raw material producers, packaging suppliers, packaging converters, waste haulers, recyclers, packaged goods manufacturers, and distributors and retailers of packaged goods.

Ameripen said that it will take a material-neutral approach and encourage science-based decision-making on sustainable packaging initiatives. It is modeled after two existing groups, Europen in Europe and Incpen in Great Britain.