In the realm of global sustainability challenges, packaging waste stands as a particularly visible and persistent problem. There are hundreds of millions of tonnes of packaging produced annually of which it is estimated that 141 million tonnes are plastics, the environmental consequences are profound. Yet amidst the discussions of material innovation and recycling technology, a crucial element often goes underexplored: the transformative potential of open standardised data.
The Packaging Data Ecosystem: A Fragmented Landscape
Those of us working with data systems understand a fundamental truth: interoperability is essential for complex ecosystems to function efficiently. The packaging value chain represents precisely such a complex ecosystem, spanning raw material suppliers, packaging manufacturers, brand owners, retailers, waste managers, and recyclers across global markets.
Currently, this ecosystem operates with fundamentally incompatible data architectures:
- Taxonomic inconsistency: What one system labels a “bottle” might be categorised as a “container” in another, with no reliable mapping between terminologies
- Structural misalignment: Data hierarchies vary dramatically, with some systems capturing attributes at the material level and others at the component or product level
- Granularity disparities: The level of detail ranges from basic categorisation (e.g., “plastic”) to highly specific chemical compositions
- Proprietary silos: Valuable data remains locked in closed systems, inaccessible to other stakeholders in the value chain
For data practitioners, these challenges will sound familiar. They represent classic problems of data governance, standardisation, and interoperability that plague many sectors – but in packaging, they directly impede environmental progress.
Open 3P: An Open Source Approach to Packaging
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) recently identified Open 3P as “the most comprehensive, context-agnostic packaging data standard currently available in the global landscape.” What makes this standard particularly interesting to the open community is its architectural approach.
Open 3P applies several principles that align with best practices:
- Hierarchical data structure: It models packaging at multiple levels of granularity (base materials → materials → components → complete packages → loads), enabling both detailed composition data and higher-level aggregations
- Consistent metadata: It implements controlled vocabularies and relationship lists that create consistent classification across datasets
- Extensibility: The standard accommodates both required regulatory data and optional fields for more advanced applications
- Material-focused approach: Rather than building around specific regulations or use cases, it focuses on precisely describing the physical reality of packaging materials
- Open governance: The standard is developed through a transparent process with the Standard Custodian Board representing diverse stakeholders
This approach enables what many in the open source and open data community recognise as a powerful pattern: collect once, use many times. By capturing packaging data in a standardised format at its source, it becomes available for multiple downstream applications – from regulatory compliance to life cycle assessment to recycling optimisation.
The Data Integration Challenge
The WBCSD’s assessment highlights a specific challenge familiar to data integration specialists. When examining how different data models handle packaging classification, they found that “SAP refers to Base Material Fractions and aggregates directly into Basic Fraction Groups, [while] Open3P refers to Base Materials, which are combined via a Material Constituents table, to identify the constituent elements of the higher-level Materials.”
This exemplifies a classic data transformation problem, where semantically similar concepts are modelled through different structures. Creating reliable mappings between such systems requires careful ontological work – precisely the kind of foundational effort that Open 3P represents.
Data Standards as Infrastructure for Innovation
For those who work with data, it’s obvious that standardisation doesn’t limit innovation – it enables it. By establishing common foundations, standards create platforms upon which diverse applications can be built. In packaging, standardised data could support:
- Digital product passports that track the composition and history of packaging throughout its lifecycle
- Automated compliance reporting against multiple regulatory frameworks from a single data source
- Digital twins of packaging that enable simulation and optimisation before physical production
- AI-driven design tools that suggest more recyclable alternatives based on material compatibility
- Advanced verification of recycled content claims across complex supply chains
These innovations become possible only when stakeholders can rely on consistent, interoperable data structures – which is precisely what Open 3P aims to provide.
Open Principles in Practice
What’s particularly noteworthy about Open 3P is its alignment with core open standard principles:
- Accessibility: The standard is freely available to all stakeholders regardless of size or resources
- Interoperability: It enables data exchange across different systems and platforms
- Reusability: Once captured in the Open 3P format, packaging data can serve multiple purposes
- Transparency: The development process includes diverse stakeholders and is open to input
These principles reflect a recognition that packaging sustainability is a collective challenge requiring collaborative solutions. By creating common data infrastructure, Open 3P lays the groundwork for systemic change.
From Data Standard to Data Resource
The ultimate vision goes beyond mere standardisation to the creation of a shared resource of reliable, accessible packaging information that can inform decisions throughout the value chain.
Imagine a future where:
- Designers can instantly access verified recyclability information for specific material combinations
- Consumers can scan a QR code to see the exact composition and recycling pathway for their packaging
- Policy makers can develop evidence-based regulations informed by actual material flows
- Innovators can identify the highest-value opportunities for new circular solutions
This vision represents the logical extension of open thinking into the packaging domain – treating data as infrastructure that enables both environmental and economic benefits.
How the Open Community Can Contribute
For those working in the open space – whether it be open source, open data or open standards, the packaging sustainability challenge represents a significant opportunity to apply expertise to a pressing environmental issue. Ways to engage include:
- Testing and improving the standard: Providing technical feedback on the Open 3P schema and documentation
- Building tools and connectors: Developing open-source utilities to facilitate adoption
- Advocating for open approaches: Encouraging organisations to embrace data standardisation
- Contributing case studies: Demonstrating successful applications of standardised data
- Participating in governance: Joining the conversation about how the standard evolves
Data as a Sustainability Enabler
The packaging sustainability challenge is fundamentally a systems problem – and systems problems require systemic solutions. By bringing open principles to bear on packaging, initiatives like Open 3P create the conditions for genuine transformation.
As data practitioners, we understand that the path from chaotic, siloed information to a well-structured data resource is rarely straightforward. It requires careful attention to governance, stakeholder needs, and technical implementation. But we also know that once such foundations are established, they can enable innovation and collaboration at scale.
Business as usual is not an option and no longer sustainable. The technical foundations exist. The stakeholder interest exists. Help us bring open standards to the value chain and create a truly circular economy for packaging.
This blog post draws on insights from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Packaging Data Exchange work, Open 3P Standard Custodian Board documentation, industry insights and open principles.