VSEs and SMEs: an initiative to facilitate the eco-responsibility of their packaging

The Fédération des Entreprises et Entrepreneurs de France (Feef) and the recycling company Adelphe are launching a new partnership. The goal? Provide more support for VSE-SMEs in the sustainable packaging of their products.

Faced with the many daily requirements, it is often difficult for very small and medium-sized companies to promote actions in favour of the eco-responsibility of their packaging. To help them, a new partnership between Adelphe, a company specialising in packaging recycling since 1993, and the Fédération des Entreprises et Entrepreneurs de France (Feef).

The beneficiaries of this will be companies labelled “SME+”. This label, created in 2014 by the Feef, promotes the commitment of very small and proactive SMEs to job creation, the well-being of their employees and respect for the environment. Adelphe will offer them concrete expertise in three areas: the eco-design of their packaging, their recycling and their reduction where possible.

Bringing out good practices

Thanks to this partnership, the recycling company also integrates the Feef’s quality and sustainable development commission. It will feed into discussions on good manufacturing practices for packaging throughout the supply chain. Another action linked to this new partnership will be several workshops and round tables to raise awareness among “SME+” companies about packaging reduction and responsible communication. On May 15, a first day will bring together in Paris the certified companies and quality/RSE departments of several major retail chains around a common challenge: eco-design and responsible purchasing.

From complexity to simplicity

“For Adelphe, it is essential to encourage and support VSEs and SMEs that are committed to a social and environmental responsibility (CSR) approach. The will is often there but implementation is sometimes seen as something complex while simple actions can be implemented quickly. For us, this partnership was therefore a matter of course,” says Sophie Wolff, Deputy Director of Adelphe. And Dominique Amirault, President of Feef, said: “By their human dimension, their territorial roots and their authenticity, SMEs are naturally CSR for me. However, they need support to make their societal approach known and formalized. “

While the eco-responsibility of companies primarily responds to societal and environmental challenges, today it is also becoming an economic argument for their customers. Before mere consumers, many are now what we call “consumers’ actors”. The act of buying becomes a militant act for them. According to a Tetra Pak study published in 2017, for 64% of French people, environmentally harmful packaging is a barrier to buying. A way is open.