The European Union first created legislation to minimize the amount of packaging created and used in the E.U., as well as to promote energy recovery, re-use and recycling of packaging, when it passed the Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC) IN 1994. In 2004, this directive was revised to increase the recycling targets that member states were to meet by 2008. The Packaging Directive covers all packaging placed on the market within the E.U., and all packaging waste that is disposed of at industrial or commercial sites, or from private homes.

When it comes to transporting goods -- be they consumer packaged goods that the E.U. is targeting with its packaging legislation, or larger items such as construction materials, or packages and parcels sent via courier services -- the U.S. EPA is helping the freight industry reduce fuel consumption through its SmartWay Transport program. The program helps offset the costs of installing systems for lowering truck emissions, such as more efficient tires, diesel particulate filters and auxiliary power units that provide heating and cooling systems inside truck trailers. These power units keep the cabs of large trucks powered and temperature-controlled during extended or overnight stops, so that drivers can switch off their engines instead of keeping them idling. (A number of States have also passed anti-idling laws.)

Nearly 800 shippers, carriers (private fleets and fleets-for-hire) and logistics providers have become SmartWay members so far and many have already realized a strong return on their investments in fuel-efficient technologies, through reduced fuel costs.

Companies that employ 100 percent SmartWay compliant carriers can qualify to include a SmartWay logo on consumer packaging. HP became the first to qualify for the logo earlier this year.

Innovation and Transportation Tools

Outside of legislation and government-supported programs such as SmartWay, companies are starting to enact new business practices aimed at reducing transportation costs. For example, Wal-Mart recently announced its intentions to begin sourcing produce from farms closer to its stores, thereby reducing fuel costs associated with shipping the produce across the country.

Other companies are taking a whole new look at our existing transportation infrastructure in order to innovate the ways goods are shipped. A startup in Cambridge, Mass., called the New Amsterdam Project offers companies an alternative to inner-city trucking; its "drivers" transport their clients' goods using pedal power instead of fossil fuels. The company has specially designed rugged tricycles with large cargo holds in which product is placed. And on the West Coast, a cooperative collection of similar bike cargo carrier firms known as Pedal Express offers courier services in California (Berkeley, Davis, Humboldt, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz) and Oregon (Eugene and Portland). (The collective also includes a chapter in Chapel Hill, N.C.)

In addition to working with SmartWay carriers, HP has begun using plastic pallets made by AIRDEX International Inc. to transport its notebook laptop computers to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America. Doing so decreases the environmental impact of shipping them because AIRDEX pallets are made of recyclable plastic rather than wood and, according to HP, the pallets are stronger, lighter and more durable than the wooden pallets it previously used.

HP estimates that through all its fuel-saving measures, it has reduced its CO2 output by more than 22,350 metric tons -- the equivalent of removing 4.300 cars from the road for one year.