For the packaging industry, the focus of the world is on the word sustainable. All countries and major companies are working hard for a green earth. This industry has implemented many important measures to continuously innovate and forge ahead.

Sustainable packaging for food and beverages remains a priority

First of all, the food and beverage industry has always been the main consumer industry of paper packaging. Major packaging companies have not stopped innovating sustainable packaging in this industry. For example, WestRock is promoting circular value through their new innovation Sustainable Ready Meals: Turnkey Solution chain. WestRock teams at three locations around the world collaborate to develop paper-based packaging systems for the ready-to-food industry. Sustainable Ready Meals uses recycled fiber-based packaging and shelf-ready boxes, reducing plastic by 90% per food bowl. And Georgia-Pacific’s Juno Waste Diversion Technology captures recyclable material that was previously destined for landfill or incineration due to coating or food contamination. Up to 90% of products processed through Juno can now be diverted from landfill, recycled and made into new paper products.

But much of the current packaging is a paper/plastic hybrid that has failed recyclability tests. These include paper bottles with inner plastic bags, paper/plastic carton combinations for the production of beverage containers, flexible packaging and wine bottles claiming to be compostable. The research on sustainable packaging of food and beverages in various countries is still going on, making more efforts for the green earth

Condemnation of excessive packaging

Consumers are increasingly dissatisfied with excessive packaging, according to a recent online survey by DS Smith. Specifically, online shoppers are increasingly dissatisfied with arriving packages that are too large, too fragile, covered with excessive tape, or not waterproof or recyclable.

Those are among the key findings of packaging leader DS Smith’s newly released national survey, which tracks frustration over the past two years’ surge in e-commerce that has continued into the holiday season.

“The idea of oversized boxes, containing excess packaging material and in turn overfilling delivery trucks, should not be perpetuated by any of us – consumers don’t want it, businesses can’t afford it, and ultimately the planet won’t thank us for supporting it, said Melanie Galloway, Vice President of Sales Marketing and Innovation at DS Smith.

The EU also wants to tackle excessive packaging. The proposed draft regulations state that, starting in 2030, “each packaging unit must be reduced to a minimum size in terms of weight, volume and number of packaging layers, for example by limiting empty spaces.” According to the proposals, by 2040, EU member states Packaging waste per capita must be reduced by 15% (compared to 2018).