Recyclable, Sustainable Plastic Packaging Materials Are a Major Trend in the Packaging Industry

The sustainable development of human society is placing increasing environmental pressure on plastic packaging, but plastic packaging will not be replaced by other packaging materials because of its unique advantages. In the future, with advances in technology, plastic packaging materials will be used in ways that reduce carbon emissions and are harmless to the environment, raising the value of plastic packaging materials in use.

Our planet needs sustainable packaging solutions

Globally, statistics show that 42% of plastics are used for packaging, most of it for single-use purposes only; therefore, the problems plastic pollution causes in ecosystems are long-term and lasting.

The recycling rate of plastics is only 10%, which means 90% of plastics are incinerated, landfilled or simply discarded into the natural environment. Plastics generally need 20-400 years or longer to decompose. The fragments or microplastics produced by decomposing plastic remain in atmospheric circulation, from water to food and soil, and in every aspect we are involved in. Using sustainable material packaging can break this negative cycle.

More and more countries are introducing laws to reduce single-use plastic packaging

In 2021, Australia announced its "National Plastics Plan", which aims to ban single-use plastics by 2025. Besides Australia, more and more countries and cities around the world are also taking action to ban single-use plastics. In the EU, the 2019 "Single-Use Plastics Directive" aims to tackle the 10 most common single-use plastic items found on European beaches, which account for 70% of all marine litter in the EU. In the United States, states such as California, Hawaii and New York have begun legislating to ban single-use plastic products such as plastic bags, forks and food containers. In Asia, countries such as Indonesia and Thailand are among the first to call for measures to ban single-use plastics.

Rather than waiting for the legislative pressure that governments may impose, a Morgan Stanley research report says that from 2018 to 2019 alone, the number of US companies implementing a "plastic strategy" more than doubled year on year. This shows that under the future megatrend, companies are willing to give up relative profit to make changes toward environmental strategy and social responsibility goals; of course, it cannot be ruled out that the commercial benefits that the development of sustainable packaging can bring may also be a major factor.

Plastic packaging alternatives are not all perfect; sustainable use matters more

Data from Ranpak and Harris research shows that e-commerce customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany are all willing to work with companies that use sustainable packaging. In fact, in all these countries, more than 70% of consumers have such a preference, while in the UK and France more than 80% of consumers prefer to choose sustainable packaging. Consumers' fondness for sustainable packaging makes them more willing to see paper packaging rather than plastic protecting the items they buy.

But one study estimates that the overall environmental cost of using plastic in the beverage industry is nearly four and a half times lower than the cost of replacing plastic with alternative materials such as aluminum, paper and glass. In other words, no alternative is perfect. The best approach, with the least impact on beverage packaging, is to consider the life cycle of plastic products - beverage packaging is brought to market in a sustainable way and the packaging can be recycled and reused, resulting in the lowest overall environmental impact.

Influenced by the concept of sustainable development, mono-material packaging is gaining attention

At present, multi-layer and laminated plastic packaging is widely used, but recycling it after use is very troublesome (the films of different materials need to be separated and then handled separately). Under pressure from ecological responsibility and local policies, major global brands have begun to commit to using mono-materials. Companies such as Borealis, Dow, ExxonMobil, Canada's Nova Chemicals and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation have successively launched recyclable mono-material plastic films in recent years.

More and more countries and brand companies around the world are promoting the circular economy, becoming an important factor influencing the application of recyclable mono-material plastic packaging; this move aims to improve the efficiency of plastic recycling. The COVID-19 pandemic severely constrained global economic growth in 2020. But research earlier this year showed that flexible packaging consumption instead bucked the trend and grew in 2020, especially in Europe and North America.

Brand companies are paying more and more attention to the sustainability of their business models

Enviro

nment (Environment), Society (Social) and Governance, usually called the ESG strategy, is listed as a key part of the development of many companies because consumers and investors are increasingly eco-conscious. By improving their resource efficiency, companies can improve their scores and may gain more commercial value, including a better brand reputation, customer and employee loyalty, and access to capital.

With growing demand for environmental action, and companies' need to achieve both economic profit and sustainable development goals, it is safe to say that in the near future, developing greener, recyclable and sustainable plastic packaging materials will be the major trend in the packaging industry.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378126.html