Sustainability remains a top concern for consumers especially for natural product market sectors like cannabis with 44% using sustainable packaging, according to Future of Packaging and Sustainability, a report produced by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, in cooperation with Euromonitor International. Consumers who seek sustainable packaging look for recyclability and recycled content, biodegradability, and potential for refill/reuse.
Plastic tends to be viewed as less sustainable. This attitude is driving a shift away from the material, especially for single-use packaging formats, and spurring increased use of paper and other renewable or more easily recycled alternatives, according to the PMMI report.
Consumer demand and regulatory action are motivating many companies to set environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals to improve their sustainability footprint. Such efforts require transparency, collaboration, and the adoption of supporting tools like digitalization.
No packaging initiative can succeed without consumer buy-in. Many brands are investing in educating customers about proper disposal practices, recycling protocols, and the environmental benefits of the materials used. Labels often include detailed recycling instructions, encouraging consumers to make responsible choices.
Transparent communication about a brand’s sustainability journey is vital because consumers are more likely to support companies whose values align with their own. Consumers want to know what ESG goals brand owners have set and what progress is being made. Sharing the environmental impact of packaging choices, production methods, and partnerships enables brand owners to build trust with their customer base.
Collaboration is another essential because sustainable processes and packaging cannot be achieved in isolation. Partnering with packaging suppliers streamlines the development of innovations that meet both environmental and product protection and preservation goals. Manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, and other stakeholders should work together to optimize designs, explore new materials, and streamline production. Packaging supplier partnerships also help brands understand material availability, ensuring they meet evolving regulatory standards without compromising product quality.
Finally, digitalization technologies can help optimize material usage, reduce waste, and promote recycling and reuse. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) can capture and analyze data to design packaging that delivers structural integrity with minimum resources. Using 3D printing technology to create packaging prototypes generates less waste. Smart packaging with radio frequency identification tags or QR (quick response) codes can provide instructions about proper disposal or recycling of empty packaging, and blockchain technology can deliver the transparency and traceability consumers need to be confident that packaging materials are sourced responsibly and the production process adheres to environmental standards.
Legal Requirements
Legislative efforts are pushing the industry toward more sustainable packaging. The Future of Packaging and Sustainability report notes legislation falls into three categories, reducing plastic waste, circularity, and decarbonization.
Reducing Plastic Waste: The first state-level legislation on plastic in the U.S. was passed in August 2020 in California. It stipulated bottles contain 15% recycled content by 2022, 50% by 2030. Maine and Oregon became the first U.S. states to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements for plastic packaging in 2021 and have since been joined by California, Colorado, and Minnesota. EPR measures vary at regional and national levels worldwide but broadly target material recyclability, recovery, and rates of recycled content.
Circular Packaging: There is impetus to create a circular economy for all packaging (from eco-design to reuse). It’s being affirmed in legislation and regulations, in corporate 2025/2030 pledges, and participation in initiatives such as the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. Packaging, waste, or environmental laws, mostly target the move to sustainable materials and seek to increase recycling rates. More countries are establishing EPR and deposit-return systems to advance the sustainability movement.
Decarbonization: The rise in national and regional commitments to meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 (to align with the 1.5 C Paris Agreement of 2015 and Glasgow Climate Pact of 2021) is shaping laws and the environmental goals of brand users and packaging producers/converters. This effort prioritizes renewable and recycled-content substrates and conversion from fossil fuel to renewable-powered operations.
Hurdles to Sustainability
However, the move to more sustainable materials is not without challenges for the cannabis industry. Despite the desire to move away from single-use packaging, it remains in high demand because it is convenient, hygienic, and often mandated.
Moving to paper or paperboard can be cost-prohibitive and factors such as humidity and temperature continue to pose significant challenges to issues such as product quality and package integrity. Glass container production and shipping consumes a lot of energy.
Recycled materials, while having increased consumer appeal, are more expensive and not always viable with no steady supply and inconsistent material quality.
Refill/reuse options, which have had some success in the health and beauty and household chemical categories, require consumer buy-in and/or a return system.
Taking Action
As customers demand products with smaller ecological footprints, many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are reducing plastic content and/or transitioning from non-recyclable plastics to alternatives like paperboard boxes, biodegradable films, and recyclable plastics. Brands also are shrinking their total packaging footprint through smarter design. Many are transitioning to thinner yet durable bags and liners that minimize packaging layers without sacrificing product integrity and lightweighting containers and closures.
To overcome the issue of single-use plastics and reduce the amount of healthcare packaging that is landfilled or incinerated, the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council is studying how healthcare packaging could achieve circularity via advanced (also described as molecular or chemical) recycling. It also has published Guiding Principles on Advanced Recycling. (1)
When plastic packaging is chosen, there is greater emphasis on specifying recyclable plastics, ideally with post-consumer recycled content. The ability to be processed and reused in future packaging reduces virgin material use and provides circularity.
Renewable materials, derived from plant-based sources, are being viewed in an increasingly favorable light because they relieve dependence on fossil fuels, and some are biodegradable and/or compostable. As a result, compostable packaging is expected to be one of the fastest-growing formats, according to the Packaging Compass report, produced by PMMI and AMERIPEN.
Although still emerging, the reusable packaging model is gaining traction. This approach seeks to eliminate single-use packaging by encouraging customers to bring their containers for refills or participate in deposit-return schemes where customers pay a small deposit, which is refunded when the container is returned. These innovative strategies encourage waste reduction but require consumer cooperation and effective logistical networks to succeed.
To help brand owners progress along their sustainability journey, the Institute of Packaging Professionals has developed the Fundamentals of Sustainable Packaging course. Led by industry experts from CPG companies, it will launch Sept. 10–12, 2024, in Atlanta with an agenda that includes a recycling facility tour.
The latest sustainability innovations will be on display at PACK EXPO International (Nov. 3–6, 2024, McCormick Place, Chicago). The new Sustainability Central will serve as an interactive destination with resources to help brands become more sustainable. The PACK EXPO Green program identifies exhibitors that provide technology such as sustainable processes and machines, renewable and biodegradable packaging, source reduction and lightweighting, recyclable and recycled-content materials, or innovations that reduce carbon footprint. Attendees also can identify resources via the PACK EXPO Sustainability Solutions Finder.
As the world’s most expansive packaging and processing industry event in 2024, PACK EXPO International will feature 2,500 exhibitors offering solutions to many of today’s biggest manufacturing needs from an intersection of industries in 40-plus vertical markets. More than 45,000 attendees from CPG and life sciences companies worldwide will converge, searching for innovation, connection, and insight. For more information and to register, visit packexpointernational.com.
- Sookne, Keren. HPRC Makes Strides Toward Advanced Recycling in Healthcare, Healthcare Packaging, May 14, 2024.