Environmental Packaging Summit 2025: Industry to talk carbon footprint, design and regulations

The seventh annual Environmental Packaging Summit is scheduled to take place in London, UK, June 24–25. Packaging industry experts will gather to explore the latest developments in packaging manufacturing, design, technology, sustainability, and supply chain opportunities.

Packaging Insights discusses the upcoming event with featured speakers Tim Barbary, director and co-founder at Benchmark Consulting, which offers a CO2 estimation and quotation software solution for the packaging industry, and Martin Kersh, executive director of the Food Service Packaging Association (FPA).

Barbary, who will highlight his company’s efforts to support the environmental sustainability of clients’ packaging solutions, says: “Benchmark’s software provides daily estimating for some of the larger converters of flexibles, labels, corrugates, and cartons.”

Discussing some common misconceptions companies have when calculating or comparing the carbon footprint of materials, he notes that many assume the packaging of their consumer product accounts for “only a few percent of CO2 emissions.”

He explains that while this may hold true for a simple LDPE or PP overwrap — like on toilet tissue — for many companies, packaging can represent a much larger share of emissions, particularly in industries like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, or alcoholic beverages.

Meanwhile, Kersh argues that industry actors often assume being sustainable means not being made of plastic. “Firstly, there isn’t an agreed definition in the context of packaging used currently for the term  ‘sustainable,’ and secondly, plastic packaging can be by far the lower carbon option.”

Kersh is looking forward to seeing “excellent design” at the event. “This is an aspect of packaging that doesn’t receive the attention it should. For example, I’m excited by developments in meal delivery packaging designed to keep the contents hot and in perfect condition for eating.”

“Sometimes it is the smallest, lowest cost developments that can exert a big impact in reducing food waste. We are on the edge of a big breakthrough in recycling with new materials and applications which, given the way AI is going to lead to a huge improvement in packaging collections and sortation, makes for an exciting future.”

Calculating packaging emissions 

Benchmark’s Barbary tells us more about how the consultancy’s software solution calculated the CO2 emissions of packaging and why this is significant to ensuring environmental sustainability. 

“The software can also be used in large-scale tenders, where the commercial cost and the CO2 emissions of many thousands of SKUs can be calculated in a matter of minutes.”

The data provided entails:

• Granular — down to the SKU level
• Accurately calculated — in line with IPCC standards
• Transparent — with reports and bespoke dashboards that enable informed decisions on both commercial cost and CO2 emissions
• All CO2 emissions results are verified to ISO 14067 standards.

Tim Barbary, director and co-founder at Benchmark Consulting.Barbary notes that many of Benchmark’s clients mistakenly believe that “a simple average will suffice,” but emphasizes that the consultancy’s software accounts for far more complexity. 

This includes taking into consideration companies’ “variation in energy mix by country, differences in machinery utilization — often even between machines at the same site — and machine speeds affected by material type and thickness. 

He further points to the importance of taking into consideration order quantity impacts and how it impacts “commercial cost and CO2 emissions due to set up and run amortization supplier differences in the use of consumables such as print plates, internal pallets, and ink systems.”

Lastly, Barbary says that the software takes into account shift patterns influencing asset utilization and employee costs, packing and storage practices (which vary by manufacturing site and customer, and inbound and outbound delivery distances, which significantly affect emissions.

“If you cannot measure this, how would you know whether you’ve made an improvement?”

Impact of packaging regulations

Martin Kersh, executive director at FPA.Meanwhile, the FPA’s Kersh shares his views on the UK’s packaging EPR (pEPR) scheme and expresses skepticism about the regulation’s ability to enhance the environmental sustainability of packaging.

“The UK’s pEPR is distorting the market with signs already emerging of changes that governments were pushing for over the last 20 years are being reversed. This is a result of the relative indicative EPR fees for individual materials being based on weight. The intended behaviors must add up to an increase in packaging recycling, and Defra has admitted there will be no increase before 2030.”

Kersh suspects that a number of innovations at the event, such as new materials, when used in conjunction with fiber-based packaging, will still be charged a higher fiber-based composite fee than the cheaper paper and card one despite meeting the criteria for paper and card.

“The event organizers must work harder to ensure that entries are not based on false or misleading claims. Every submission should be thoroughly checked to verify that all claims can be substantiated.” 

“Too many awards are still given to entries rooted in greenwashing claims designed to mislead judges. Award organizers have a responsibility to protect judges from such deception.”