Webinar preview: Circular packaging economy: What are the profits and pitfalls for industry leaders?

06 Oct 2023 --- Ahead of Packaging Insights’ upcoming webinar, “Circular packaging economy: What are the profits and pitfalls for industry leaders?” we speak to expert panelists Nusa Urbancic, CEO of Changing Markets Foundation, and Fabio Peyer, head of sustainability at Mondi’s Flexible Packaging unit, about their differing views on circularity and what viewers can expect to see next week, October 12 (16.00 CET).

At the heart of our discussion on the “profits and pitfalls” for the industry — as its leaders make moves toward circularization — is whether a fully circular system will ever truly be possible. 

Circularity is intended to prevent waste and ensure resources used are kept in the economy for as long as possible, reducing pressure on natural resources and creating sustainable employment and development. 

Urbancic asserts that “it’s impossible to know whether packaging can become 100% circular, but we can be 100% sure that the system can be much improved from what it is today. The problem is a lack of effective regulations, which have so far put too little focus on the measures that are at the top of the waste hierarchy, namely waste prevention and effective reuse systems.”

Peyer says: “as an industry, we play an important role in facing the packaging waste challenge. Our goal is to create a circular packaging economy, which goes beyond recycling: It’s about reducing waste and maintaining the value of products, materials and resources in circulation.”

“Working toward a circular packaging economy starts from sourcing the product sustainably and creating a packaging solution that is sustainable by design and fulfills its purpose. For this, the products need to be evaluated across their lifecycle,” he says. 

Nusa Urbancic, CEO of Changing Markets Foundation.“Ultimately, the key lies in fostering innovation and promoting collaboration across the entire value chain to create scalable solutions that reduce waste. While there’s no universal solution, developing products designed for circularity and their intended purpose can help establish a more sustainable packaging ecosystem.” 

EU legislation and industry action
The EU has been the leader in the EPR legislation for packaging, says Urbancic. 

“This is good, as it obliges producers to pay the cost for the end-of-life treatment of the products they put on the market, but there has been too little emphasis on things that would really make a difference.” 

“Consequently, companies have mostly focused on light-weighting, but they have increased the packaging volume overall,” explains Urbancic. 

“As a result, we have seen that the plastic packaging waste generated in the EU increased by three million tons from 2012 to 2021. Moreover, they are not even delivering on their preferred strategy, recycling, as it is becoming increasingly clear that the EU will not reach its 50% recycling target for 2025 for plastic packaging. This clearly shows that we must change strategy, or we will not manage to bring our waste crisis under control.”

However, Peyer takes a practical stance toward the idea of circularity: “It is crucial to develop suitable policies that are also in line with standards and regulations on a broader scale. At Mondi, we support the approach to packaging policy that aims to ensure that every packaging application minimizes resource use while maximizing protection.”

“Policies can help incentivize or disincentivize certain consumer behaviors, like for example, consistent recycling, and can support industries,” he says. 

“Boosting recycling rates, especially for flexible and plastic packaging, will be crucial to ensure sufficiently high amounts of high-quality post-consumer recycled content. Clear regulations will significantly support the different member states in establishing a coherent collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure.”Fabio Peyer, head of sustainability at Mondi’s Flexible Packaging division.

Responsibility: Businesses or consumers? 
The question of where the blame lies for our currently linear economy is another source of debate. 

”According to companies, it is all down to the consumers. But in reality, consumers can do very little unless they change their consumption away from supermarkets and takeaway restaurants toward farmers markets and zero waste shops,” says Urbancic. 

“The problem is that single-use packaging is so ingrained with the convenience model according to which these supermarkets and restaurant chains operate that it is impossible to make consumers responsible for the transition to circularity,” she asserts.

“But it is also true that we need much more action across all sectors, including FMCGs, supermarkets and takeaway food chains.”

Peyer highlights that all parts and players of the packaging supply chain have blame and responsibility. 

“Between the industry, producers and end consumers, everyone has their designated tasks to fulfill to contribute to a circular economy. The consumers are the last stop and responsible for properly sorting and disposing of the material so that it can be recycled in the designated recycling streams.”

“On the one hand, the awareness about sustainable packaging has already increased, and consumers are asking for more sustainable packaging. On the other hand, there is the need to educate the consumer and provide the right information about sustainability impacts of packaging materials, and how to sort and recycle different packaging solutions properly,” says Peyer. 

“Only when all stakeholders work together and fulfill their designated role, can we support the transition to circularity — so our way is to tackle the challenge jointly.”

Consumers are responsible for waste disposable and must be properly educated to do so, says Peyer.Boosting transparency, reshaping design 
Urbancic says the first step toward the possibility of a circular economy lies in transparency. 

“It is pretty appalling that many companies still know and disclose so little about their packaging.”

“We see huge issues with greenwashing when it comes to packaging. This practice is much more widespread, as for example, CMA reported that a significant percentage of household products are labeled as green or environmentally friendly,” she asserts.

“Broadly, we categorized our examples of greenwash into these five categories: Recycled content claims, recyclability claims, elimination of plastic claims and misleading claims on bioplastic, biodegradable or compostable plastic.” 

“We need a focus on overall packaging reduction targets and mandatory targets for reuse with growing ambition for the years to come so that this sends a clear market signal to the industry,” asserts Urbancic. 

Payer says that from the perspective of a packaging producer, Mondi “lives the concept that there is more than one way toward sustainability. Packaging always has a specific purpose, and the packaged products have different barrier requirements that need to be fulfilled,” he notes. 

“There are many products that need very high barriers to properly protect it, that can year to date only be achieved by plastic packaging. Therefore, it is important to develop high-barrier plastic packaging that protects the product and is designed for recycling, for instance, monomaterial solutions.” 

Viewers can register for the webinar here and add questions for our panelists. 

By Louis Gore-Langton