More Than a Trend: Sustainability Themes in the Packaging Industry

From Sept. 10-12, professionals from across the printing industry descended upon Las Vegas, Nevada, for PRINTING United Expo 2024, taking advantage of the chance to network with each other and learn how to adapt their businesses with emerging technology to meet customer needs. One of the key themes discussed at the show was sustainability, which has become top of mind for printers and converters throughout the packaging industry. 

Data Behind the Drivers

During a session at the Expo, Cory Francer, analyst at NAPCO Research, delved into the major factors impacting the label printing and converting segment, sustainability being among them.

Sustainability in the packaging industry extends beyond consumer-driven recycling; the onus falls on converters and printers as well. Not only are they responsible for the disposal of any waste created during production — including everything from release liner to matrix — but they must manage their carbon emissions as well, according to Francer.

While printers and converters likely have their own environmental goals to meet, some of the pressure to work sustainably comes from the brand owners they serve. Per NAPCO Research’s 2023 report entitled “Digital Packaging: Opportunities to Thrive,” 62% of packaging printers and converters said that customer demand for sustainable or environmentally friendly packaging is on the rise, while 33% of brand owners cited “meeting sustainability or environmental goals/objectives” as one of their top five packaging challenges.

This is supported by Esko’s “2024 Packaging Trends” research, which company representatives discussed during a webinar panel earlier this year. According to the report, more than 75% of brands, print service providers, printers, and converters selected either “extremely important” or “somewhat important” when asked about the importance of sustainability in their 2024 operations.

“Sustainability is not so much a trend; it is nowadays an absolute necessity for us in the packaging industry to respond to that demand of consumers to produce more sustainable products,” said Jan De Roeck, marketing director of industry relations and strategy at Esko, who moderated the panel.

Green Innovation

Innovation is at the heart of many sustainable advancements within the packaging and label segments. One example can be seen with flexible packaging, which can be a challenge to recycle through traditional recycling methods. However, some companies are mechanically recycling these types of packaging materials — by creating plastic lumber, for instance — while other groups are pursuing the potential of chemical recycling, which involves the breakdown of polymers to be used as raw material.

“For example, we're following a project very closely by the University of Wisconsin that, using selective solvent, they're able to remove the different polymers from multilayer flexible packaging and they're able to separate those,” said Gary Jones, vice president of environmental, health, and safety affairs at PRINTING United Alliance. “They’re scaling that process up, and that’s very interesting.”

Additionally, innovators are working to make the flexible packaging substrates themselves more eco-friendly. Some aim to reduce waste by making and using thinner plastics when possible, and others are investigating film alternatives drawn from natural materials like seaweed and corn, according to Dani Diehlmann, vice president of communications at the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA).

Something else that has gained traction across the United States is extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation, which holds producers — such as packaging converters and printers — responsible for managing their products throughout the lifecycle, up to and including waste management. According to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, 10 states have introduced packaging EPR laws this year, and EPR bills have already been passed in five other states (Maine, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Minnesota).

Industry Advocates

EPR legislation is one of the many sustainability issues facing the packaging industry that advocate organizations are tackling. For instance, the FPA and AMERIPEN are both working with state governments to ensure that any bills implemented do not negatively affect packaging converters and printers.

Another area in which industry associations are taking action for the environment is the educational path. For example, AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, worked with Greenville, South Carolina-based Packaging School to host a 30-hour, 12-week workshop on carbon neutrality in summer 2023, with the goal of offering it again in the future. The workshop was developed to help AICC members learn how to speak about sustainability with colleagues and customers, as well as how to measure their carbon footprint.

“If you’re looking to sell a box and a customer says, ‘What’s the carbon footprint of that box?’ you can answer it — where maybe box company B or box company C can’t answer it,” said Michael D’Angelo, president of AICC. “And that could be the difference between getting the order or not.”

Looking Forward

During his presentation at PRINTING United Expo 2024, Francer pointed toward digital printing solutions as being a piece of the  sustainability puzzle — both for converters and printers and for brand owners. According to the digital packaging report, 24% of converters and printers said that one of the top five advantages of digital printing technology is its sustainability compared to conventional printing methods.

This suggests that digital technologies may be key to addressing many of the obstacles to greater sustainability within operations, helping brands and packaging converters and printers become greener.

Important to note is that packaging is here to stay. Although some may see packaging as something to get rid of, how the packaging itself is designed can help achieve overall sustainability goals, according to Jijo Dominic, vice president of product management at Esko.

“We produce waste to reduce waste,” Dominic said during the Esko webinar panel at the beginning of the year. “... I was talking to a professor who was talking about supply chain. They said, ‘Remove that wrapper around a cucumber that is on the shelf, [and] the shelf life reduces from eight days to two days.’ And think about not the packaging waste, think about all those efforts — the human effort, the natural resources, all those kinds of things. So we have to take this from a bigger perspective when we talk about sustainability.”

Shifting the mindset in the industry in this way can open the door to more innovation and opportunity to create greener packaging from start to finish.