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A look at European Plastics Packaging

According to some in the industry, cooperation and alignment in the packaging supply chain is key to plastics’ sustainability success.

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As part of the Sustainability in Packaging Europe conference - happening online this week - there was a panel discussion between a material and packaging producer, end user, retailer, and collection and recycling representative, and they spoke about plastic packaging sustainability following the onset of the pandemic. The panel was led by Hans van Bochove of Coca-Cola European Partners, who said, “There will need to be some form of cooperation and alignment in the packaging supply chain in order to help ourselves reduce packaging, reuse or refill it, collect, and ultimately recycle it back into our products.

Below is the edited version of the discussion between van Bochove; James Bull, Tesco; Joe Franses, Coca-Cola Enterprises; Gerald Rebitzer, Amcor; Carsten Larsen, Dow Chemical Company; and, Pauline Metivier, Veolia.

Hans van Bochove

How can we get packaging, and plastics in particular, to be more sustainable and to find ways of reducing, reusing, collecting, and recycling packaging back to new products? James, would you mind kicking us off with Tesco's views on this?

James Bull

This is a very challenging time operationally. I think we've seen the packaging management agenda sort of hit a few bumps in the road. So, first is supply and demand. Very much a few hotspots, especially if you think of hospitality closing and [for example] the need to get eggs in through the retail. To prevent food waste, all of a sudden you needed to pack eggs in a customer packaging solution that didn't exist to cope with the amount of demand and the amount of product we needed to shift.

So, there were some very obvious challenges like that, but behind the scenes there were also some other dynamics that were starting to change, such as shift away from loose product into things that were prepacked, because it felt like a safer place for consumers to engage with the product. And then, again, another broad challenge is we've got various bring-back schemes, where we get that material back to us to put into a loop and recycle into other pieces of packaging.

Hans van Bochove

That is a clear example of how the whole COVID-19 situation is actually impacting a place where literally the rubber hits the road, so where the consumer actually gets into the shop to buy products. So, in a sense, you already handled the packaging supply chain, so that is clear. That is where all things come together. Joe, from a producer's perspective, what are your experiences that build on to what James has told us?

Joe Franses

  • I think from our perspective at Coca-Cola European Partners we've seen consumers continue to tell us,  that environmental concerns have if anything as the pandemic has progressed, actually become a higher priority.
  • What you see is a sharp reduction in impulse purchasing, you see a real shift away from out-of-home towards the home channel.
  • And for us, that means a shift from single-serve products to some larger formats, to some multi packs.
  • It also broadly means less glass, it means more large-PET, and it means more multi pack cans.
  • It's led us to investing in recycled PET, not just in terms of how we put recycled PET back into bottles, but then also investments in the supply chain.
  • At a fairly intricate level, the need to really follow not just making sure that what we're putting on to the market is recyclable but making sure that those packs are actually recycled.

And when you think about our products, we're in a very fortunate space when you think about a beverage, plastic bottle or a beverage can, all of that material is largely mono-material and it is fully recyclable. And if collected, can truly be recycled, and then can come back.

Hans van Bochove

Pauline, from Veolia's perspective, how are you experiencing COVID-19, your business, and your aspirations?

Pauline Metivier

We did see some changes in consumer behavior: The recycling rate has increased a bit during the lockdown, at least in the UK, but they tend to now reduce again when restriction lifts.

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