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Sustainable Packaging Trends Include Flexible Packs and Adoption Opportunities

Companies across the packaging industry are encountering issues and brainstorming solutions to meet a growing demand for a lower carbon footprint.

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PMMI Business Intelligence, 2022 Challenges and Opportunities for Packaging and Processing Operations

CPGs, OEMs and packaging suppliers are facing major challenges in adjusting operations for sustainable packaging, but opportunities to overcome these hurdles are available, according to PMMI Business Intelligence’s 2022 report “Challenges and Opportunities for Packaging and Processing Operations.”

PMMI asked all PACK EXPO International attendees to participate in a survey before the show to understand the industry’s top trends, and identified both barriers to adoption and opportunities for growth in sustainable packaging.

Challenges Transitioning to Sustainable Packaging

CPGs also noted perceived challenges relating to production, including the suitability of older equipment for use with materials that it was not designed for.

“We have old equipment and need to find new baggers that can run more sustainable materials,” one participating CPG said.

Related to this was a clear understanding that sustainable alternatives need robust experimentation and testing, including machine trials, to ensure that more sustainable flexible packaging materials such as films can be used without a negative impact on production and performance.

“We have various different types of film wrapping lines that utilize heat sealing with polypropylene or PVC film,” another participant said. “Our largest issue is replacing our existing material with a more sustainable PE mono-material. We’ve thus far found that it takes more heat and time to seal, and we can’t afford to slow down our equipment to accommodate.”

Many respondents referred to the tight operational parameters required to hermetically seal food packaging, with issues such as heat tolerance, shelf life, robustness, and integrity all cited by participants as challenges to overcome. 

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