Solutions for a Circular Plastics Economy

The Packaging Conference takes on sustainability, in particular the war on plastics, shedding light on the monumental challenges facing the packaging industry and how they are being addressed.

Beach image
According to research from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, just 10 river systems—eight in Asia and two in Africa—carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the ocean.

In November 2017, the BBC aired Episode Four of the Blue Planet II, “Big Blue,” which was seen by 14 million viewers. Presented by Sir David Attenborough, the episode bombarded watchers with footage of birds and marine life devastated by the effects of marine pollution. That single, 50-minute broadcast triggered the biggest consumer backlash against Consumer Packaged Goods companies and producers of plastics in recent times. It became the flashpoint for changes in consumer buying behavior, anti-plastic campaigns, and legislation related to single-use plastics that only continue to grow.

Bird imageThe consumer movement against plastics uses as its rallying cry images of beaches littered with mountains of plastic bottles and sea turtles and other marine life entangled in plastic ring carriers.Dubbed “the Blue Planet effect” or “the Attenborough effect,” the consumer movement against plastics uses as its rallying cry images of beaches littered with mountains of plastic bottles and sea turtles and other marine life entangled in plastic ring carriers. So much so that nearly half of the 27 speakers at The Packaging Conference, held in early February in Austin, Tex., used pictures such as these in their presentations to illustrate why there is such urgency around finding solutions to packaging waste.

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“Facing down the daunting plastics marine litter issue”

The Packaging Conference (TPC), first held in 2007, was begun by PTI and SBA-CCI, Inc. as a way to bring together companies from the full packaging supply chain to learn about the latest industry trends and technologies around new equipment and materials. This year, the conference narrowed its focus considerably. “We conceived the idea for this event 13 years ago when the industry—and every industry—was coming out of a recession,” said John Maddox, President of SBA-CCI. “At the time, there was a lot of uncertainty. Thirteen years later, there still seems to be a lot of uncertainty. It’s a little different now than it was then.

“We did not anticipate this being a conference on sustainability 13 years ago, nor did we suspect it would be so much on sustainability six months ago. Something happened about then, and every conversation—from a cocktail party to a Super Bowl party to a business meeting—is all about sustainability. And, as you will see from our conference agenda, this [event] certainly is about that this year as well.”

Among the questions addressed by the conference: How are brand owners responding to the “plastic panic”? How can material collection be improved? What technologies are being engineered to provide alternatives to traditional, mechanical recycling? And, what new materials are available to supplement or replace plastic packaging?

Sustainability tops list of packaging megatrends

In his keynote address at the 2019 edition of TPC, David Feber, Partner at McKinsey & Co., shared the five key megatrends forecast to affect the growth and profitability of players in the packaging industry over the next five to 10 years. They included e-commerce, increased SKU counts driven by consumer preferences for customization, CPG and retail margin compression, sustainability, and digitization, in that order. This year, the trends he listed were the same, but there was one significant difference: “Sustainability has accelerated to the number one issue over the last 12 months,” Feber said. “Last year it was number four.”

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One reason for this change, he said, is that consumers don’t understand the sustainability narrative of packaging, whereby every substrate has its own strengths, depending on the product, the supply chain, end of life, etc. This lack of understanding has led them to focus on a package’s ability to be recycled as the most important attribute in determining whether it’s environmentally friendly.

David FeberDavid Feber, Partner, McKinsey & Co.Consumers also have a very hard time differentiating between different types of plastics, leading to confusion over which materials are recyclable. And realistically, while some plastics are easy to recycle, e.g., PET bottles, others, such as multilayer pouches, are not.

In some cases, it’s a lack of education—even regarding the most-recyclable packaging materials. In another presentation, Katherine Lugar, President & CEO of the American Beverage Assn. (ABA), reported that through in-depth research, ABA learned that an astounding 60% of U.S. consumers don’t know or don’t believe the beverage industry is making 100% recyclable bottles. It also found that 81% of consumers believe the most important thing beverage companies can do to make them feel good about the product they’re consuming is to ensure that the packaging is 100% recyclable, including the cap.

Another reason for sustainability’s leap to the head of McKinsey’s list, Feber added, is the aforementioned “Blue Planet effect,” or plastic leakage. Putting a number on this leakage, he noted that globally, in 2016, 300 million metric tons of plastic was used to create durable and non-durable goods. At end-of-life, about 16% was recovered for recycling, approximately 12% of that was recycled, 25% was incinerated, 40% ended up in landfills, and 19% leaked into the environment or went into unmanaged dumps.

“This is a big reason why plastic is getting the hit that it is, but the leakage is coming from a number of countries outside of the U.S., which is creating a perception issue across almost every part of the world,” said Feber. (According to research from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, just 10 river systems—eight in Asia and two in Africa—carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the ocean.) “In the U.S., our challenge is that we are putting too much material into landfills.”

Plastic panic prompts legislation, CPG commitments

This consumer outrage over plastic pollution has fueled a dramatic increase in sustainability regulations, notably in Europe. There, the Single-Use Plastics Directive calls for the elimination of a range of single-use plastic package types, institutes Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, and sets a collection target for plastic bottles of 90% by 2029, increasing to 77% by 2025. It also puts in place design requirements to tether caps to bottles, as well as a target of 25% rPET in plastic bottles by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

While Europe and some parts of Asia are leading in legislation around EPR, plastic bans, and recycling rules, the U.S. is not far behind. Said Feber, “In the U.S. alone, when we last checked, there were more than 90 single-use plastic bans proposed on a municipal level that have not been implemented yet. And, the number of regulations that have been implemented have doubled over the last four years.”

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“Controversial Plastics Legislation Proposed”

“Packaging Policy Update & 2020 Outlook”

The other result of consumer pressure has been the growing list of CPGs and retailers that have announced ambitious goals around reducing the environmental impact of their packaging. Many of these commitments align with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. Among the many multinational companies with aggressive goals are Walmart, Aldi, Kraft Heinz, Unilever, Mars, P&G, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Co., Nestlé, Danone, Reckitt Benckiser, Mondeléz, and many, many others. Their pledges include two common themes: to increase the use of recycled materials and to ensure most, if not all, packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable. The target deadline for most of these goals is 2025.

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“Conagra Brands Announces Sustainable Packaging Goal”

“Nestlé Creates Market for Food-Grade Recycled Plastics, Launches Fund to Boost Packaging Innovation”

“PepsiCo Accelerates Plastic Waste Reduction Efforts”

“P&G Home Care Brands in Europe to Use Up to 100% PCR by Early 2020”

Sharing details of his company’s circular packaging ambitions, Barnaby Wallace, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement & Supply Chain Executive - Food, Beverage & CPG, for Mars Petcare, told TPC attendees that Mars has invested more than $1 billion thus far in its Sustainable in a Generation Plan. In 2017, Mars pledged that by 2025, 100% of its plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and it will reduce its use of virgin plastic by 25%.

“The action plan is to remove packaging that we don’t need, redesign packaging that we do need for circularity, and invest in closing the loop,” Wallace said.

Wallace BarnabyBarnaby Wallace, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement & Supply Chain Executive - Food, Beverage & CPG, Mars PetcareThere are many challenges in meeting these goals, he acknowledged, given the variety of packaging materials—corrugated boxes, lightweight papers, metal cans, glass jars, and a variety of plastic materials—Mars uses for its diverse brand portfolio. “Glass, metal, paper, and rigid plastics are frequently recycled, where infrastructure exists,” he said. “Flexible plastics are lightweight and can have a low carbon footprint, but they are recycled far less and, in some cases, not at all.”

Mars has a laundry list of strategies to meet its goals. These include removing unnecessary packaging layers, advancing reuse models, with 10 in place by 2025, researching biodegradable and compostable materials, supporting EPR schemes, and using 30% recycled content on average across its product portfolio. Challenges in material collection

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