The Packaging Recycling Summit revealed how major CPG brands like Coca-Cola and Danone are advancing circular packaging through closed-loop systems, consumer-centric sustainability, and emissions-focused EPR strategies.
- Coca-Cola's closed-loop model captured over 60 million pounds of PET bottles and aluminum cans in 2023 through partnerships with MRFs, reclaimers, and smelters, with plans to double this volume.
- Danone's approach emphasizes putting consumers first when reducing packaging scope 3 emissions, requiring benefit-led changes that consumers understand and support.
- EPR systems should prioritize emissions reduction over landfill diversion, as recycled content displaces primary production and saves energy—the real environmental benefit.
- Consumer expectations are shifting beyond plastic reduction to include sourcing, production methods, and end-of-life disposal across the product lifecycle.
- Thermoform recycling represents an untapped opportunity, with potential to scale PET reclamation by nearly 30% if more recyclable thermoform material enters the collection stream.
CPG stakeholders heard the latest recycling insights from industry experts in Anaheim, California, on Monday, for day one of the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World. Here's what they learned.
Coca-Cola's collaboration for a closed loop system
Jim Velky, senior director of sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company
That’s why it developed a closed-loop solution at select venues, where it validates, collects, processes, and returns its packaging as food grade packaging for the beverage supply chain.
The company couldn’t accomplish this task alone, though. That’s why it collaborated with MRFs, PET reclaimers, and aluminum smelters to assist in that material validation. Velky described how this collaboration creates a “multiplier effect,” helping Coca-Cola to expand its recycling strategy into communities.
“As this material is going from the venue to the MRF, we’re capitalizing on the other material they have there, and we work out trade agreements with these MRFs to make sure that material is going back to Coca-Cola suppliers. In 2023, we were able to capture over 60 million pounds of PET bottles and aluminum cans, and we have plans to double that in the next year," Velky said.
Danone's consumer-focused approach to emissions reduction
It costs more to save on packaging scope 3 emissions than it does anywhere else in an end-to-end supply chain, according to Kory Nook, VP of Packaging R&I at Danone North America, who spoke Monday at the Summit.
Kory Nook, VP packaging R&I at Danone North America
“First and foremost, we try to put the consumer at the center. If we’re changing a pack to be recyclable, lower weight, or whatever it is, we have to make it better for the consumer. It has to be benefit-led, otherwise the consumer will have a harder time paying for it or they’re not going to understand it, and it’s going to be pointless," Nook said.
Finding the right perspective on EPR
Effective EPR systems come down to the right perspective on what creates the greatest impact, according to Reid Lifset, research scholar at Yale University, who spoke at the Summit.
“We talk about increasing recycling and sometimes about increasing reuse, and we talk about avoiding landfilling, but looking at the science behind this, we know that the majority of the benefit of recycling and reuse comes not from avoiding landfilling, it comes from displacing primary production. When you use recycled content in lieu of primary content, typically less energy is used and that’s where the major benefit comes from. This focus on landfill diversion is something we say to the public because it’s easier to understand, but it doesn’t accurately represent what’s going on,” said Lifset. “What we want to do is reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and so we should be designing our systems to minimize emissions, not to minimize landfill. Those two things don’t always align.”
A shifting consumer focus on sustainability topics
Said Eskandari, “The perception of the consumer is evolving beyond just the reduction of plastic packaging. They want to look at the whole lifecycle of the product. Where is it sourced? How is it produced? How is it discarded?”
Untapped PCR potential in thermoform
Moore discussed opportunities for improvement in thermoform circularity in a panel alongside Jeff Snyder of Rumpke and Zach Muscato of Plastic Ingenuity. She said recycled thermoform packaging, on the other hand, is a relatively untapped source of PCR content.
“We’re not tapping into that thermoform stream like we could and should. According to NAPCOR data, we have excess capacity for reclamation, but right now in the U.S., we do not have the material to feed it domestically," said Moore. "We have a lot of market drivers that are exporting our feedstock into Mexico for processing, and some feedstock is coming in from Asia for processing, so it is a dynamic market. But today, we could scale up PET reclamation by almost 30% if we had the supply. A big part of that is reclaiming the thermoform that are recyclable, whether that’s co-mingled or ideally in a separate thermoform bale.”
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