Private Label Brands Target Low-Barrier, Recyclable Films via Retailer Forum
Major retailers including Amazon, Walmart, CVS, and Target are uniting through the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to accelerate development of recyclable, low-barrier flexible films that can meet circularity goals without disrupting existing lines.
Unlike food packaging or products requiring oxygen or moisture barriers, some applications don’t need the complex multi-layer laminations that make many films difficult or impossible to recycle.
Walmart Media Library
In another example of pre-competitive collaboration between brand owners, CPGs, and now retailers with private label brands of their own, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) launched a Retailer Forum initiative designed to tackle one of the most persistent challenges in circular packaging. And that's the hurdle of scaling recyclable flexible films that meet real-world production and performance needs. The Forum was first announced at SPC Advance in Boston earlier this month.
Founding members Amazon, Walmart, CVS Health, and Target, all of whom have made ambitious packaging sustainability commitments, are aligning through the SPC Retailer Forum to address a shared barrier. Each operates its own portfolio of private-label or store-brand products, which functionally behave like consumer packaged goods (CPGs) but depend on external packaging suppliers for design and sourcing. While these retailers have made significant progress toward sustainable packaging, their private brands’ ability to innovate often hinges on the options their film converters and suppliers can provide. This supplier limitation is what the new Retailer Forum aims to change.
“Our retailer members came to us with a very specific challenge,” says Olga Kachook, Director at SPC. “And now we’re calling on suppliers, who represent 25% of SPC membership, to help us solve this persistent sustainable packaging problem.”Target's up&up private label brand is one that might benefit from more sustainable, low-barrier films that are more recyclable than higher barrier, multi-layer films. Target Media Library
The Retailer Forum’s inaugural project zeroes in on low-barrier flexible packaging. These films are used in everyday formats such as polybags for durable goods, secondary pouches that hold individually wrapped items, and refill packs for household or personal care products. Unlike food packaging or products requiring oxygen or moisture barriers, these applications don’t need the complex multi-layer laminations that make many films difficult or impossible to recycle.
Today, most high-barrier films rely on multi-material constructions, often combining polyethylene (PE) of various densities with tie layers, aluminum, or specialty coatings, to achieve performance properties like long shelf life or puncture resistance. These structures can’t be economically separated or reprocessed through existing recycling infrastructure. By contrast, single-material PE films can often be collected through store drop-off programs, provided they meet the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) design standards for sortation and reprocessing.
Editor'sNote: The submission window for suppliers (more on that below) closes December 19, 2025, after which SPC will review proposals and invite selected participants to present their concepts at SPC Impact 2026, the organization’s annual member conference.
“Flexible packaging made of anything other than polyethylene—such as polypropylene or multi-material laminates—is not accepted in the store drop-off system,” the SPC brief notes. “So other material types must have a solid solution toward end-of-use and circularity.”
For packaging engineers and retailers alike, this presents an opportunity: by targeting low-barrier applications first, the industry can transition a significant volume of packaging to more widely recyclable alternatives without compromising on product protection or line efficiency.Paul Nowak (right), executive director, GreenBlue and Olga Kachook (left), SPC director, GreenBlue took to the stage at SPC Advance 2025 to unveil the four major retailers participating in the SPC Retailer Forum, aimed at scaling sustainable flexible packaging films.Sustainable Packaging Coalition
To move the industry forward, the SPC has issued a Request for R&D Submissions to film suppliers, seeking tangible packaging concepts that can be tested by material recovery facilities (MRFs) and vetted through independent recyclability assessments.
Submissions must include a Recyclability Evidence Dossier, demonstrating compliance with How2Recycle’s assessment pillars—collection access, sortation feasibility, reprocessing compatibility, and end-market demand. Plastic-based submissions should also target APR Design Recognition or equivalent third-party test reports, while fiber-based options must provide repulpability certifications from sources such as Western Michigan University (WMU) or the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA).
Suppliers are also asked to submit an Operational Readiness Pack, confirming that the proposed material can run on existing converting and packaging assets with minimal capital investment, maintaining seal integrity, machinability, and current line speeds. Finally, submissions must include a Claims and Labeling Plan that aligns with California SB 343, the FTC’s Green Guides, and How2Recycle’s Guide to Recyclability, ensuring that all on-pack recyclability claims are fully substantiated.
Priority will be given to films that are scalable, cost-competitive, and minimally disruptive to existing operations—solutions that can deliver sustainability gains without demanding extensive retooling or process changes.To support retailers’ efforts to scale sustainable flexible packaging films with low-barrier requirements, GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition is issuing a request for submissions from film suppliers. Suppliers can submit proposed formats that meet the requirements outlined in this brief by December 19, 2025. Selected submissions to be showcased in-person to SPC retailers and members at SPC Impact 2026. Sustainable Packaging Coalition
The Retailer Forum’s timing reflects the rapidly tightening regulatory landscape. Across the U.S., new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws and eco-modulation incentives are reshaping how packaging is designed and financed. In California, SB 343 restricts recyclability labeling unless the packaging can be collected, sorted, and reprocessed by facilities serving at least 60% of the state’s population—a threshold many flexible materials currently fail to meet.
Meanwhile, SB 54 sets a roadmap toward a 30% plastic recycling rate by 2028, effectively requiring brand owners and retailers to make measurable progress on packaging circularity within the decade.
These converging pressures—paired with growing consumer awareness of plastic waste—are prompting retailers to look beyond compliance and toward proactive collaboration. By convening through SPC, they aim to pool data, align standards, and collectively signal demand for recyclable flexible packaging at scale.
The submission window for suppliers closes December 19, 2025, after which SPC will review proposals and invite selected participants to present their concepts at SPC Impact 2026, the organization’s annual member conference. There, shortlisted innovations will be showcased in front of the Retailer Forum members and other SPC partners.
A structured evaluation rubric will weigh recyclability evidence (40%), operational fit (25%), regulatory readiness (20%), and scalability and risk (15%), ensuring a balanced assessment between sustainability promise and practical viability. Prototypes ready for third-party testing are anticipated by the end of 2026.A structured evaluation rubric will weigh recyclability evidence (40%), operational fit (25%), regulatory readiness (20%), and scalability and risk (15%), ensuring a balanced assessment between sustainability promise and practical viability. Prototypes ready for third-party testing are anticipated by the end of 2026.Sustainable Packaging Coalition's Retailer Forum Brief
Beyond the project’s technical outcomes, the Retailer Forum is also testing a new model of collective action—one in which retailers, suppliers, and sustainability experts work together upstream, before packaging reaches shelves. The hope is to shorten the lag between innovation and implementation by sharing responsibility across the value chain.
The SPC Retailer Forum marks a new phase in how major retailers engage with packaging sustainability. By shifting from isolated brand efforts to shared R&D challenges, members are acknowledging that some packaging problems can only be solved through industry-wide collaboration.
“This project is a chance to see the power of SPC membership at work,” Kachook says. “Retailers brought us a specific challenge, and we’re calling on suppliers to help solve this persistent sustainable packaging problem.”
As the Forum’s first project moves forward, its outcomes could set the tone for future retailer-driven innovation—creating a blueprint for how the packaging supply chain can move in lockstep toward a more circular future.
Suppliers interested in participating can review the full R&D Briefbefore entering submissions by December 19, 2025. SPC will then review submissions, narrow down respondents, and selected suppliers will be able to present concepts at SPC Impact 2026 in front of member companies, including the nation’s largest retailers.
Interested parties are encouraged to review the brief in full and prepare submissions.
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Target's up&up private label brand is one that might benefit from more sustainable, low-barrier films that are more recyclable than higher barrier, multi-layer films. Target Media Library
