Transitioning to a Circular Economy for Packaging
In our effort to better understand our position in achieving a circular economy and moving away from bottom-heavy processes in the waste hierarchy, we have produced articles on different sectors of our work. In this article, we look at one of these: packaging.
Packaging plays a vital role in the world of commerce and trade; whose diverse functions go beyond simply containing, protecting, and preserving products. Nowadays, packaging also serves to communicate, promote, and facilitate transactions for products. With its ability to provide visceral cues, packaging can inspire consumer perception and behaviour towards the product including its EoU and EoL treatment. This composition, marks the work of over 150 years of design and function development which has carefully synergised the functions of commerce, business and policy.
After the Second World War, the consumer market exploded due to innovations in aluminium and plastics, making materials cheaper and more functional. TV dinners and alike post-war trends fuelled a new perspective on consumer habits towards convenience and disposal which became increasingly culturally accepted. As such, the impacts of our increased consumption of packaging materials have also rose including the now-known harmful impacts of plastic pollution and a disposal-dependent hierarchy and in the 1970’s, a universal recycling symbol for paper and card was developed- the Mobus Loop- by Gary Anderson. [1] In conjunction, the world’s first plastic recycling centre was developed in 1972 in Pennsylvania. [2]
Moving on to the 80s, 90s and 00s, the rise of digital technology excelled what packaging was capable of being and it evolved in both design and speed of production. The need to shift away from disposal packaging became increasingly understood and recycling became an increasing focus for packaging materials however it was not necessarily actioned. The complex nature of plastics recycling, consumer perspectives and lacking policy support led to recycling rates of plastic lag far behind of other items such as paper, glass and metal. And, in 2008 only 6.5% (2.2 million tons) of post-consumer plastic waste was recycled globally, and 85.5% (28.9 million tons) went to landfills. [3]
Since then, the demand on certain materials which make packaging has continued to rise. For example, plastic consumption has quadrupled over the past 30 years, driven by growth in emerging markets. In fact from 2000 to 2019, global plastics production doubled to reach 460 million tonnes. [4] The need now is to continue to move the packaging market away from disposal, but also away from dependence on recycling and towards to top end of the waste hierarchy.
Despite the increase in packaging materials such as plastics, in recent years, there has been a shift towards the top end of the waste hierarchy whereby packaging materials are collected for reuse, before being disposed of. For example, between 2019 and 2021, a global study by GlobeScan showed that people altered their shopping habits to actively avoid plastic packaging.
What’s driving this change? Both consumers, supermarkets, and policymakers are becoming more open the idea of making changes to the products they purchase, sell, regulate, in terms of using less, alternative, and reusable packaging to help the environment. [5] This shift in the societal and legislative landscape is driving the packaging industry to take further steps to become more circular once more, and to contribute to meeting the UK’s Net Zero targets and regulations through reducing greenhouse gas emissions both internally and along their supply chains. In this way, the packaging sector can be pushed from a recycling economy, to a circular one. Despite our current struggles to decrease packaging to landfills especially plastics, let alone moving to a complete recycling economy, can we really reach a circular economy for packaging, and what could this look like?
In a report for UKRI Innovate UK, Oakdene Hollins and Valpak use an innovative futures methodology to project five future scenarios of packaging. The scenarios, ordered one to five, reflect different scenarios for packaging in the future (2050) where the scenario following the most linear pathway is scenario one, and scenario five reflects the most circular. The following describes, in order, the five scenarios:
The consumption of 2020=2050 Aftermath shows a future where we continue business-as-usual under a linear pathway.
Consumerism of 2020 in Part-sustainable 2050 as discussed here which focuses on recycling.
Re(use)volution is where we move towards circularity with a particular focus on reuse.
Doorstep to Fork is the forth scenario which describes a future where systems are designed to circulate resources and energy.
Augmented circularism describes a future whereby technology has optimised systems to fully incorporate circularity into our daily lives.
Under scenario two, Consumerisim of 2020 in part-sustainable 2050, recycling has a prominent theme, whereby the primary source of material is the outputs from recycling plants, with most packaging reaching close to 100% recycled content. Chemical recycling and bio-waste stream recovery infrastructure is present all over the UK under scenario 2. Additionally, many fossil-based materials have been replaced by more sustainable options.
“Having a foresight into the future is key for policymakers looking to introduce legislative and regulatory mechanisms to help facilitate or prevent certain scenarios. Equally, leadership and collaboration across the supply chain are key to ensuring the path to the preferred future is supported and realised. ”
As the future depicted in scenario 2 is similar to our current situation, it appears more realistic and acceptable to society in comparison to the other scenarios presented. However, this scenario is dependent on increasing recycling rate, which will rely on several key advancements including in public awareness, enforcing policies which motivate industry, and defining recyclability. The UK government wish to introduce an Extended Producer responsibility scheme for packaging which is likely to come into force this year. However this regulation only aims at addressing concerns around recycled content and recyclability thus harnessing into the recycling economy rather than the circular economy.
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulations (ESPR) proposal was introduced by the Commission on March 30th, 2022. It expands on the existing Ecodesign Directive, promoting circular and environmentally sustainable products. The proposal establishes ecodesign requirements for various product groups, improving their energy performance and overall sustainability. Most physical goods sold in the EU market will be subject to performance and information requirements, with some exceptions for food and feed. The framework will allow for the setting of a wide range of requirements, including on: [6]
product durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability
presence of substances that inhibit circularity
energy and resource efficiency
recycled content
remanufacturing and recycling
carbon and environmental footprints
information requirements, including a Digital Product Passport
For packaging, this encourages using less virgin material, therefore designing the packaging so that it requires less material while still maintaining its key functions or, improving on them to increase their usable lifespan. As a result, this discourages the use of single-use plastics from virgin sources and likewise encourages reusable plastic items. The regulation could therefore act as a push in the right direction towards a circular future in packaging.
Overall, three of the scenarios promote a circular economy (scenarios 3-5), whilst one (scenario 2) promotes a recycling economy and one (scenario 1) a linear pathway. This shows, that there is ample opportunity for the packaging sector to become circular but it must move away from business-as-usual and recycling dependency. Considering our current trajectory in the packaging sector, and the issues still facing disposal especially around plastics, a recycling dependent future seems likely but, we must do more to ensure a circular economy. For a circular economy to be realised, it is crucial that supply chain players begin planning now how they can prepare from these to decrease the probability of staying on a linear pathway or within a recycling economy.
References
[1] Start Packaging. The History of Recycling Symbols | Good Start Packaging
[2] Woodford Recycling. Everything You Didn’t Know About the Mobius Loop | Woodford Recycling Services
[3] History of Plastic Recycling. Plastic Recycling History - Recycling Plastic Benefits (historyofplastic.com)
[4] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Plastic pollution is growing relentlessly as waste management and recycling fall short, says OECD
[5] Kantar Public Accelerating the shift to reusable packaging - Kantar Public
[6] European Commission. Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation - European Commission (europa.eu)