Packaging Trends, Impacts, and Sustainability Solutions for 2025
Given the widely reported epidemic of microplastic pollution, the development of eco-friendly and sustainable packaging has become a top priority for many businesses and governments. In addition to directly contributing to waste, the disposable nature of single-use plastic packaging requires constant industrial production, resulting in high carbon emissions that directly impact global warming. Waste management solutions must be improved when recycling these materials, as many take up space in landfills and end up in the ocean.
In recent years, one of the most promising sustainable options has been biodegradable polymer packaging materials, which can mimic the beneficial flexible packaging properties of plastic compounds. For example, switching to packing peanuts made from cornstarch, which dissolves in warm water, instead of polyester, which takes about 300 years to decompose and is made using oil, a non-renewable resource. While certain types of plastics can be recycled, the rise in current flexible packaging trends has further limited recycling options.
Given the option of paper, cardboard, glass, and aluminum as more eco-friendly packaging alternatives to plastic, how much of a problem is plastic in 2024, and what can be done to minimize the issues?
How much plastic packaging is used each year
A shocking 141 million tonnes of plastic packaging are produced every year. To better imagine the sheer mountain of garbage produced by individuals and corporations, spreading 141 million tonnes of plastic in three-meter layers would cover the entire island of Manhattan over 100 times. If the same number of empty water bottles were placed in a single line, it would wrap around the circumference of the Earth more than three times. Given these images, how many years can we afford to keep using single-use plastics?
How much plastic packaging is wasted each year
Paper and cardboard are the primary packaging waste materials in the EU (34 million tonnes), followed by plastic (16.1 million tonnes) and glass packaging waste (15.6 million tonnes). Worldwide, 40% of plastic, an uncompostable polymer material, is from packaging, an important figure considering the lack of recycling opportunities for plastic components such as polyester. Polyester is the primary type of polymer plastic used to make beverage bottles, food containers, clothing, rope, and plastic polymer packing materials.
How much does plastic packaging contribute to pollution?
Plastic production, use, and disposal contribute about 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon emissions annually. About 90% of these emissions come from the industrial production stage, during which fossil fuels, such as oil, are converted using toxic forever chemicals. While the greenhouse gases emitted only account for around 3.3% of global emissions, the use of fossil fuels and forever chemicals directly threatens the environment. In addition to the apparent problem of pulling from a finite resource and the shortcomings in recycling these highly polluting materials, fossil fuels and forever chemicals directly threaten the environment.
How much plastic packaging ends up in the ocean
Around a third of all plastic packaging on the global market leaks from collection systems, continuously polluting the environment. This large quantity of plastic packaging overwhelmingly ends up in the ocean, where the waste piles have merged into literal plastic islands. Five surfaces of disposed packaging are currently large enough to qualify as islands, made of the now 70% of plastic waste from the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic packaging produced since the Industrial Revolution.
What percentage of food packaging is plastic
While paper and cardboard still dominate packaging, plastic already accounts for about 40% of all food packaging, with glass holding the third majority. Plastic packaging itself accounts for 37% of the total plastic demand.
What is plastic packaging made of
Many different types of plastics are used for various purposes in food packaging. The type of plastic to make water bottles and line soda cans, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), is used for its lightweight and good barrier properties. In contrast, the type of plastic used to make egg cartons, disposable cups, and foam meat trays, PS (polystyrene), is chosen for its lightweight and insulating properties. Despite the versatility of the latter polystyrene, it is a form of plastic that is the most detrimental to the environment as it cannot be recycled. Not all plastics are made equal when it comes to their recyclability. Advancements in flexible packaging have also made recycling even more of a challenge. While they make transport and storage more manageable, their layered nature makes them impossible to separate for reuse.
What changes can be made to packaging practices and materials to improve our environment?
Highlights of the current plastic packaging regulations.
- Today, nearly 60% of new plastic waste is burned to prevent it from ending up in landfills or the ocean. However, burning plastics to manage the volume of garbage adds to the CO2 footprint and contributes to global warming.
- The plastics business contributes roughly 19% of the remaining carbon budget needed to meet the 1.5 °C goal.
- It’s estimated that the EU recycles 84.2% of its packaging waste. However, only 40% of plastics were recycled as of 2021, with a 55% goal by 2030, which aligns with the EU Green Deal to reduce, reuse and recycle. Flexible packaging that includes plastic components has posed the biggest challenge in reaching that goal.
Is sustainable packaging more expensive?
Sustainable packaging is not necessarily more expensive. However, the price of eco-packaging, whether sustainable or not, often depends on economies of scale. This requires significant funding from governments and agencies or high business demand to justify manufacturing investments in biodegradable polymer flexible packaging. Political pressure and consumer sentiment can drive higher business demand for eco-friendly manufacturing and packaging, especially as the growing eco-conscious Gen Z reaches purchasing power.
Engineering polymers like certain bioplastics such as PHA lead to significantly more expensive packaging materials. This is due to the high cost of the base molecule and the much higher production costs compared to conventional plastics, which require specialized polymer chemistry.
How to make plastic more sustainable?
Some companies, such as SCGC Thailand, have prioritized designing for recyclability. By avoiding flexible packaging made from non-compatible polymer layers and only working with polymer plastic materials such as PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), and PO (polyolefins), they have created 100% recyclable shipping packaging for their customers. Other innovative eco-packaging solutions, such as Henkel’s recyclable mono-material Pril pouch and Nescage’s 150g refill pouch with dedicated recycling stations, are other commendable initiatives for making food packaging more sustainable.
How to make shipping more sustainable?
In partnership with leading Thai companies such as Lion (Thailand), Cow (Thailand), and Colgate-Palmolive (Thailand), SCGC has also developed solutions to reduce the volume of plastic needed per packaging by 8-12% and increase durability by up to 20%.
Using “SMART” packaging is a technological advancement that helps make storage and distribution more sustainable. “SMART” packaging uses QR codes and sorting machines to optimize space and inventory management.
When searching for sustainable packaging for small businesses, using the right packaging size for transport and exclusively using recycled paper, cardboard, and biodegradable packing peanuts is a change most businesses can make at zero extra cost to positively impact their carbon footprint directly.
What’s the takeaway?
The packaging industry stands at a critical juncture. The sheer volume of plastic waste—spanning everything from water bottles to polyester food containers—has placed enormous pressure on ecosystems worldwide. While sustainable packaging, including biodegradable polymer flexible packaging and recyclable materials, presents a promising way forward, lasting change requires a unified effort. Governments, businesses, and consumers must advocate for and invest in green packaging solutions. By rethinking how we produce, use, and dispose of packaging, we can significantly reduce plastic pollution and carbon emissions, moving closer to a future where sustainability is the norm rather than the exception.
To learn more about bioplastics and other innovations in sustainable packaging, read my article, “Top Sustainable Packaging Trends for 2025: Eco-friendly Innovations in Flexible and Biodegradable Packaging.”
