AMERIPEN and PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, released “PACKAGING COMPASS: Evaluating Trends in U.S. Packaging Design over the Next Decade and Implications for the Future of a Circular Packaging System”, a study to help identify key 10-year trends in packaging design, and materials, and the implications of these trends on legislation and the recovery systems for consumer-packaged goods (CPG).
Interest in advancing a circular packaging economy is shared by stakeholders across the packaging value chain and policymakers throughout the U.S. are introducing legislation to improve and grow the package recovery system; industry and stakeholders are engaging on that legislation. This report is intended to help support informed legislation and investment for packaging recovery by providing industry insights on the future of packaging so legislation and investment can better align to meet tomorrow’s needs.
AMERIPEN Executive Director Dan Felton said, “The U.S. is in a unique position, with four states enacting packaging producer responsibility laws, and more states looking at similar legislation or complementary policies like recycled content mandates. These laws are seen as a vehicle in which the packaging community can help fund and support the design of recovery systems to advance circularity. Sharing data on packaging trends and the rationale for packaging design decisions can help align our recycling and composting systems with the data needed to understand future material inflows. Using that data, we can begin to target investments and strategies to collectively create increased circularity.”
“Packaging is essential to the world. We rely on packaging to safeguard our food, protect our medicines, shield our purchases, and transport our goods; and because of this, our industry is committed to doing its part to limit its environmental impact,” said Rebecca Marquez, Director, Custom Research at PMMI. “This research, with AMERIPEN, is vital to our path forward so that we align key packaging trends with sustainability goals.”
Key findings include:
- Today’s recovery systems are not well matched to meet the foreseen shifts in packaging design. Of the three key materials identified within design trends, two are materials for which there are limited options for consumers to access recovery systems while the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) demand is already demonstrating a gap between demand and supply. As we look to legislation and investment for packaging and recovery, alignment and collaboration with an eye towards future packaging trends will help target the most effective legislation and investments for the U.S. recovery system.
- Packaging designers indicate a strong interest in flexible films with a projected annual compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4-6 percent. Flexibles are anticipated to be one of the fastest growing segments within plastic packaging. Data shows that currently only 1.9 percent of U.S. households have curbside access to recycle flexible materials. Material recovery facilities (MRFs) need further development to handle the growth of this material. Investments in collection, sorting and processing of flexible packaging films are needed to expand recycling of this growing packaging format.
- Compostable packaging is projected to see a significant jump around 2027, with a CAGR of 15-16 percent. Compostable packaging is not yet accepted by many composting facilities across the U.S., limiting consumer access to compostable services collection. The successful recovery of compostable packaging will require increased composting infrastructure and investment.
- Packaging designers indicate plans to increase post-consumer recycled (PCR) content within their packaging over the next decade. There is already a gap between PCR demand and supply for packaging, particularly for food contact packaging. This gap is expected to increase without more investment and supply into the recycling system. New technologies and systems to improve both the quality and volume of PCR content for safe packaging use must be considered.
This report is an attempt to close the gap between packaging design and recovery systems, outlining the complexities of packaging design, what materials or formats are expected to grow and how these trends will impact recycling and composting systems and related legislation.
AMERIPEN and PMMI believe that effective policy and market development is based on good data. The Packaging Compass report brings critical insights into legislative, recycling, and composting policy considerations by providing insight into packaging design over the next 10 years. Collaborating to share insights with stakeholders across the packaging value chain can help ensure we collectively design and implement well-crafted policies and systems that are results-based, effective and efficient, and equitable and fair.