Flexible Packaging
Flexible packaging made today, ready for tomorrow
Fatih Imre, consumer brands market segment manager at Korozo Group, says PPWR and EPR are reshaping the packaging landscape, and the industry must adjust accordingly
E
xtended Producer Responsibility schemes – EPR – are designed to hold businesses to account for the environmental impact of the
packaging they place on the market, including the costs of managing that packaging waste. Examples exist around the world, with the UK’s own pEPR – Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging – coming into effect in January this year.
With a wide-ranging definition of what is counted as ‘packaging’, an array of activities covered by the scheme, complexity in where responsibility lies, and different data sets needed to be recorded and reported to ensure compliance, pEPR is understandably causing headaches for the UK packaging industry.
The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation regulates what kind of packaging can be placed on the EU market, as well as packaging waste management and prevention measures. All packaging must comply with essential requirements related to its manufacturing, composition, and reusable or recoverable nature.
While PPWR came into force earlier this year, as of August 12, 2026, provisions under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation 2025/40 are to be applied in general – making them binding in their entirety and directly applicable to all EU member states automatically without needing to be transposed into national law. Key points of PPWR are to prevent and reduce packaging waste, make all packaging on the EU market recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030, safely increase the use of recycled plastics in packaging, and decrease the use of virgin materials in packaging with the aim of reaching net zero by 2050.
Similarly, EPR schemes aim to encourage 30 May 2025
producers to design packaging that is easier to recycle and to reduce waste generation, ultimately promoting the move to a circular economy.
This makes monomaterial constructions a highly appealing choice for flexible packaging structures, as brands and retailers seek solutions that are both functional and compliant. By combining the capabilities of complex multilayer structures with a single material, monomaterials are able to provide the required barrier characteristics that ensure product integrity at the same time as being easier to recycle.
Solutions such as Korozo’s proprietary KoroRCY polyethylene-based laminating film allows the creation of such single-material pack structures. After laminating KoroRCY to a PE layer, alongside the addition of an EVOH component below 5%, these films can then be formed into recyclable stand-up and flat-bottom pouches, flowpacks, lidding films, and soft bottom thermoforming films,
suitable for packaging a wide variety of food and non-food products.
Brands and retailers in the UK, across Europe, and further afield are already embracing monomaterial packaging, from sensitive confectionery items right through to challenging cleaning products. This illustrates the potential for innovations such as KoroRCY to make a meaningful contribution to the flexible packaging industry’s evolution in line with PPWR, EPR, and other demands placed upon them by consumers seeking more sustainable choices.
Alongside recyclability targets, an equally important focus is on how and where flexible packaging fits into the circular economy. PPWR, for example, mandates specific targets for a minimum percentage of recycled content in packaging. This is to be 35% by 2030 for non-contact sensitive packaging, rising to 65% in 2040. Contact sensitive materials have a lower requirement for recycled content at 10% by 2030 and 25% by 2040.
We are already producing non-contact sensitive films with high levels of PCR content. For powder detergent and capsule detergents we have commercialised cases with 30% PCR content. We are currently in the project phase to adapt these to 35% and align them with the requirements PPWR ahead of schedule. Our work is creating an environment where brands have access to solutions they can rely on to ensure compliance and consumers are given straightforward options that enable them to be more sustainable.
As a leading international supplier of flexible packaging, that is our responsibility and privilege and to ensure the entire value chain is delivering sustainability, pack by pack.
www.convertermag.com
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