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Packaging: Focusing on the journey rather than the destination
By Krzysztof Krajewski, chief sustainability & innovation off icer at RDM Group
impermeability, which in turn may negatively impact product protection.
Biodegradable packaging brings its own challenges, as it requires specific conditions to breakdown properly (hence why compost requires a separate bin). In reality, these conditions are often missing, with packaging trapped under piles of landfill without oxygen and the required elements to degrade. Unable to go through the necessary stages, it behaves much like traditional plastics. While we know paper-based products to be amongst the most environmentally friendly options, being widely recycled with strong consumer confidence in their proper recycling, paper or cartonboard alone cannot provide adequate barriers, especially moisture-proofing required for many products.
THE CURRENT REALITY P
ackaging accounts for a third of all plastic use, creating a major challenge for the industry as it seeks to balance meeting consumer and commercial needs with managing the substantial waste this generates. However, instead of demonising all plastic outright, we should be asking how we can use existing materials more intelligently, and what a realistic, circular packaging economy looks like in practice today.
With the right design and appropriate methods, plastic has a role to play in delivering a range of high-performance products to consumers, while still contributing to a circular economy, particularly in the form of paper-based, plastic-coated cartonboard.
GOOD VERSUS BAD: A FALSE DICHOTOMY While it may be tempting to label plastic as bad and other packaging materials as good, this is simply not true.
For some products, plastic remains the only viable option for the level of protection and functional barriers it provides. It keeps food
fresh, degradable materials dry, and prevents chemical contamination. It also stops moisture escaping from packages or entering them. It is both durable and protective and can be shaped under pressure and heat to form countless variations, shapes and types. Yet we know that the durability of plastic – and one of the most common forms today is polyethylene (PE) – is a double-edged sword. Plastic products that are discarded do not readily degrade. Without proper management, they often go unrecycled and end up in the environment, as landfill, litter, or ocean waste. Much of this waste turns into the damaging microplastics that are now present throughout the biosphere.
Meanwhile, the search for future alternatives, such as bio-derived and biodegradable polymers, is underway. It remains a challenge and currently, these options do not offer the same level of efficiency at the price and availability of common type of plastics. In addition, solutions that are inherently designed to degrade often compromise structural integrity and
The fact remains that the perfect packaging solution, one that is universal, affordable and environmentally friendly has yet to be implemented at scale. This makes it all the more important to design effective solutions for this current transition period, rather than focusing only on the end goal of “perfect” packaging.
To avoid leaving packaging with huge gaps in execution, cost, or feasibility - or having companies avoid attempting improvements unless they can achieve perfection immediately - we need to consider a halfway point. This involves examining how plastic can be used alongside other more sustainable materials and focusing on how to make current solutions more circular and sustainable. This means prioritising scalable, safe and circular-ready materials already on the market, and building the infrastructure around them.
A MIDDLE GROUND ALTERNATIVE: PE- COATED BOARD
Often overlooked in the rush toward “next- gen” materials, PE-coated board delivers the barrier protection to food-grade packaging,
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September 2025
www.convertermag.com
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