Ahlstrom receives Packaging S.T.A.R. Award from Taco Bell®

From takeout food to online shopping, more people are leveraging the safety and convenience of ordering online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As unprecedented as this moment in time is, consumers’ shifting purchasing habits have a silver lining—people are paying more attention to the sustainability of product packaging. While the pandemic has compounded an environmental crisis, consumers are paying attention to issues of sustainability in a different way and prioritizing the need for greater packaging sustainability. As we navigate this “new normal,” our awareness of just how much we are consuming has sharpened our focus on the need to advance toward a circular economy for a more sustainable world. In navigating the road to greater sustainability in packaging, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Companies and customers must have access to a variety of solutions and be provided with multiple opportunities to make more sustainable choices. How do we gain traction on our journey toward a more circular economy? In a word: collaboration.

Amcor announces its membership of the Digital Watermarks Initiative “HolyGrail 2.0”, which brings together over 85 companies and organisations across the packaging value chain, including key customers and industry peers. HolyGrail 2.0 is a pilot project facilitated by AIM, the European Brands Association, with the objective to prove the viability of digital watermarking technologies for accurate sorting and, consequently, higher-quality recycling. The project also aims to demonstrate the business case for digital watermarking at scale. It builds on initial research by Amcor’s partner, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, into innovations to improve post-consumer recycling.

A new report from Finland’s Technical Research Center (VTT), “Recycling Food Packaging”, highlights those technology solutions expected to become commercially available in the next five years and says partnerships are essential to deliver the necessary technological innovations in food packaging recycling. VTT’s team examined current and near-future recycling systems for plastic and fiber packaging and found that alliances between brand owners, recycling and sorting technology developers, and waste management companies are fundamental to the development of recycling solutions. Such partnerships are essential for future investment in new recycling technology as they provide, on one hand, accessibility to used material, and on the other hand, a potential user for the recyclate. Commissioned by Huhtamaki the global sustainable packaging solutions provider, the report aims to identify and increase understanding of the key drivers required to deliver a functioning circular economy, in which importantly packaging is not only recyclable, but recycled. “The study predicts a significant increase in industrial chemical recycling capacity in the United States, Europe and East Asia in the next 3–4 years. Chemically recycled polymers can be included in food packaging after full depolymerization, whilst in practice today, recycled polymers certified as food contact material are mainly limited to rPET, used mostly in bottles”, says Mona Arnold, principal scientist at VTT.