Collaborating Our Way Toward a More Circular Economy (packagingdigest.com)

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.

Cross-sector alliances and interconnected partnerships are not only crucial, but pivotal in the push for circularity. At WestRock, we practice the power of collaborative partnership as an integral part of our sustainability philosophy. This means having ongoing conversations about products, processes and how we can make better choices for people, for communities and for the planet.

In September 2020 during Climate Week, WestRock hosted a forum to explore the trends and innovations in sustainable packaging, moderated by the GreenBiz Group. We joined several of our industry and NGO partners virtually to discuss just how companies can drive sustainable change through collaboration. These included The Coca-Cola Company, The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), GreenBlue and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. One of the most important things we discussed was how having collaborative conversations that actively involve multiple stakeholders—from the people sourcing materials, to those designing the package, to those responsible for collections—is one of the most powerful ways to ignite truly thoughtful, comprehensive, sustainable strategies.
more at source: https://www.packagingdigest.com/sustainability/collaborating-our-way-toward-more-circular-economy