Trend article
7 trends in sustainable packaging innovation
Tim Sykes shares his insights for 2025 and beyond
Giving you insights in the packaging trends for the years to come is Tim Sykes, Packaging Geek (Ed. his words, not ours), Brand Director at Packaging Europe, and Founder of the Sustainability Awards and the Sustainable Packaging Summit.
Watching packaging trends come and go for nearly 20 years, Tim is in the perfect position to talk about current and upcoming drivers for the highly diverse landscape the packaging industry has become. As we move towards 2025 and beyond, the focus on sustainability, innovation, and global collaboration is more noticeable than ever.
Trend: PPWR inspired innovations
Tim Sykes: “With its urgent and concrete sustainability targets around recycled content, reusability and refill, PPWR pushes companies to reassess their targets. They will develop formats meeting specific PPWR objectives. A good example is the new ketchup dispenser by Kraft Heinz, replacing the single-serve sachets.
In this area, refillable packaging systems are gaining traction. The potential is there, however there’s a need for standardization and we can’t ignore consumer convenience.
I’m convinced that brands will need to come together in order to make reuse and refill schemes a reality. To scale up, standardization is key. And for standardization, you need collaboration.”
Trend: Global collaboration and harmonization
Tim Sykes: “Sustainability is a global challenge, and regions worldwide are looking to each other for best practices and standards. While PPWR might seem a European thing, it’s studied very closely by other parts of the world.
A good example is Australia, where new packaging waste legislation is being developed. What happens with PPWR is very useful for Australia to build on. Harmonizing global standards and learning from each other's experiences is crucial for advancing sustainability in packaging.”
Trend: Carbon central in sustainability calculations
Tim Sykes: “Instead of taking shortcuts that focus on one single metric and could lead to unintended consequences, more and more we will look at packaging from a holistic perspective – with carbon as a central factor in sustainability calculations.
If we want to work towards a sustainable planet for future generations, packaging decisions must be made prioritizing the carbon footprint of packaging and the product inside. We have to make sure there are no trade-offs where being low carbon means putting more packaging in the seas or landfills.”
Trend: E-commerce
Tim Sykes: “The past years large e-commerce players have made good efforts for optimizing their packaging. I’m sure the continuing growth of e-commerce will entail more resource efficient packaging concepts, producing less waste.
One example is primary packaging design, aiming to eliminate the need for an additional pack for transport. Close to that is the right-sizing of packaging for e-commerce - shipping voids is useless.
More generally, there could be a trend toward optimized transit systems, and why not link those with refill & reuse systems?
Note that the certain parts of the world, like Asia for example, are far more developed. Again here, learning from best practices is crucial.”
Trend: Globalization of innovation
Tim Sykes: “From my role at Packaging Europe, I get to witness firsthand how ‘global’ packaging innovation actually is. I see startups from all over the world (Thailand, Japan, South Africa, …) bring new ideas, formats and materials to the market.
This is immensely valuable and one of the upsides to globalization: it allows us to source ideas and expertise from everywhere, even if dynamics of certain markets or consumers are different in different regions.
Does globalization of packaging mean that a product will be put to market in one and the same packaging across regions? Not necessarily, consumer habits and widespread acceptance will be critical here.”
Trend: Recycled content
Tim Sykes: “While Design for Recyling or even Design for Circularity as a concept is rampant, there’s a big challenge in getting hold of recycled content for contact-sensitive packaging.
There’s a dichotomy going on: the current economic situation is not in favor of European recyclers, while at the same time investments from their side are required in order to prepare for regulations and forthcoming recycled content demand.
It will take commitment from brands and retailers to favor recycled over virgin materials in order to increase the availability of recycled materials.
Cross-value chain initiatives such as CEFLEX (Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging) or HolyGrail are making huge efforts in mapping how the circular economy works and creating business models for the circularity of packaging.
In the coming years, the focus on recycled content for contact-sensitive packaging will only sharpen – let’s hope the PPWR will create enough pressure to get us out of the impasse.”
And what about paperization?
Tim Sykes: “The submissions for the Sustainability Awards give me a snapshot of where key innovation is in any given year. Over the past 2-3 years we saw an increase in innovations around paper packaging, such as adding barriers to enhance functionality. Some promising cases with pulp as well.
There certainly is value in certain ‘paperization’ project and consumers are enthusiastic about it, however paper is not always the best or most sustainable solution. Again here, it’s important to lean on a holistic approach and put carbon footprint central. We should avoid making bad choices because they are popular on the short term.”
In summary
As the packaging industry continues to evolve, these trends and innovations will play a pivotal role in shaping a more sustainable future. By prioritizing sustainability, fostering global collaboration and innovation, and putting carbon central, the industry can make significant strides towards reducing its environmental impact and meeting the demands of a changing world.
