The term ‘Circular Economic’ or ‘Circularity’ has become more popular during the past few years. It refers to an economic system that tackles global changes like climate change, biodiversity loss, food and packaging waste, and pollution. Meanwhile, ‘Linear Economy’ businesses take the natural resources and turn them into a product which is designed to be wasted after its use: ‘Circular Economy’ aims to keep those products, materials, and infrastructure in use for longer in a more sustainable way and improve the productivity of those resources.

Packaging is one of the most apparent subjects when it comes to Linear and Circular Economy. SUP and other harmful resources for packaging had been the most popular choices for packaging in the past due to their cost and versatility. However, these materials have created significant problems, such as heavy pollution, CO2 emission, and biodiversity loss. As a result, Governments and organisations had to go a step ahead and start planning new action plans towards sustainability: one of them is the bans and restrictions on the use of SUP’s.

Governments are engaging more with the packaging industry, and we expect this to continue. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation ensures that producers of goods manage their product’s packaging after the product is used, is active in several geographies and is likely to be expanded over time. The direction of travel towards incentivising a more circular economy is clear, and packagers and brand owners will be required to bear more of the cost of creating circular solutions.

Compostable and recyclable packaging are the leading solutions, and Packaging Environmental’s sustainable and compostable packaging is created to be compostable in facilities (where accepted) or recyclable. This means, either way, the waste packaging will have a second life or will be decomposed into non-toxic particles after 12 weeks in the case of compostables. These types of renewable packaging ensure the waste won’t go and contaminate the landfills after use.