Page 16 - Packaging New magazine Jan-Feb 2023

PACKAGING TRENDS 2023
Sustainability forges ahead, digitisation hot on its heels
Sustainability, design for circularity, food waste prevention, and packaging digitisation dominate the packaging trends reflected in innovation in this sector. Paul Jenkins of The PackHub writes for PKN.
SUSTAINABILITY HAS BEEN a major focus in packaging innovation in recent years due to increasing environ- mental concerns coupled with a global drive across brand owners, retailers and packaging suppliers to reduce the impact of packaging materials and the waste it generates.
There is strong demand for packaging materials and designs that are more sus- tainable, both in terms of their overall environmental impact and their ability to be reduced, recycled or reused. Close to 80 per cent of the 1208 initiatives posted to ThePackHub’s Innovation Zone platform in 2022 were directly related to sustainability.
This sustainability drive has led to the development of a wide range of inno- vative packaging solutions, a trend that will continue into 2023 and beyond.
It may seem that all packaging change is motivated by environmental factors, but this isn’t the case. The global pack- aging market has also seen activity in the drive to reduce waste through pack- aging innovation that extends shelf life. We are also continuing to see a steady and growing drive towards digitalisa- tion with expanding uptake of smart packaging solutions that deliver digital connectivity via on-pack activations
and assist in track and trace and help reduce pack counterfeiting.
Here I reflect on some of the stand- out innovations that bring to life the trends discussed.
DESIGN FOR CIRCULARITY
The goal of design for circularity is to minimise waste and resource con- sumption by designing products and materials that can be reused and repur- posed rather than discarded as waste.
Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder say they have devel- oped a method of infinitely recycling plastic, creating full circularity for the material. The researchers used “revers- ible chemistry,” where polymers from plastic were broken down into their original monomer structure, allowing them to be reused. These monomers then serve as basic building blocks, meaning that they could be rebuilt back into polymers for the same product repeatedly. Usually, plastic is mechan- ically broken down into powders and then burned or bathed in solutions to create small flakes or pellets to be moulded into new products. However, this process does not allow for the same item to be made since the plastic even- tually breaks down until
Below left: Therma is helping businesses to reduce food waste by using sensor technology to monitor temperature and humidity in real time.
Below right: The partnership between Borealis, Plastotechnica and ACMI SpA has resulted in fully recyclable multilayer collation shrink film with appealing optics and pack stability.
it is unusable. Instead of breaking down the plastic, scientists activated “dormant” covalent bonds, allowing traditional polycyanurate thermosets to be recycled into monomers. Is has been reported that current industrial recycling plants would be able to adopt this new chemical method.
Austrian chemical company Borealis has collaborated with two partners to produce flexible packaging products incorporating 50 per cent post-con- sumer recyclate (PCR). The two parties are flexible packaging manufactur- ers Plastotechnica, based in Italy, and Finland-based Rani Plast. Both companies are using new low den- sity polyethylene (LDPE) PCR grades developed and produced by mechani- cal recycling expert Ecoplast, part of the Borealis Group. The move to 50 per cent PCR material reportedly results in a 35 per cent carbon footprint reduc- tion in raw material production when compared to virgin polyolefins, whilst maintaining the same film thickness as virgin materials. The partnership between Borealis, Plastotechnica and its manufacturer of high-tech and flexible bottling and packaging lines, ACMI SpA, has resulted in fully recy-
clable multilayer collation shrink film with appealing optics and pack stability. Borealis and Rani Plast jointly developed a film structure for more sustainable flexible packaging used for tissue paper products such as kitchen roll and
toilet paper.
PREVENTING FOOD WASTE
Food waste has a significant environmental impact and pack- aging has a big role in reducing it. It contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and consumes resources such as water and land to produce. Food waste has an economic impact as well. In the United States alone, it is estimated
16 ❙ JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2023
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