Written by Conventional packaging has however been widely replaced by flexible packaging as a sustainable solution in the industry given its environmental and efficiency gains. With consumer and business preference shifting towards sustainable packaging and recycled contents, flexible packaging is set to play a significant role in the transition towards a circular economy. Here are some of the key benefits of flexible packaging when it comes to supporting sustainability goals:Here are some of the key benefits of flexible packaging when it comes to supporting sustainability goals:
1. Reduced Material Use
It is often much less material than it may be needed when using rigid packaging formats. For instance, a flexible pouch may require 80% less material than a rigid container containing similar products. As a result, flexible packaging involves significantly lesser raw material inputs and is associated with considerably smaller carbon footprint in relation to the extraction of resources, manufacturing and transportation. Flexible packaging can therefore help in reducing the emissions and waste associated with packaging to great extents by shifting more applications to this kind of packaging.
2. Lightweighting Transportation
The ease of transportation that flexible packaging possesses is also due to the fact that it is relatively light. Additional quantity of packages can be loaded on each pallet and transport vehicle where lightweight flexible packaging is used in place of the rigid packaging. In the case of companies that handle packaged goods, this reduction in weight of the packaging material has the potential of reducing emissions from the supply chain distribution system greatly. According to Walmart, packaging lightweighting efforts, which include reducing the weight of packages that carry products, have taken millions of truck loads off the road. Thus, flexible packaging plays a significant role in these supply chain improvements.
3. Resource Efficiency
Flexible packaging material shows lesser consumption of bulk resources such as water and energy in the production phase than the other available materials. For instance, while flexible packaging is a relatively new method of packaging food and other materials, it is cheaper than glass or metal packaging in that its production use far less water than the two. Flexible packaging is also thinner than rigid packaging and this means that less energy is used in converting the material to a final product than when using thick, rigid containers. Therefore, since flexibility of packaging ensures efficient use of natural resources, societies might offer a broader application of flexible packaging the opportunity to ‘more, with less,’ when it comes to addressing the needs of an emerging global middle class.
4. Food Waste Prevention
Convenience is another significant factor, and maybe the most important one because flexible packaging has the potential to help significantly reduce food waste, which is perhaps one of the largest problems humanity faces at the moment. Besides, structures such as light weight plastics and metalized films contribute in offering barrier characteristic that shields the food from exposure, deterioration and contamination. This makes it possible for the packaged food to remain fresh for considerable number of days which makes it possible for the food to cover considerable retail distance in reaching the consumers. Lacking this food loss prevention quality of flexible films and pouches, significantly larger amounts of food would spoil during distribution, thus becoming a source of methane emissions in landfills rather than nutritious meals. Reducing the amount of wasted food means significant sustainability savings as the food waste means investments in the resources required to grow, process, transport, and store the food that is lost.
5. Recyclability and Circularity
Recyclability of flexible packaging is still somewhat behind other forms of packaging, though there is evidence of the advancement of recovery and reuse programs. There are new innovations available like the mono-material pouch made from recycled material and available in some markets to show that circular flexible packaging is possible. There are also central recycling hubs that are equipped with sophisticated sorting and recycling facilities aimed at reclaiming value from post-industrial flexible packaging material that would otherwise be wasted. Such systems show that multilayer flexible packaging is not an absolute cul-de-sac – it can also become part of the circular economy. Major food and beverage companies Nestle, PepsiCo, and others are developing the necessary recycling capacities, in areas where they do not exist. In the long run, the enhancement of the recyclability of flexible packaging will further increase the sustainability aspects of the pack.
The Way Forward
Flexible packaging has sustainability over many substitute packaging materials, and improvements are still possible. In this case, optimization will require cross-Industrial value chain cooperation – resin manufacturers, packaging converters, brands in the consumer space, recyclers and others. Flexible packaging however seems well positioned to deliver solutionist sustainability impacts on a global scale in the coming years if facilitated by the appropriate commitments, leadership and innovation. As far as the further developments of sustainable packaging are concerned, the concept of flexibility seems to stand at its center.
