Sustainable Packaging and Circular Economy: a great challenge!

There is no single solution to address this mayor global challenge, although many studies and documents address these issues in depth.

Adriana Wolff, Senior strategic packaging engineer with 30+ years of experience in the food, beverage, and cosmetic industries in the US and Latin America. Speaker at 80+ domestic and international forums on sustainable packaging.

Three main aspects force us to find sustainable packaging solutions within the framework of a circular economy.

1. The world’s population will reach 9,7 billion by 2050, an increase of 2,4 billion from 2015.

2. Waste from packaging materials in landfills, rivers and oceans has significant increase significantly. A rough estimate for plastic indicates 78 million tons per year!

3. Food waste has increased to 1,3 billion tons per year.

We all agree, however, that products, under the existing trading system “travel” locally, regionally or globally to finally reach consumers, and this is not be possible without adequate packaging protection.

Companies that rely heavily on packaging materials and producers of those materials are working to find more and better sustainable solutions. But many issues still have to be addressed and resolved.

1. End consumers are confused about the ‘’correct’’ terminology to use and its implications. For example, a material that is “biodegradable” is better than “recyclable’’? It would also seem that the problem relates only to...

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