Building a Circular Economy for packaging

This April, the 2024 World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) in Brussels served as a meeting point for leading figures in business, government, academia, and civil society to explore how natural resources are being used and share actions, ideas and innovations for more circular societies and economies.

Against the traditional ‘take-make-dispose’ model, which leads to the ever-increasing consumption of virgin natural resources, WCEF 2024 highlighted resource efficiency and the circular economy as key means of influencing material use.

To join the conversation, the 4evergreen alliance - representing the entire fibre-based packaging value chain - participated in WCEF as an expo host, joining experts from all fields. The Forum was a platform to explore the vast opportunities that the circular economy presents to the packaging industry and showcase the effort the sector is already making to further increase packaging recyclability, while sharing the 4evergreen tools and guidelines with relevant actors and stakeholders.

Read on to explore the link between fibre-based packaging and the circular economy, and to learn more about what steps the value chain is taking to contribute to a more sustainable future.

Keeping materials in the loop for longer

Packaging plays a vital role in protecting and transporting goods throughout the supply chain. Manufacturers, transporters, supermarkets, restaurants, households - they all need and use packaging. However, waste and the variety of packaging on the market have raised concerns.

To move towards a Circular Economy and reduce over-packaging and packaging waste, materials need to be kept in use and in the loop for longer. Recycling plays an important role in this respect. ?

The recycling process seeks to provide a safe and viable substitute for the so-called ‘virgin material’, allowing packaging waste to be repurposed into valuable ‘secondary materials’ that meet the quality and safety standards to replace ‘primary materials’.

In particular, the recycling of fibre-based packaging offers significant environmental benefits, as recycled fibres can be used in combination with or even entirely replace virgin fibres, depending on the specific packaging needs. This packaging type also has the highest recycling rate in Europe (82.5% according to Eurostat) and benefits from existing collection and sorting systems across EU member states, which allows the packaging to be reprocessed into a valuable resource after its use.

Optimising packaging circularity throughout its life cycle

To fully understand the environmental performance of packaging and increase its circularity, its entire life cycle must be considered. In the case of fibre-based packaging, this means looking at how fibres are obtained from renewable sources up to the point at which the packaging needs to be collected and processed after its use.

For instance, it is vital to consider the intended use and end-of-life of the packaging at the design stage in order to optimise the recycling process.

To achieve this, the 4evergreen alliance looks at the entire lifecycle of fibre-based packaging by enabling collaboration across the value chain – from forests to producers, designers, brand owners and recyclers – to develop tools and guidelines aimed at increasing the recycling rate of this packaging type to 90% by 2030.

The 4evergreen Recyclability Evaluation Protocol is a harmonised tool that evaluates individual fibre-based packaging products and scores their suitability for recycling, taking into account the different recycling technologies in place across Europe.

The 4evergreen Circularity by Design Guideline takes a look at the design stage, providing key recommendations on packaging and material design, focusing on the ease of collection, sorting and recycling. By considering such aspects at the design stage, we can ensure that packaging is well-suited for subsequent reprocessing in the recycling process.

Lastly, the 4evergreen Guidance on the Improved Collection and Sorting provides recommendations to guide the implementation of the future collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure in Europe. In particular, it supports proper separation at the point of collection, as this makes the recycling process more efficient and increases the quality and quantities of recycled products. The guidance also calls for harmonised and consistent collection and sorting systems at the national and European levels.

Based on this guidance, companies and public authorities can improve their circularity outcomes by implementing value chain recommendations and best practice into their operations.

A shared responsibility

In this transition to a circular economy and an optimised packaging value chain, responsibility is shared.?

All stakeholders in the value chain need to take steps to ensure that they design packaging that is recyclable, use more recycled content, and support recycling systems that are aligned to promote sustainable packaging.

To provide the basis for a circular economy and high-quality recycling, governments must also ensure that adequate collection and sorting infrastructure is in place.

Consumers, too, have a role since separating fibre-based packaging into the appropriate streams at the point of collection is essential for effective recycling. This means that education and communication with consumers are key, with access to information on sorting instructions for local and national areas combined with education programmes and public awareness campaigns to drive long-lasting, generational improvements.

In a Circular Economy, economies need to recognise the importance of the recycling process, promoting an approach that ensures packaging after use is no longer waste, but a valuable resource.