2 sustainable packaging trends to watch in 2022

When it comes to sustainable packaging, 2022 has seen many trends emerge. Progress was already observed in 2021, even though the coronavirus continued to disrupt supply chains and the recycling industry.

Will this momentum continue in 2022? Here are some trends to watch:

Stepping up measures to eliminate toxic substances from packaging

"The circular nature of the recycling economy may have the potential to introduce additional chemicals into products," warned a recent EPA study after finding higher amounts of fragrances, flame retardants, solvents, biocides and dyes in products made from recycled materials.

As more retailers such as McDonald's have announced bans on PFAS, new tools are emerging to guide them towards safer packaging choices. The Center for Environmental Health and Clean Production Action have published a GreenScreen Certified standard for food service products, providing a safety standard for plates, bowls and other disposable food products to ensure they contain no PFAS or thousands of other toxic chemicals.

"This new standard can really help retailers, manufacturers and formulators ensure the safety of alternatives when transitioning away from PFAS, phthalates or other chemicals of high concern," said Mike Schade, director of the Mind the Store campaign.

A more holistic approach to packaging

Packaging stakeholders say they want to move the conversation on sustainable packaging beyond more and better recycling, better single-use products or the best material to use.

"If what we care about is the climate impacts of consumption, we need to look at [packaging] more holistically," said Goldberg. The Understanding Packaging (UP) dashboard, created by a new collaboration of food service companies and environmental NGOs called the Single-Use Materials Decelerator, will help on this front. The dashboard, currently in beta, is an online tool for assessing the full range of environmental and human health impacts of food products and food packaging.

For Matt Prindiville, executive director of Upstream, a non-profit organisation focused on reuse and refill solutions, a more holistic approach means seeing packaging not as a product, but rather as a service, and designing reusable and refillable supply chains.