HOW TO SOLVE THE MATERIALS PUZZLE The challenge of providing packaging that balances resource efficiency with the lowest possible environmental impact is one that every member of the packaging industry is familiar with. There is no ‘perfect’ solution, but Mondi looks at some of the strategies the industry could be employing to help turn the tide of climate change.
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ast month’s alarming IPCC global climate change report – the first since 2013 – found that human activity is damaging the climate ‘irreversibly’. We don’t need to look further than the recent devastating fires and floods across the globe to know that action needs to be taken now to address climate change and the importance of innovating for a circular economy. So what can we do in the packaging sector to ensure we play our role to mitigate the environmental impact of packaging? Broadly, the value chain from manufacturers, to brand owners, and converters need to innovate and collaborate. Only then can we find the right answers and approach. It’s complicated, though. Mondi, a global leading packaging and paper company, shares its vision of sophisticated packaging strategies for a complex world.
Packaging isn’t perfect, but it serves an essential purpose While we are all keen to provide the most sustainable packaging solutions, the resources used to produce and protect goods during transport are also a factor. In this very magazine, Packaging Europe addresses the issue of its own deliveries. According to the Packaging Europe team, its readers occasionally question the fact that this magazine is delivered in a plastic bag that isn’t recyclable everywhere it is sent. The issue is that there isn’t one alternative that satisfies every criterion better than the others: what’s best for | 6 | Packaging Europe