14-Feb-2022 | Market Research Store
Carton producers are prioritizing manufacturing cartons from 100% recycled and renewable materials, which will lead to the reduction in their plastic consumption by 2030 and also scale up their sustainability along with helping meet the global climate goals.
Such pledges by beverage carton producers are part of the industry group Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment’s roadmap to 2030.
It is planned to reach a 70% recycling rate along with a 90% collection rate by the end of the decade. However, it is also decided to enhance the product design to scale up the circularity and also look forward to decarbonizing the value chain to meet the goals to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“We strongly believe that packaging can and should actually contribute to mitigating the two biggest challenges nowadays in our view, which are climate change but also food safety and health and safety,” Annick Carpentier, director general at the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment told EURACTIV.
The industry has already taken the initiative towards achieving the set climatic goals, Carpentier added. The European Commission is required to create an environment of innovation but also have enough time and space to make efforts to achieve these initiatives in its revision of circular legislation early next year.
Some laws are likely to be revised next year, including the one for the packaging and packaging waste directive. They should be in line with the European Union executive goals for all packaging in the regional market to be based on recyclable and reusable in an economical way by the end of 2030.
The commission is likely to address some of its problems, according to Carpentier. Alongside the reusability and recyclability issues, she also wants the government and market leaders to focus on the sourcing of materials.
Environmental campaign group Zero Waste Europe is promoting the moves by sector to enhance sustainability. They also emphasize lowering the amount of raw material adopted in the manufacturing process.
This is a challenge for the whole beverage carton sector, which depends on virgin fiber for their products, thanks to its building structure and the laws regarding the food contact materials.
Napierska is a vital part of the industry's road map, highlighting that it does not offer many insights on how the goals will be achieved.
According to Carpentier, the sector is highly focused on biodiversity protection and sustainability. Since 2015, all the fibers which are being used in the beverage cartons have been made from certified and sustainably managed forests.
The major focus of the famous carton sector is the requirement to design products aligned with circular economy principles.
In 2019, the beverage carton held around 51% of the recycling rate, but it is likely to see a downtrend as the latest innovation methodologies are likely to affect their ability to measure recycling accurately. As per zero-waste Europe, the recycling rate was, in fact, lower than this.