Tackling small-format flexible plastic packaging, like wrappers and sachets, is a key systemic barrier to eliminating plastic waste and pollution. Flexibles account for ~80% of plastic packaging entering oceans and have some of the lowest recycling rates globally, particularly in countries with informal waste collection and insufficient infrastructure to manage waste.
38 businesses, NGOs, investors, and academics are calling for accelerated innovation towards paper-based alternatives that are responsibly designed.
Paper packaging alternatives could play a role in reducing flexible packaging waste and pollution. They have the potential to be recyclable (and recycled in practice with the right collection systems) as well as biodegradable, if, in a worst-case scenario, they end up in the environment.
Paper-based packaging is only one part of the solution. A full circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. approach is needed, including minimising reliance on small format flexible packaging of any material by scaling reusereuseThe repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification., refill, and packaging-free models. Material substitution must be paired with investment in inclusive collection and recycling infrastructure that protects the livelihoods of informal waste pickers.
Responsible design
Paper-based flexible packaging must be responsibly designed to avoid replacing one set of problems with another.
In practice, that means alternatives should meet six critical criteria. Without careful design and sourcing, paper packaging may offer little or no improvement over the plastic it replaces. The following report establishes guardrails for when, and under what conditions, paper-based packaging can be a beneficial alternative.
Packaging that meets all six criteria does not yet exist at the scale, cost, or performance needed, so this report calls on businesses and policymakers to accelerate the development of paper-based flexible packaging solutions and establish the safeguards needed to guide their responsible use.
It is critical to accelerate innovation. The current gap between ambition and market-ready packaging should reinforce, not deter, the case for innovating, investing, and piloting now.
It is crucial to combine this with ensuring sustainable fibre supply chains, establishing effective and socially inclusive collection and recycling systems, and advancing other priority solutions such as reusable packaging wherever viable.
Paper-based flexible packaging
The role it could play in tackling small-format flexible plastic pollution in markets with high leakage rates
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