This year’s Global Pouch Forum in late May was jam-packed with engaging and informative presentations and speakers. One of them was Latricia Fry, Sustainability & Market Development Manager at Inteplast.

At GPF, Fry presented a “Converters Perspective: Driving Sustainability in Flexible Packaging.” Shortly before taking the stage, Fry sat down with Packaging Strategies to discuss this important theme.

We asked Fry about some of the key points that she was planning to get across to GPF attendees during her presentation, especially in the context of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mandates.

“We’re facing a very distinct challenge in the flexible packaging industry today. Flexible packaging—especially multi-layer flexible packaging—faces the stiffest fees when it comes to EPR,” Fry said. “What we really need to focus on is how we can design for recyclability today … and reduce those EPR fees for our brand owner customers.”

While mono-material polyethylene and polypropylene certainly offer definite advantages when it comes to recycling, Fry said the reality is that multi-layer flexible packaging is an essential option for protecting products.

“That’s where advanced recycling really comes into play. There are a lot of pilot programs going on right now that are capturing those multi-material products and actually moving them through advanced recycling, where you get down to a feedstock that you can make back into resin,” Fry said.

Check out the entire interview with Fry.