Defining what constitutes an advancement in sustainability is harder than it seems at first glance because the scope needs to be defined. What one person might categorize as a sustainable advancement might be rudimentary from another person’s perspective. For example, someone might be proud of the fact that they finally made the decision to start recycling, while their neighbor is making clothes out of the hemp grown in their backyard. That scope is narrowed when it comes to an industry like packaging, but we’re still talking about different degrees of commitment amidst a wide swath of segments within the industry. But progress, no matter what it may be, is still progress. The following are places where we and others around the industry have seen advances.
Change without corporate buy-in can be slow. Consumers, however, are making their voices heard that they want sustainable products, and companies are listening. Film manufacturer Südpack has begun a collaboration with Recenso and Count to take reusable materials that cannot currently be mechanically recycled and recycle them on an industrial scale with a process called CARBOLIQ. Südpack says it is following its long-term objective to further develop chemical recycling technology and turn it into an alternative to the market.