How packaging converters can advance sustainability

We’ve heard it too: “What’s on the inside matters most.” While that’s often true, there is an important exception. When it comes to sustainability in the packaging world, what’s on the outside may matter more.

Today, sustainability is the packaging industry’s hottest topic. Growing climate concerns, increasing consumer demand, and escalating regulatory requirements mandate action and outcomes. However, a recent study shows that while 75% of organizations have sustainability commitments, less than 30% are prepared to meet them. With intensifying focus and urgency to achieve climate initiatives, it’s vital to close this gap — with increased awareness, tangible approaches, and innovative packaging materials that are more environmentally sustainable.

Packaging converters, the heart of the packaging industry, are key to advancing sustainability. As a partner to packaging converters worldwide, Henkel is working to accelerate progress in the packaging industry and beyond with meaningful, measurable results. At Henkel, processes, products, and raw materials are being transformed to achieve a climate-neutral future. In 2024, Henkel was assigned an MSCI ESG rating of “AAA.”

The first and foremost overarching goal of sustainable packaging is to have as minimal impact on the environment as possible. Traditionally, achieving this goal has required balancing advancing sustainability and absorbing increased costs. Novel materials are solving this challenge with sustainable alternatives that are also cost-effective.

For example, consider foam hot cups, often created with expanded polystyrene (EPS). The heat insulation properties of EPS are excellent. However, EPS is a non-biodegradable, non-recyclable material and takes hundreds of years to decompose. Henkel crafted a paper-based solution that uses an innovative, insulating adhesive sandwiched between two paper cup walls. This alternative material, used by quick-serve companies, reduces cost and minimizes environmental impact.

Sustainable packaging uses renewable resources like plants or recycled materials. A great example is using bio-based adhesives in the food packaging industry, estimated at $505.27 billion in 2024. Because of the food packaging industry’s massive size, sustainable materials can create widespread improvement. Henkel’s TECHNOMELT^® Supra Eco adhesive is made from up to 98% biomass and is suitable across a variety of packaging applications. Further, the Supra Eco portfolio meets stringent food packaging guidelines, and its raw material sourcing is fully traceable, allowing Henkel and its customers to track their respective CO₂ emissions.

The use of sustainable packaging increases the volume generated of recyclable and post-consumer content. When one global organization needed a material that used more recycled content in its beverage sleeve while maintaining thermal performance, a new multifunctional adhesive was created. In addition, the newly engineered beverage sleeve design reduces paper usage by 34% by using post-consumer content, saving an estimated 100,000 trees each year. The new beverage sleeve material advances both functionality and sustainability.

Another way to leverage recyclable materials is to augment recyclability. Today, 9% of plastic is recycled, with 72% going to landfills and 19% incinerated. Improving the separation of materials from one another helps increase plastic recyclability. Henkel‘s LOCTITE^® Liofol solution was developed to enable debonding at the end of the value chain. In combination with the process developed by packaging waste specialist Saperatec, this solution allows multilayer packaging to be separated from one another again. This makes it possible for the individual materials to be sorted and returned to the value chain as recyclable materials.

One study found that 71% of U.S. consumers want to buy products with as little packaging as possible. With innovative packaging designs and new materials, packaging converters can work with brands to minimize the amount of packaging material used while retaining functionality.

Henkel’s EPIX^® technology is a portfolio of materials designed to extend the functionality of paper, decrease plastic packaging, and help reduce waste. For example, in eCommerce packaging, EPIX^® padded mailers reduce package weight with increased impact resistance and eliminate the need for additional packing materials in larger containers. For these reasons, eCommerce organizations are leveraging EPIX^® technology.

Sustainable packaging goes beyond the materials used. To maximize sustainable solutions, the entire lifecycle of a package—from raw materials to end-of-life disposal—must be optimized. This helps identify the full array of possibilities for environmentally sustainable packaging initiatives.