Flexible plastic packaging is projected to remain a major environmental challenge, with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimating 20 trillion items could enter oceans over the next 15 years. In response, the foundation’s latest report provides a structured framework for paper-based alternatives, aiming to ensure these solutions deliver genuine environmental benefits and support a circular economy.
Flexible plastics, including sachets, wrappers, and pouches, are the fastest-growing segment of plastic packaging globally. In countries with underdeveloped collection and recycling systems, they account for roughly 80 percent of plastic packaging that ends up in oceans. The report emphasizes that paper-based alternatives could offer greater recyclability and biodegradability, provided they are carefully designed and responsibly sourced. Without attention to design, sourcing, and processing, paper packaging may provide negligible environmental advantage.
Endorsed by 44 organizations spanning businesses, NGOs, investors, and academia, the report sets out six criteria for responsible paper-based packaging: materials must be sourced to avoid forest degradation, produced to minimize climate and water impacts, meet technical and consumer viability requirements, be recyclable locally with adequate collection infrastructure, avoid hazardous chemicals and persistent plastic residues, and fit within a socially inclusive circular economy framework.
The report underlines that, despite potential benefits, paper-based flexible packaging currently lacks the scale, cost efficiency, and performance needed for widespread adoption. Sander Defruyt, Plastics Strategy Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, highlighted the systemic nature of the challenge, noting that paper solutions can complement other interventions such as reusable packaging.
Small-format flexible packaging, common in products from snacks and shampoo to coffee and milk, remains one of three systemic barriers identified in the foundation’s 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business. The report urges both industry and policymakers to accelerate development of scalable, responsible paper-based alternatives while establishing safeguards that ensure genuine environmental impact.
