Across all industrial sectors, sustainability is an increasing priority. This is especially true in packaging which is single-use and consumes high volumes of plastic. Furthermore, brand-owners and legislators are increasingly seeing packaging as an easy target to cut their carbon footprint.

The packaging industry is responding to and initiating its own response to this challenge. While incremental reductions in environmental cuts will still be possible, major future reductions often rest on implementing a new disruptive technology. In its new study, Ten-Year Forecast of Disruptive Technologies in Sustainable Packaging to 2028, Smithers Pira has surveyed the packaging market and related segment to identify the top 20 technical innovations that will underpin a greener future for packaging.

The arrival of these new technologies is coinciding with renewed enthusiasm for greater sustainability from all key participants within the packaging value and use chain and the development of a circular economy approach. Indeed, cutting the impact on the environment is increasingly a challenge that involves multiple actors.