Paper Packaging Helps Minimise Environmental Impacts

Well-designed, efficiently produced, appropriately used and responsibly disposed of packaging provides multiple benefits. It is essential to prevent product damage and can help extend a product’s life. It helps improve efficiency in the supply chain and provides safe and convenient access to goods. Packaging communicates vital information to the customer whilst providing a great ‘unboxing experience’ to those receiving gifts or luxury items. However, poor material choices are damaging to both brands and the planet.

The impact on the environment caused by discarded man-made materials has reached critical levels.

15.8 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste was generated in the EU in 2023, which equates to 35.3kg per person.

Eurostat, 2025

Consumers are aware of the impacts that packaging has on our planet, and they are increasingly demanding that retailers do more to ensure their packaging is widely recyclable.¹

There is now a greater need than ever for packaging to be sustainable throughout its life cycle. Packaging should incorporate eco-design at its inception, use responsibly sourced raw materials, and be manufactured using efficient processes that are driven by renewable energy.

Packaging should always be recycled wherever possible, then sent to the most appropriate end-of-life solution, such as incineration for energy generation or composting.

Individuals, businesses, governments, public bodies and non-governmental organisations all need to work together to find innovative solutions to meet the ever-increasing need for sustainable packaging products.

Paper packaging is part of the solution. Paper packaging is made from wood fibre, a renewable resource that originates from sustainably managed forests.

In the paper manufacturing process, biomass accounts for 66% of the energy used, making the paper and board industry the largest industrial producer and user of renewable energy in Europe.²

Paper packaging is the most recycled of all packaging materials. Packaging uses more recycled paper than any other end product and, when combined with virgin paper, ensures a continuous, regenerative ‘paper cycle’.

Sustainably sourced paper packaging is also well aligned with the objectives of the United Nations Sustainability Goals.

We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.

United Nations, The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development