Six major consumer goods companies have formed an industry consortium aimed at accelerating development of paper-based alternatives to difficult-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging.
Colgate-Palmolive, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are founding members of the PaperFlex Consortium, which is being convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and operated with support from environmental consultancy (RE)SET.
The initiative will focus particularly on small-format flexible packaging such as sachets, wrappers and pouches in markets where collection and recycling infrastructure remains limited.
Members intend over the next several years to jointly shape, fund and conduct research and trials covering areas including biodegradable coatings, product protection, shelf life, consumer usability and the performance of paper-based materials on packaging production lines.
The consortium’s stated objective is to develop paper-based formats that can be recyclable as collection infrastructure develops while also considering biodegradability where packaging unintentionally enters the environment.
However, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation stressed that commercially viable replacements are not yet available across all applications.
“Responsible paper-based flexible packaging solutions don’t yet exist at the performance, scale and cost required,” said Sander Defruyt, strategy lead for plastics at the Foundation.
The organisation said development work will follow criteria covering recyclability, biodegradability and responsible fibre sourcing and production, alongside food safety, product quality and regulatory requirements.
Each participating company will continue to make its own packaging decisions independently. The consortium is also inviting additional FMCG groups, material suppliers, technology developers and investors to participate.
The project builds on research published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation earlier this year examining the potential role of paper-based formats in addressing small flexible plastic packaging waste in markets with high leakage rates.
