Current status and future prospects of flexible packaging paper replacing plastics

In an era of frequent plastic replacement products, what is the development of paper replacing plastic in the field of flexible packaging? Neil Osment, CEO of market research company NOA, explained his research. Europe produces about 9.47 million tons of flexible plastic packaging each year, which is 42.5% of the total plastic packaging. If 10% is converted from plastic to other materials, it will be a big change. Flexible packaging uses plastic and/or paper-based materials and has a variety of applications, especially in the food field. Biscuits and crispy foods are the most typical cases, followed by breakfast oatmeal bags, etc.

Paper-based flexible packaging is often a complex laminated structure, often an outer paper layer plus a thin plastic inner layer. Plastic-based flexible packaging may be a more complex structure, often an outer printed plastic layer, a water-blocking middle plastic layer, and a metallized plastic inner layer. The EU and UK governments are putting pressure on the industry to develop more recyclable development, so the challenge is how to convert multi-layer plastic flexible packaging to a more recyclable structure and contain less fossil-based materials, but how is the progress?

Plastic substrate suppliers are working hard to develop single-material structures to replace multi-layer composite structures. Not only does this reduce plastic, it is also easier to recycle, something that cannot be achieved with multi-layer composite flexible packaging (industry experts believe that less than 5% of composite plastic materials are recycled in Europe).

However, if you take these flexible packaging to a supermarket collection point, the packaging will most likely not be recycled, but incinerated, or even worse, exported to another country to be incinerated. However, if we start using mono-material structures, these packaging will be recycled as sorting and recycling processes such as chemical recycling continue to develop. It's just not at that stage yet, but it will become a reality when sufficient investment is made.

In fact, we have already started using paper as a mono-material for flexible packaging! When we pick up loose fruit, vegetables and bakery products in the supermarket, we can now use paper bags instead of plastic bags. Retailers including Amazon, H&M, IKEA, John Lewis, El Corte Inglés and Zalando are switching some flexible plastic packaging to paper bags, especially for non-food items such as clothing and fashion accessories.

However, paper faces many challenges before it can become a versatile and cost-effective alternative to plastic in flexible packaging. Food products often require different barrier properties, such as water, oxygen, oil, odor, vegetable oil, etc. - to ensure freshness and prevent contamination. Among them, vegetable oil resistance is the ultimate requirement - when plastics and paper are recycled, they may contain traces of vegetable oil residues from inks, so a barrier layer is needed to prevent these substances from contaminating the food. Plastics can provide these barrier properties perfectly. Can paper do the same as plastic?

Only half the answer can be given at present. A mixed paper and plastic flexible packaging solution protects the product while reducing the use of plastic. Currently, the crispy food, sweets, snacks and pet food markets are innovating with bags with an outer layer of printed paper and a plastic inner layer to provide the required barrier properties. However, at the recycling stage, this packaging faces the same problem - the structure must be separated. Paper mills are trying to accept this double-layer material soft bag, after separating the paper, the remaining part returns to the waste management and collection system. Paper is valuable to them, which is true when the paper content is high. The plastic cost can be sent to other places for recycling.

New areas of flexible packaging using paper-based materials include those in the detergent and medical markets. For example, detergent packages for a single use of laundry detergent or single-dose pharmaceutical packages are being developed in paper packaging that can be recycled after use. As recycling infrastructure develops and investment increases, this type of flexible packaging paper package will increase. One disadvantage of paper-based solutions is the reduction in shelf life. And to prevent tears and perforations, the amount of material used may also increase. The adjustment of shelf life needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis and may be equivalent or may require compromise.

Will the cost increase? Possibly, however, when you consider the cost of the entire supply chain, the increase in recycling rates, the reduction in plastic pollution and the consumer's desire, the benefits are worth considering.

Finally, there are bio-based barriers to consider in the future, those that are not based on fossil-based raw materials, but come from starch, algae or cellulose. Both the plastic and paper packaging industries are exploring these options, but progress is still in the development stage and it is still early days for these new and natural products. At the same time, if the cost of the extended producer responsibility mechanism can be controlled by the government, wouldn’t it be better to help improve recycling capacity and infrastructure? The future potential of flexible packaging is huge, and we look forward to more good news.