NETHERLANDS – Rabobank, in a recent report, has cautioned that transitioning from plastic to paper packaging could potentially exacerbate the environmental footprint.
The report outlines higher energy consumption, elevated carbon emissions, and the incorporation of additional materials that could hinder recyclability or biodegradability as contributing factors.
Emphasizing that brands’ shift towards more sustainable materials is driven not only by ethical and legal imperatives but also by market competitiveness, the report underscores that sustainability claims signal to consumers that a product – notably packaging – embodies responsibility and quality.
For many brands, this transition entails substituting virgin plastics with pulp and paper alternatives. Despite industry players, including some plastic producers, investing in paper alternatives, Rabobank interprets this as indicative of the trend’s burgeoning popularity.
However, according to Jim Owen, Senior Analyst of Packaging & Logistics at Rabobank, “Contrary to consumer perception, replacing plastic with paper and pulp poses significant sustainability challenges and implementation complexities.
“Pulp and paper solutions are not the panacea many believe them to be and can introduce their own ecological and operational intricacies.”
Specifically, these concerns revolve around the necessity of utilizing more material to achieve equivalent robustness as plastic, resulting in energy-intensive production processes and driving up the cost of paper packaging up to five times higher than plastic.
Processes such as logging and pulping are purported to yield higher carbon emissions, which, according to Rabobank, can have a more pronounced environmental impact than plastics.
Additionally, paper packaging may be unsuitable for products requiring additional protection to prolong shelf life, such as foodservice items and non-perishable goods.
Furthermore, certain paper products necessitate protective coatings that could compromise their compostability or recyclability at end-of-life.
Meanwhile, the increase in demand for paper packaging can have negative effects on old-growth forests. The pulp and paper industry accounts for 13-15% of total wood consumption and uses between 33-40% of all industrial wood traded globally.
As the demand for paper packaging increases, the industry may source wood from old-growth forests, which are ecosystems with unique biodiversity and carbon storage capacity.
The logging of old-growth forests can lead to habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, and the release of carbon into the atmosphere.
Amidst ongoing legislative endeavors globally to address the environmental impact of packaging, including the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, federal bills, state recycling laws in the US, and discussions surrounding the UN’s Global Plastics Treaty, Rabobank underscores the packaging industry’s commitment to achieving sustainability and circularity in its packaging solutions.|
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