The German amendment to the Packaging Act, the decision to introduce a deposit system in Austria, the EU requirements for minimum recyclate use - and now the EU Packaging Ordinance (PPWR): The regulations from the legislator are becoming ever more comprehensive. The pressure on the packaging industry has increased - and will continue to do so. A guest article by Jörg Holzmann, Director Technology & Production at Rixius GmbH.
Europe is pursuing a clear course towards a circular economy and binding environmental standards with the PPWR, but the international picture is mixed. A second Trump presidency in the USA points to a relaxation of environmental regulations. This could slow down global progress and at the same time further strengthen Europe's pioneering role.
However, the regulations introduced by the legislator to date are just the beginning, so companies should take active steps.
One solution to counter these developments at an early stage could be bio-based plastics. They enable sustainable resource management and actively contribute to reducing the carbon footprint.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, an average of 227 kilograms of packaging waste per capita was generated in Germany in 2022 - well above the European average of around 186 kilograms per person. Lightweight packaging such as plastics, light metals and composite materials continue to account for the largest share of this. Current figures show that global plastic production caused around 2.7 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalents in 2023, which corresponds to around five percent of global emissions. This significantly exceeds previous figures and highlights the urgency of a sustainable approach to packaging materials. Despite this massive environmental impact, it is currently unrealistic to completely dispense with this inexpensive, lightweight and food-safe packaging material.
Legal regulations are therefore exerting increasing pressure on the industry, but social awareness of sustainable consumption and waste reduction is also growing. This is leading to a noticeable increase in demand for environmentally friendly solutions, particularly for bottles, cans and jerrycans. The industry must therefore react now: Companies that refuse to do so run the risk of no longer being marketable in the future due to constantly growing legal and social pressure. When considering alternatives to resource-intensive virgin plastic, however, it is important to bear in mind that legislation stipulates varying requirements for the different containers depending on the respective content and that bio-based materials in particular have often been more cost-intensive to date due to their lower availability and smaller production volumes.
At present, conventional recyclates made from petroleum-based plastics are often used, provided they are certified for food or cosmetics packaging. Recycled PET (rPET) is suitable for food and cosmetics due to its high barrier properties and the German deposit system. With rPP (recycled polypropylene) and rPS (recycled polystyrene), it is more difficult to ensure consistently high material quality, as required for food contact.
Intelligent resource management thanks to the circular economy
A basic distinction is made between bio-based and biodegradable plastics. The latter can be industrially compostable under certain conditions. To this end, both the materials used and the recycling plants must fulfil certain requirements - for example with regard to temperature, moisture and pH value.
Bio-based plastics, for example based on polylactic acid (PLA), are suitable for various processing techniques such as injection moulding or blow moulding. Depending on the material system, they can be used in packaging for food, cosmetics or technical applications. Mechanical conversion for the production of biodegradable plastic products is no longer necessary.
In many cases, however, it makes more ecological sense to recycle the biopolymers in closed cycles, as these materials allow both the stored carbon and the energy they contain to be recycled, enabling high added value thanks to the intelligent use of resources. Plastics that have the advantages of bio-based production but are not biodegradable or even compostable are also characterised by their robustness: They can be used for longer before being fed back into the recycling system as a raw material. Some bio-based materials now have a very high proportion of renewable raw materials - in certain applications this can be over 90 per cent. They are suitable for reusable packaging solutions in blow moulding and injection moulding processes and can be coloured in the same way as fossil-based plastics using masterbatches.
Sustainable packaging
Food-safe, lightweight, robust and tear-resistant, flexibly mouldable and recyclable: Bio-based polymers have all the advantages of fossil-based plastic compounds, which are the most popular packaging materials, particularly in the highly regulated food and cosmetics sectors.
At the same time, they significantly reduce their negative environmental impact, above all the enormous CO2 emissions generated during the production and incineration of virgin plastic. Many different bioplastics are available - depending on whether more emphasis is placed on biodegradation, composting or aspects such as the type of processing and the longevity of the end product. In addition to individual preferences, complex legal requirements that go beyond mere food approval must also be taken into account depending on the area of application. For this reason, Rixius provides individual advice for each application as part of its „Save the Nature“ sustainability programme in order to find the best possible and most sustainable packaging solution from all the variables.
Author: Jörg Holzmann, Director Technology & Production at Rixius GmbH
packaging journal 3/2025
