Should end-of-life options determine the future of packaging technology? (FREE)

Packaging professional know that there are no real end-of-life options for (packaging) waste.

The only ones we know that work half and half is glass, paper, PET bottles and aluminum.

Glass packaging is mono material and can be recycled entirely but the carbon footprint needed to collect and recycle a bottle is larger than the Hiroshima bomb.

Paper can be recycled but to make it food contact proof you need to treat it and add a thin ‘chemical layer’ inside; so its not mono material. Tetra Pack cartons are perceived as a clean option but its an environmental fraud. You cannot recycle a carton because there are too many layers of different materials.

PET bottles are monomaterial (except the cap, sleeve and glue) and can be mechanically recycled into polyester and rPET; but both have serious public health issues.

Aluminum cans need a plastic layer inside to be food contact approved, so its not mono material.

To make along story short …. nothing is working 100%

Circular Economy

What about the circular economy?

The Circular economy is an environmental scam developed by the industry to scam billions of EU funding from the naive people working at the European Commission.

The circular economy is a fairy tale to convince you that waste can be transformed into a new feedstock to produce something new.

The circular economy is the grand child of the alibaba recycling fairy tale.

Million Dollar Question

Shouldn’t we grow up about the fact that most (packaging) waste cannot be transformed into a new feedstock ….

But then …. what should be the future of packaging?

Public health is definitely an important one …. which packaging option is less toxic for public health.

Secondly, why don’t we give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar … packaging convenience and innovation.

Today, I would say … public health, convenience and innovation should be driving the packaging trends.

And what about recycling and the circular economy? Recycle what we can .. and the rest …. shove it in Ursula von der Leyen‘s attaché case.

I mean even the Romans couldn’t recycle their terra cotta pots (the ancestor of mass packaging).

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One response to “Should end-of-life options determine the future of packaging technology? (FREE)”

Jane Cull

September 2, 2025

The timing of this is incredible as I was just writing up reflections on a circular economy and a circular biobased economy based on end of life options. I completely agree with what you wrote, so yes there needs to be a rethink on materials for packaging and where they are going to end up. My opinion is no packaging should be returned back to the environment as packaging for home and industrial composting will be contaminated with chemicals and plastics which then end up back in the environment. Therefore the only logical conclusion is to keep these materials in a closed loop system where they can be repurposed. However, the chemicals, most are toxic, should be removed and replaced with chemicals that do no harm to human health while providing function and purpose. They should also be mono materials so no separation of materials are required and can easily be returned back into a recycling stream. Trying to do a circular economy with so many entrenched problems (chemicals and mix of materials) is simply ludicrous as we just keep producing the same toxic stuff over and over. This waste as a result of materials, chemicals and manufacturing processes has to stop. It is not sustainable and only leads to more and more pollution not to mention public health problems.

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Jane Cull

September 2, 2025

The timing of this is incredible as I was just writing up reflections on a circular economy and a circular biobased economy based on end of life options. I completely agree with what you wrote, so yes there needs to be a rethink on materials for packaging and where they are going to end up. My opinion is no packaging should be returned back to the environment as packaging for home and industrial composting will be contaminated with chemicals and plastics which then end up back in the environment. Therefore the only logical conclusion is to keep these materials in a closed loop system where they can be repurposed. However, the chemicals, most are toxic, should be removed and replaced with chemicals that do no harm to human health while providing function and purpose. They should also be mono materials so no separation of materials are required and can easily be returned back into a recycling stream. Trying to do a circular economy with so many entrenched problems (chemicals and mix of materials) is simply ludicrous as we just keep producing the same toxic stuff over and over. This waste as a result of materials, chemicals and manufacturing processes has to stop. It is not sustainable and only leads to more and more pollution not to mention public health problems.

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