Packaging Waste: An Overview of this Global Problem

Packaging protects, preserves and transports products, but short-lived packaging can also create substantial material demand and waste. This article looks at those impacts across the packaging lifecycle and at the systems that can reduce them. For prevention, other waste streams, recovery and data tools, use our Waste & Circular Resources gateway.

By Salman Shahid, CEO of OXO Packaging

Packaging waste is a significant concern because of its negative environmental impact. Packaging waste is shaped by decisions across the whole system: material and product design, producer practices, retail and distribution models, collection infrastructure, policy and consumer use. Treating it mainly as a disposal-behaviour problem misses those upstream drivers. That is why stronger packaging strategies focus on prevention, reuse, better design, reliable collection and policy rather than vague “green” claims.  

A stronger response follows the lifecycle: prevent unnecessary packaging and right-size what remains; expand reuse and refill where they work; design packaging for real collection and recycling systems; use recycled or renewable feedstocks where evidence supports them; and make producers share responsibility for end-of-life management. For a small-brand shipping project, Blush & Pine’s packaging fit and cost calculator can help compare box dimensions, empty space and packaging costs before testing product protection.

What is Packaging Waste?

Packaging waste is the material discarded after packaging has performed functions such as protecting, preserving, storing or transporting a product. Common streams include paper and cardboard, glass, metals, plastics and multi-material formats. Their impacts differ: some are readily recovered in established systems, while others are difficult to separate or persist when they leak into the environment.

Packaging waste can arise during manufacture, distribution and after use. Whether a bottle, can, box or wrapper becomes a recovered resource, controlled residual waste or environmental leakage depends on design choices as well as the collection and processing system available where it is discarded.

Industries contribute to packaging waste during the manufacturing and transportation of packaging stock.  

How is Packaging Waste Affecting the Environment?

Finding the root cause of packaging waste can help create the right strategies and solutions to mitigate this problem. Some factors leading to the harmful environment due to packaging waste are as follows:

Poor Landfill Waste Management 

The landfill is one of the ways to dispose of waste to prevent disease transmissions and the cleanliness of communities. Landfill packaging waste disposal needs careful consideration because poor management can affect the environment. Poor landfill management includes the following factors:

•  Overfilling

Every landfill reaches its capacity where no more waste can be placed for secure closure. Overfilling solid waste in landfills can lead to the leakage of hazardous gasses. Postclosure maintenance should also be done to prevent environmental instability. The US has 10,000 closed and 3000 active landfills, but a count of landfill sites does not establish that a region has sufficient capacity, appropriate siting or good long-term environmental performance.  

• Open Dumping

Controlled sanitary landfills, uncontrolled open dumps and open burning are different waste-management pathways. Open dumping does not necessarily involve burning, while open burning creates its own air-pollution and health risks. Packaging policy should therefore distinguish controlled final disposal from uncontrolled dumping, burning and leakage into the environment.

• Poor Control 

Landfills require long-term gas and leachate management. Landfill gas is produced mainly as organic material decomposes and is composed largely of methane and carbon dioxide. Packaging contributes to landfill volume, but different materials behave differently: paper-based packaging can biodegrade under anaerobic conditions, while many plastics persist rather than generating methane.

So, poor landfill management hurts the environment in the following ways:

• Poorly controlled leachate can contaminate soil or groundwater.
• Methane from decomposing organic material is flammable and is also a potent greenhouse gas, so landfill-gas control matters. 
• Landfilling also loses the material value of packaging that might otherwise have been prevented, reused or recovered.

Extraction of Natural Resources for Packaging Material

No packaging material is automatically “eco-friendly” because it is natural, renewable, recyclable or compostable. Fibre, plastic, glass, metal and emerging bio-based materials all carry different sourcing, manufacturing, transport, reuse and end-of-life trade-offs. The useful question is which material and delivery system performs the required function with the lowest credible whole-life impact.

• Deforestation 

Paper and cardboard can be made from virgin or recovered fibre. Their impacts depend on forestry practices, recycled content, energy and water use, product design and recovery rates. Recycled fibre can reduce demand for virgin pulp, but simple “trees saved per tonne” rules are too crude to compare packaging systems reliably.

• Landfill Creation

Landfills occupy land and require long-term siting, engineering and monitoring, but their footprints vary widely. Multiplying an average site size by a national landfill count does not provide a reliable estimate of habitat loss, so packaging decisions are better assessed through actual waste volumes, diversion, leakage and lifecycle impacts.

• Energy Consumption

When extracting natural resources such as cutting down trees and making wood pulp also consumes energy, affecting the environment. Forestry can contribute to climate and biodiversity impacts when sourcing is poorly managed, but those impacts should not be attributed to packaging with a single global percentage. This will include the energy consumption from deforestation and the removal of greenery that can be beneficial for the environment.

Energy Consumption in Packaging Manufacturing

Industrial growth is one of the reasons for environmental instability. Packaging manufacturing includes energy consumption, which is harming the environment. The following are a few factors contributing to the affected environment due to packaging manufacturing:

• Packaging Customization

Energy consumption in the packaging sector is high due to customization, which includes manufacturing,  printing, finishing, cutting, and molding the materials into desired packaging. The energy consumed by printing, coating, sealing, labeling, and filling machinery also hurts the environment. 

• Plastic Manufacturing

Plastic manufacturing is one of the key contributors to all-time high energy consumption in the packaging sector. A report shows that the packaging sector is responsible for 40% of global plastic consumption. Large manufacturing and consumption of plastic packaging leads to significant energy waste. 

• Packaging Machines

Tin, acrylic, mylar, and rigid packaging also require significant energy for manufacturing. The machinery used to refine raw materials for packaging also needs energy that can harm the environment. Packaging waste created during the manufacturing of boxes, tins, cans, containers, and bottles also pollutes the water and creates an imbalance in the ecosystem.

• Transportation

The smoke released by the transportation used for taking the raw materials to the factories and then delivering the final packaging product to the industries also pollutes the environment. This is how packaging manufacturing affects the environment.

https://supplychain.edf.org/resources/sustainability-101-packaging-waste-the-problem/

Improper Disposal of Single-Use Plastic 

Plastic packaging is especially important because its useful life is often very short. The OECD Global Plastics Outlook found that packaging accounted for 40% of global plastic waste in 2019, while only 9% of plastic waste was ultimately recycled. That makes prevention, reuse and better package design important alongside recycling.

Many conventional plastics persist for long periods rather than biodegrading like organic material. When plastic packaging escapes collection systems or fragments in the environment, it can contribute to microplastic pollution. Keeping packaging in controlled reuse, recycling or disposal systems is therefore important, but prevention and better design come first.

Plastic packaging is not one uniform material stream: polymers, colours, additives, labels and multi-layer formats can all affect whether an item can be sorted and recycled in a particular system. Short-lived and single-use formats create especially large waste flows. Poor outcomes reflect a combination of product design, collection access, economic incentives, policy, infrastructure and disposal behaviour; responsibility cannot be assigned to consumers alone. 

Secondly, single-use plastic packaging waste is mostly disposed of as litter in the oceans, lakes, and rivers. 

Eventually, it causes water pollution and harms marine life. Ingestion of microplastic by aquatic animals can harm them. If they survive and are eaten by humans it can induce the dangerous elements in the human food chain. 

A study shows that every year, plastic kills 1 million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals, turtles, and fish. This is how improper plastic disposal threatens marine life. 

What a Better Packaging System Looks Like

The environmental threat caused by packaging waste would take a lot of effective strategies and solutions to minimize it. First, every human should behave responsibly to the environment by disposing of the packaging waste properly.

Secondly, industries should focus on energy-efficient ways to protect the environment. Thirdly, work on eliminating the root causes of packaging waste can promote a healthier planet. We have accumulated some effective strategies below to overcome this global problem: 

Use Alternative Materials Where the Lifecycle Case Works

Packaging made from agricultural residues, fibres or other bio-based feedstocks can be useful in some applications, particularly when it displaces virgin material and has a realistic recovery route. But “made from plants” does not automatically mean low impact or home-compostable; performance, processing, sourcing and end-of-life conditions still matter.

Feedstocks such as bagasse, hemp hurd, mycelium, coconut husk, seaweed and cellulose can be used in packaging systems, but energy use, cost and environmental performance vary by process and product. They should be compared against the function they need to perform and the local reuse, recycling or composting infrastructure available.

Sugarcane packaging could be a reliable solution, especially for the food business due to its toxin-free properties. The best thing about sugarcane packaging is that it is made from the waste of an abundantly and rapidly growing crop. Compared to plastic, the production of sugarcane packaging has lower carbon footprints. 

Mushroom packaging could be used to make durable inserts to add a premium touch to your product packaging. It is made from the root part of the mushroom. 

Packaging made from coconut husk looks visually appealing due to its fibrous texture and rustic color. It also contributes to packaging waste reduction and its production has a lower carbon footprint. 

Encourage Reusable Packaging

As discussed earlier, creating more landfills causes threats to the natural habitat. This is why, we also focus on making reusable packaging and promoting green missions by running recollection campaigns. Plastic can be reused but it has a harmful impact on human life and the environment. 

Therefore, reusable packaging like rigid boxes and tin containers can help reduce landfill waste. Customers can reuse the reusable packaging for storage purposes instead of throwing it away to harm the environment. Tin is way better than the plastic packaging. For example, cookie tin containers have a great history as they have been reused as storage containers, toys, and decorative stuff.  This is why considering reusable tin packaging can help reduce packaging waste. 

Likewise, custom rigid boxes are another type of reusable packaging that helps minimize packaging waste. They are sturdy enough to be used for so many years for storage, keepsakes, and decorative purposes. 

The luxurious appeal of rigid boxes encourages the customers to not throw away such luxury box packaging. Luxury brands can also contribute to the environment by promoting green campaigns such as recollecting rigid boxes and making them clean to reuse them for their products. They can also consider recycling rigid boxes responsibly as consumers do not recycle them. 

Opt Ethical Waste Management 

Poor waste disposal is one of the leading factors for the affected environment due to packaging waste. Landfill waste management is one method. However, it also has drawbacks like release of toxins and gasses that can affect the groundwater and contaminate the soil. The ethical way for landfill waste disposal is to comply with law. 

Create landfills on permitted sites to protect the environment. Secondly, post-closure landfill monitoring is mandatory to ensure there is no gas leakage from the closed landfills. Thirdly, open dumping should be prevented because burning waste releases hazardous chemicals, which leave the air with smog. Open dumping should not be confused with permitted dumping that is created by following laws and regulations regarding design, operating, and closing standards. 

Encouraging customers to get paperless bills is also one of the ethical ways of reducing paper waste. Promoting home recycling so that every individual understands the environmental concerns and disposes of the packaging waste responsibly. Convince people to buy products with reusable packaging and encourage them to give back the containers to the brand for recycling and reuse. 

Run Go Green Campaigns

Individuals and businesses can both promote a greener environment by running campaigns and conducting awareness seminars.  Brands can use plant waste-based and reusable packaging by labeling the eco-awareness mission on them. Various big brands like Unilever’s waste-free world program are examples of an effort by brands for a safe environment. The following are some go-green campaigns based on sustainable development  run by countries to reduce waste:

• Brazil’s Ecoelce
• Australia’s Envirobank
• Germany’s Pfand System 
• Spain’s Reverse Sale System

Consumers can also consider home recycling methods, paperless billing, and plantation campaigns to reduce packaging waste for a safer environment. Investing in carbon offsets is also one of the best strategies to positively contribute to environmental stability.

Implement Circular Economy Model

Moving forward another excellent strategy to reduce packaging waste and protect the environment, which is the circular economy model. This approach helps businesses to reduce packaging waste to keep the environment safe.

This model focuses on extending the life cycle of a product which involves:

• Sharing
• Reusing
• Repairing
• Recycling

The circular economy model helps reduce the extraction of natural resources for packaging material. You can also modify the model by introducing new campaigns based on factors like leasing, reusing, and renting your products.

For example, if you run a clothing line, you can introduce a green campaign by offering dresses on a rental basis to secure the environment. This way, packaging waste will also be reduced due to less use of packaging. The circular economy model works best for brands making reusable and recyclable packaging for their products.

For example, Germany has a Pfand system, which encourages customers to deposit extra for a product’s container and when they give back the container for recycling and reuse, customers get their deposit back. 

Turn Your Rival into a Collaborator

You should collaborate with businesses that are committed to sustainability to promote your green mission for reducing packaging waste. Start this by running green marketing campaigns as it will also help you build an eco-conscious brand image. Articulate your brand’s green mission statement, and eco-friendly practices, and environmental goals to reduce packaging waste before collaboration. 

This way, you can collaborate with eco-conscious brands whose values resonate with your brand. It will also help enhance your brand’s credibility. Find a brand that is making the same products as yours with sustainable practices and exchange the ideas of green practices to reduce manufacturing and packaging waste. The ultimate goal is to save the environment as a brand through collaboration. 

Consider how the collaboration of Allbirds with Adidas released the sustainable 2.94 kg CO2e sneakers which created a buzz in the world. They are still teamed up to create a zero-footprint shoe. Likewise, you can approach brands whose mission is to reduce packaging waste, and with collaboration, you both can build an ethical brand image while securing the environment. 

Use Extended Producer Responsibility and Better Policy

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) makes producers responsible for products across the lifecycle, including the post-consumer stage. Well-designed schemes can help fund collection and recycling while giving producers stronger incentives to reduce waste and redesign packaging. That addresses the packaging system itself rather than treating carbon offsets as a substitute for direct reduction.

Individuals and businesses calculate the direct and indirect emissions released by them and their businesses. Direct emissions are those that are from sources owned by you or your business directly such as refrigerants of air conditioning units, fuel used in transport, or machinery used for manufacturing packaging. 

Indirect emissions are released by sources not owned by your business directly but used for creating packaging for your business packaging waste disposal,  transportation distribution, etc.

Get professional aid or use a carbon print calculator to get an accurate number of carbon footprints caused by manufacturing packaging or running business operations. Setting some measurable carbon footprint reduction goals for packaging waste reduction helps you contribute to the environment positively. 

Case Studies

We have accumulated some case studies of some well-known international brands that are focusing on reducing packaging waste. Various brands are taking initiatives towards environmental sustainability as they understand that packaging waste has become a global problem. Effective strategies like plant-waste packaging, ethical waste management, go-green campaigns, reusable packaging, and circular economy models help overcome this global problem

• The Body Shop: Refill Scheme 

The Body Shop’s environmental activism led to an effective campaign to educate customers and protect the environment. As the name suggests “ Refill Scheme” focuses on encouraging customers to get their products refilled in the same container they were using before.  The campaign emphasizes “Why waste a container when you can refill it?” 

This brand has rolled out refill stations in 720 of its stores globally to reduce packaging waste. Their focus is to embrace a circular economy and contribute to a safer environment. The Body Shop encourages their customers by giving 50ml free product on every refill. 

Compared to other sectors, the cosmetic industry has consumers who are serious about the conservation of the environment. The revised packaging strategies of The Body Shop can surely bring about a positive change in the way cosmetic brands handle their packaging needs. 

• Nestle: Packaging Waste Reduction Program

Nestle is one of the reputable brands that runs a “Packaging Waste Reduction Program” to reduce landfill waste. They support a circular economy and emphasize better packaging, less packaging, and better systems. They aim to reduce the use of virgin plastic and opt for paper packaging for a safe environment. 

Nestle also ensures the presence of their refilling stations in every country they operate in. They claim to reduce their use of virgin plastic by one-third by 2025. This brand also encourages the use of reusable and recyclable packaging and refilling them for their customers for environmental sustainability. 

Although Nestle is one of the biggest FMCG conglomerates that contributes to the packaging waste problem, their initiatives show that they’re serious about improving their packaging strategy. 

• The Coca-Cola Company: World Without Waste

Another big international brand Coca-Cola is also emphasizing a waste-free world. They launched their World Without Waste in 2018, focusing on a circular economy model to create recyclable and reusable bottles and cans. 

In 2023, 62% of their bottles and cans were collected for recycling, refilling, and reuse. They claim that their 90% of packaging was recyclable globally in 2023. This depicts their success in reducing packaging waste.  

Coke is one of the most prominent brands that has the “Domino Effect” on the FMCG sector. Their packaging initiatives can make consumers aware of sustainable packaging, which can lead to more brands choosing green packaging alternatives. 

Conclusion!

Packaging waste is difficult to handle because of factors like poor landfill waste management, excessive extraction of natural resources, energy consumption, and improper disposal. Handling this problem is only possible if we review our production and recycling strategies. 

From choosing sustainable packaging materials to defining better recycling strategies, we have to cover a long way. We hope that the case studies mentioned above will help you reduce packaging waste if you’re a brand owner. 

About the Author

Salman Shahid is the CEO of OXO Packaging, a custom packaging company operating in the USA, UK, and Australia. Known for his exceptional business development skills, he has helped expand multiple brands into successful enterprises. As a BD and marketing thought leader, his mission is to empower others to build thriving businesses without facing unnecessary challenges. Learn more on his LinkedIn profile