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The Road to Sustainable Packaging Cushioning : Foamed Cellulose Fibre

University of British Columbia. BioProducts Institute

Plastics consume 70% of primary petrochemicals and 90% of chemicals of high concern1 ; meanwhile, only ca. 9% of the produced end products are being recycled. The bulk of the plastic waste is currently landfilled or leaked into the environment2 with packaging products representing approximately 35% of the plastic waste. As society demands an increased circularity and higher reuse/recycling rates, exciting alternatives emerge by switching to paper packaging (paperization mantra) to enable resource efficent recycling. This whitepaper reviews and analyses the state-of-the-art in cushioning packaging technologies based on key criteria to propose solutions that recognize regional differences in materials, infrastructure, and norms. We focus on an emerging category of cushioning materials, namely, cellulose-based foams, such as those being developed by Apple, and how renewable/recycled materials categories have the potential of reducing the amount of non-recyclable or non-recycled single-use packaging materials, ultimately advancing circularity. We conclude that impact in the area requires accelerated collaboration along supply chains and across sectors to speed up development and adoption of a foamed cellulose cushioning that meet environmental, economic and sustainability goals.

Text

2024-04-17

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87852

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/