“The Scope of the Change Is Underestimated in the Industry”

Alexander Reitz, Team Leader Customer Development & Consulting at environmental services provider PreZero (Schwarz Group), likes to speak plainly. In interviews and at the FACHPACK expert forum PACKBOX, he explained that companies in all sectors are challenged when it comes to sustainability. “Packaging sustainability is no longer optional today,” he said. A complete transformation is required in the next five years.

Shortly after FACHPACK, Reitz published critical comments on LinkedIn from the perspective of an industry observer under the headline “3 Insights from 3 Days of FACHPACK.” Some excerpts: “Maybe I live in a bubble. In my day-to-day work, almost everything revolves around requirements from the PPWR and possible solutions. But at Fachpack, the proportion of people who seemed to have noticed little or nothing about the biggest upheaval in the packaging market of all time was surprisingly high. Alternatively, the scope of the change that the industry is facing is underestimated.”

“Sustainability Is Used Excessively”

Reitz is even more drastic: “I discovered almost no trade fair stand that didn’t say ‘sustainable’, ‘green’ or ‘super-duper sustainable’ in some form or another. This may be justified for some offers, but regarding many exhibits the added value for the environment was not at all clear to me. Sustainability is used in an inflationary way and threatens to become a hollowed-out term. If the upcoming Green Claims Directive also applies to trade fair stands, some in the industry will certainly have a problem.”

When asked by FACHPACK360°, Reitz elaborated on his criticism: Knowledge of the PPWR seemed to him to be very unevenly distributed. His “diagnosis” is not that everyone in the industry is poorly prepared but that there is an imbalance. “On the one hand, there are those who are now starting to take advantage of their room for maneuver to adapt their business, and on the other hand, there are companies that may be missing out on important developments.”

His personal impression from conversations at the PreZero stand and others during FACHPACK is that too many have heard little or nothing about the PPWR and/or are not aware of its consequences for their own business. “How else can you explain companies presenting solutions at a packaging trade fair as ‘sustainable’ that will no longer be allowed to be marketed in Europe from 2030?” he asks, without naming names.

However, he could name typical application examples that he saw at FACHPACK: Suppliers of complex multilayer plastic films “that will obviously not meet the upcoming requirements of at least 70 percent recyclability” or suppliers of elaborate gift packaging that would probably no longer be marketable from 2030 due to the minimization requirement/“maximum empty space ratio.” He had also spoken to suppliers of plastic packaging who, when asked, could not name a strategy for how they intended to meet the minimum recyclate usage quotas of the PPWR.

FACHPACK360° also asked exhibitors what they had to say about Reitz’s criticism and whether, in their view, the accusation that the PPWR is not being implemented enough is justified. Several exhibitors and experts from the packaging industry have already committed to implementing the PPWR and presented their strategies. “Those who do not act now risk significant competitive disadvantages,” explained Claudia Rivinius from the STI Group in an interview.

Jakob Rinninger, CEO of the STI Group, has a clear position: “For the STI Group, the implementation of the PPWR in the packaging industry is a central component of our corporate strategy. With our Circular Innovation Program, we have created a structured framework for this in order to provide our customers with the best possible support in implementing the PPWR. Our focus is on the topics of plastic to fibre, maximizing packaging efficiency (lightweight packaging), and the end-to-end recyclability of our products.” The STI Group was recently awarded Platinum by EcoVadis for its sustainability efforts and achievements in this area. Rinninger continues: “We generally rate the content of the PPWR positively. However, the many market interventions from Brussels, some of which are not fully developed, are increasingly leading to uncertainty among our customers and consumers – often without any real added value being reliably demonstrated.”

For Marzek Etiketten+Packaging, sustainability is part of the company’s DNA. “In the 145 years of our company history, it has always been our goal to hand over a company to the next generation that is even better equipped and stable for future challenges. Therefore, all initiatives that invest in sustainability and a better future are a matter of course for us,” says Dr. Johannes Michael Wareka, CEO and member of the 4^th generation of the owner family. For this reason, preparations for the PPWR are already in full swing at Marzek Etiketten+Packaging. In extensive in-house training sessions with external specialists, the entire back office and sales team as well as management have been familiarized with the objectives of the PPWR. “Our customers receive expert advice on how their packaging can be optimized in accordance with the EU PPWR regulation. After all, the PPWR is not just about labels, but about packaging as an overall solution in which all components of recyclability must be considered in their synergy. It is standard practice in our company to proactively prepare for new regulations before they come into force to ensure that our products and services always comply with the latest requirements,” says Wareka.