The Better with Less – Design Challenge, organized by Metsä Board, asks designers to create more environmentally friendly packaging solutions for e-commerce, cosmetics and food.

While brands fight to stay relevant in this age of rapidly increasing environmental awareness, a whole host of regulations and targets are driving change in almost every type of business.

Whether as a gift with purchase or as part of a gift set, the inclusion of a little something extra seduces consumers. Quadpack’s Secondary Packaging team offers brands a way to do this with the Moo Collection, a catalogue of high-quality skincare accessories and keepsakes.

Water brand DASANI announced sustainable packaging innovations in support of The Coca-Cola Company’s global “World Without Waste” goal to make its bottles and cans with an average of 50% recycled material by 2030. Updates to DASANI’s packaging line-up include the HybridBottle.

Packaging Strategies spoke with Dow market manager Chris Gandy and associate marketing director Heather Turner about Dow’s Design for Recyclability platform and the evolution of recyclable pouches designed to fit the circular economy.

Flexible packaging accounts for 19 percent of the overall packaging market and is expected to grow at a rate of 3.9 percent CAGR by 2023, according to the 2019 Flexible Packaging Marketing Assessment by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

Most of these innovations, from gable-topped milk cartons to a plant-based Coca-Cola bottle, drive consumer demand for sustainable packaging. A McKinsey & Co. study suggests the trend will continue even as the packaging sector is disrupted by five trends

Hansen Packaging has developed a full product line of jars for the cannabis industry with benefits such as: a drastic reduction in the amount of material used in making the jars, the use of renewable resources and an environmentally responsible end-of-life disposal.