Plastic has its place, and that place is not in the environment. Companies around the world are rethinking plastic packaging in an effort to move toward a circular economy.

What is the circular economy?

There are a few components to it — in the circular economy, not only is less product packaging used, but the packaging itself is designed to be reused, recycled, or composted.

According to a University of Georgia study, 14% of the plastic packaging used globally makes its way to recycling plants, and only 9% is actually recycled – the shift toward the circular economy aims to change this.

A circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design — this means that materials constantly flow around a ‘closed-loop’ system, rather than being discarded after one use.

Purposeful packaging made of materials that can be repurposed, recycled, or biodegrade is the future of quality and sustainability in product packaging.