Packaging Waste and the Need for Sustainable Improvement

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / November 18, 2024 / International Paper Company

Originally published in International Paper's Thinking Inside the Box whitepaper

In the last century alone, material changes to the average standard of living have dramatically improved human health and well-being worldwide. These changes come at a cost, and the looming issue-troubling scientists and researchers as far back as the 1960s -is the collective reliance on intensive greenhouse gas (GHG) producing processes to maintain a modern lifestyle. While a large part of our GHG impact comes from the sources of energy we use, our consumption of materials - the way we make and use products and food - are responsible for the remainder of emissions.1

Since 2018, the earth has consumed over half a trillion metric tons of materials, which is "nearly as much as the entire 20th century combined".2 This challenge-what the Circle Economy Foundation refers to as the "circularity gap" - highlights the urgent need for the transition to a more circular economy to achieve broader societal and environmental goals.

The Circle Economy Foundation identifies four global systems that put the most pressure on key "planetary boundaries", or measures of impacts to the earth's environmental health for which the world currently exceeds its limits. The first global system is the food system, which is the largest driver of land-use change causing globally significant biodiversity loss and contributing to one-third of GHG emissions. The second system is built environment, which is responsible for 40% of global GHG emissions, one-quarter of land system change and contributes to water stress. The third is manufactured goods, which contribute primarily to pollution and climate change through heavy material- and energy-intensive industrial activities at the production level. The fourth global system, and no less important than the other three, is transportation and mobility, which account for 25% of GHG emissions globally, through high fossil fuel use, and drive land use change and biodiversity loss.3

Packaging is involved at every stage of these four global systems. Producers and recyclers of sustainable packaging such as International Paper can affect positive environmental change across each of these global systems. By using experience and expertise in the sustainable material space, as well as innovation in product design to increase recyclability and reusability, we are already working to replace single-use materials with sustainable, recyclable and adaptable packaging.

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