Is environmental sustainability a key focus within your business this year? Given the increasing consumer demand for it – it certainly should be. Consumers are keen to know what businesses are doing to protect our planet, and this affects brands and convertors alike.

In a recent article on the key talking points and takeaways from the recent PACK EXPO event in Chicago, Board Converting News journalist Mary Ann Hansan observed that many of the companies at the event were actively looking for solutions to help them substitute elements of their packaging with paper-based solutions.

The piece goes on: “The paper and packaging industry is perfectly positioned to connect and amplify this trend, helping to establish the narrative that taking proactive action to move to paper-based approaches is increasingly an essential element of being an environmentally responsible manufacturer. Innovation is at the heart of the next generation of sustainability. It is important that customers and shippers see the paper and packaging industry as collaborative innovators who will partner with them to deliver solutions that will meet their sustainability goals.”

We know that in the midst of political volatility and economic uncertainty, brands and their packaging suppliers are facing increasing pressure to demonstrate their environmental sustainability credentials. Many of the strong sustainability related promises that are being made, including seriously reducing their carbon footprint by 2025, are practically all inspired by the impact and savings that can be made in secondary and tertiary packaging in the logistics chain. That’s because this low hanging fruit is one of the only ways it will be possible for them to live up to all the promises.

But for primary packaging, the fact is that there are simply insufficient alternatives to plastics, which is why it is important that recycling, re-use and reduction are the key themes for brands and their packaging suppliers.

Packaging converters will now be forced either by their brand customers or regulatory reform to ensure they operate in a carbon neutral way. Esko is acutely aware of the role it plays in providing digitization, automation and connection of packaging development processes to deliver quality and operational efficiency gains for businesses, and by developing technologies that allow you to eliminate errors and waste, while speeding up and connecting processes and devices efficiently, Esko is building solutions that enable you to minimize your impact on the environment by reducing waste in your production process.

Esko recently published its latest whitepaper specifically addressing this topic, Environment Sustainability – considerations the packaging industry, which examines how responding to consumer demands and accelerating their own sustainability commitments will require the industry to deliver a wholesale shift in packaging design, development, and production.

To download your free copy of the whitepaper, or to learn more about how Esko solutions can help your business achieve your sustainability objectives, visit https://www.esko.com/en/company/sustainability