The new legislative paradigm opens new challenges for secondary and tertiary packaging, usually called packaging, which must meet targets set to promote sustainability that go through reducing the empty space in them and enable their reuse.

Apart from the requirements established for primary packaging, the future European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, whose final approval is expected this autumn, will limit to 40% the empty space ratio in collective packaging (secondary), transport packaging (tertiary) or products purchased online. In addition, it will set targets for at least 10% of secondary and tertiary packaging to be reusable within a reuse system by 2030, a percentage that should reach 50% by 2040.

To meet these legislative requirements, companies face the challenge of replacing conventional materials with more sustainable ones while guaranteeing the same technical specifications in terms of product protection. In addition, to make reuse feasible, they must adopt new solutions to avoid incurring costs for the recovery of packaging used on long-distance routes and to prevent additional emissions from reverse logistics. This requires packaging that can be easily repaired if damaged during the distribution stage, but which can also be disassembled to facilitate reverse logistics and thus recovery and reuse.

 

Key to helping companies adapt to this new paradigm is the ecodesign methodology, which involves designing packaging to be sustainable while maintaining its technical performance, such as a level of resistance that ensures product protection during transport. Thus, through ecodesign, sustainable materials can be incorporated, or their recyclability and/or reusability can be guaranteed, facilitating their repair and disassembly for reverse logistics, while maintaining similar performance to conventional packaging.

 

In the development of sustainable secondary and tertiary packaging, the validation stage is also important. This is key to determining the modifications or reinforcements needed to ensure product protection during the distribution stage.

In this way, the integration of eco-design and validation allows companies to align themselves with regulations, but also to differentiate themselves in a market that is increasingly aware of sustainability. This is a key mission of ITENE, which helps companies to adapt to the legislative paradigm from design and through a transport simulation center that recreates the real conditions of distribution to adapt the packaging to the requirements and risks of each route.