Sustainability Basics
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Sustainability Basics
Sustainability Basics for Packaging Buyers & Manufacturers
Understand the sustainability terms, recycling systems, carbon concepts and environmental measures that influence real-world packaging decisions.
Sustainability in packaging means evaluating how packaging materials, manufacturing, transportation, use and end-of-life affect resources, waste and environmental impact while still meeting the package's performance, cost, availability, manufacturability, regulatory and supply-chain requirements.
Sustainability Simplified™ by Empire EMCO helps manufacturers understand these concepts before comparing materials, setting recycled-content goals or changing an existing package.
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What Should Packaging Buyers Understand About Sustainability?
Packaging sustainability is not one material, one percentage or one environmental claim. A practical packaging strategy considers the complete package and the requirements of the product, manufacturing process and supply chain.
A change intended to improve one sustainability metric can affect other important considerations. Increasing recycled content, reducing package weight, changing materials or redesigning a package may influence appearance, performance, processing, compatibility, availability, regulatory suitability, cost or supply continuity.
The purpose of Sustainability Simplified™ is to make those relationships easier to understand so manufacturers can make practical, defensible packaging decisions.
Why It Matters
Why Does Sustainability Matter to Manufacturers?
Sustainability requirements increasingly affect decisions made by procurement, packaging engineering, operations, product development, compliance and supply-chain teams.
Brands and manufacturers may have recycled-content, packaging reduction, recyclability or greenhouse-gas goals that affect packaging specifications.
Packaging regulations, recycled-content requirements, EPR programs, labeling standards and environmental claims can influence the packaging decisions manufacturers make.
Material or design changes still have to protect the product, survive filling and distribution, work with closures and decorating processes, and perform throughout the intended shelf life.
Sustainable packaging options can be affected by resin markets, recycled-material supply, component availability, minimum order requirements, lead times and manufacturing capabilities.
A packaging change that cannot be supplied consistently can create production delays, shortages and greater operational risk.
A Better Way to Evaluate Packaging
Sustainable Packaging Requires Tradeoff Decisions
The package that appears environmentally preferable in one area may create challenges somewhere else. Manufacturers should evaluate sustainability alongside the factors required to successfully manufacture, fill, distribute and use the package.
Sustainability Basics Learning Center
Learn the Concepts That Shape Sustainable Packaging Decisions
Start with the fundamentals or go directly to the concept you need. Each guide explains the terminology in practical packaging terms and connects it to the decisions manufacturers make.
Start With the Fundamentals
Begin here if you are building a sustainability strategy or need a common foundation for your team.
What Is Sustainability in Packaging?
Understand what packaging sustainability means and why it involves more than choosing a material that appears “green.”
→Why Does Sustainability Matter in Packaging?
Learn how sustainability can affect regulatory requirements, customer expectations, sourcing, cost, performance and supply.
Understand Circularity
Learn what happens to packaging materials before and after use and why recyclability and recycled content are not the same thing.
What Is a Circular Economy in Packaging?
Learn how circular-economy concepts seek to keep materials in use and reduce reliance on new resources.
→Recycled vs. Recyclable Packaging: What's the Difference?
Recycled describes material already used in a new product. Recyclable describes what may be possible after that product is used.
→What Is Closed-Loop Recycling?
Understand when recovered material is used again in the same or a similar type of product.
→What Is Open-Loop Recycling?
Learn how recovered packaging material can become a different type of product or application.
→What Is Downcycling?
Learn what it means when recovered material is used in an application with different or reduced material requirements.
Understand Recycling Technologies
Learn how different recycling pathways process plastic and how terminology affects packaging discussions.
What Is Mechanical Recycling?
Learn how plastic is collected, sorted, cleaned and physically reprocessed into recycled material.
→What Is Chemical Recycling?
Understand technologies that use chemical or thermal processes to convert plastic into feedstocks or other outputs.
→Mechanical vs. Chemical Recycling: What's the Difference?
Compare the two recycling pathways, their inputs, outputs, applications and important considerations.
Measure Environmental Impact
Understand the terminology companies use to evaluate environmental impacts and greenhouse-gas emissions.
What Is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Packaging?
Learn how environmental impacts can be evaluated across stages of a package's life cycle.
→What Is a Carbon Footprint?
Understand what a carbon footprint measures and how packaging materials, manufacturing and transportation can contribute.
→What Are Scope 1, Scope 2 & Scope 3 Emissions?
Learn where direct, purchased-energy and value-chain emissions occur—and why purchased packaging is often relevant to Scope 3.
→What Is the GHG Protocol?
Learn how organizations commonly categorize and account for greenhouse-gas emissions.
Understand Climate & Environmental Terminology
Learn terms manufacturers increasingly encounter in corporate sustainability goals, supplier discussions and environmental claims.
What Does Net Zero Mean?
Understand the basic concept of net-zero greenhouse-gas goals and the importance of defining scope, boundaries and timeframe.
→What Does Carbon Neutral Mean?
Learn how carbon-neutral claims differ from broader emissions- reduction strategies and why terminology matters.
→Carbon Neutral vs. Net Zero: What's the Difference?
Compare two frequently used climate terms and understand why their definitions and boundaries should be examined carefully.
→What Is Mass Balance?
Understand the chain-of-custody concept used to account for certified or attributed material across a production system.
Sustainable Packaging Glossary
Need a quick definition? Use the glossary for concise explanations of common sustainability and packaging terminology.
Sustainability Simplified™ — At a Glance
Three Important Concepts to Understand First
From Sustainability Goal to Packaging Decision
What Should You Ask Before Changing Your Packaging?
Sustainability terminology matters, but manufacturers ultimately have to determine whether a packaging change works for the actual product, operation and supply chain.
Built for Manufacturers
Who Is This Knowledge Center For?
Sustainability Simplified™ is designed for professionals responsible for packaging decisions at companies that manufacture, fill and package products repeatedly throughout the year.
Across Packaging-Intensive Markets
Industries We Support
These concepts apply across rigid packaging applications where material choice, package performance, repeat supply and sustainability requirements must work together.
Continue Learning
Ready to Go Beyond the Basics?
Once the fundamental terminology is clear, manufacturers can begin evaluating specific sustainable packaging strategies such as post-consumer recycled plastic, lightweighting, design for recycling, mono-material packaging and other material or design alternatives.
The answer can depend on appearance, performance, compatibility, availability, regulatory suitability and cost.
Material, recycled content, package weight and design can influence physical and processing performance.
A technically viable material still needs adequate quality, availability and dependable supply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sustainable Packaging Basics FAQs
What is sustainable packaging?
Is recyclable packaging the same as recycled packaging?
What is a circular economy in packaging?
What is a Life Cycle Assessment for packaging?
Why are Scope 3 emissions important in packaging?
Is packaging with more recycled content always more sustainable?
Does sustainable packaging always cost more?
How should a manufacturer choose a more sustainable package?
Applying Sustainability to Your Packaging
Understanding the Terminology Is Step One. Applying It Is the Hard Part.
Empire EMCO helps manufacturers evaluate rigid packaging options based on the complete application—not sustainability in isolation. We can help compare materials, recycled-content levels, package designs, performance requirements, sourcing, supplier capabilities, availability and other packaging considerations before you make a change.