Where Packaging Really Goes: Understanding End of Life Across Global Markets

Where Packaging Really Goes: Understanding End of Life Across Global Markets

Recycling & End-of-Life Infrastructure Research for Zespri

A packaging material can be technically recyclable, compostable or recoverable — but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be collected, sorted or processed in the market where it is sold.

Salty developed a series of market-specific research reports for Zespri examining the real-world recycling infrastructure and end-of-life pathways for packaging across Japan, Spain, the USA, France and Belgium.

The objective was to give Zespri a clearer understanding of what happened to packaging after use and use that knowledge to inform future packaging and material decisions across its global value chain.

Looking Beyond "Recyclable"

Each market has different collection systems, waste legislation, recycling technologies, consumer behaviours and infrastructure.

Our research investigated the journey packaging takes after it leaves the consumer, including:

  • Local collection and sorting systems

  • Mechanical recycling infrastructure

  • Recycling and recovery technologies

  • Commercial and industrial composting infrastructure

  • End-of-life pathways for conventional plastics

  • Infrastructure for bioplastics and alternative materials

  • Consumer understanding and disposal behaviour

  • Materials accepted — and actually processed — locally

  • Emerging waste and packaging legislation

  • Gaps between technical recyclability and recycling in practice

The research helped distinguish between what packaging could theoretically do at end of life and what was actually happening to it in each market.

Japan: Infrastructure, Education and the Transition Away From Fossil Plastic

Our research into Japan highlighted the complexity of introducing alternative packaging materials without first understanding the systems required to manage them.

Japan was taking steps to reduce dependence on non-renewable petrochemical plastics and had developed a roadmap supporting increased adoption of bioplastics, including an ambition to introduce approximately 2 million tonnes of bioplastics by 2030.

However, our research identified an important disconnect.

At the time of the study, appropriate infrastructure for the sorting, collection and processing of many alternative materials, including bioplastics, was limited. Discussions with stakeholders also identified uncertainty around appropriate end-of-life pathways and consumer understanding of these materials.

This demonstrated that simply changing the material was not enough.

Packaging innovation has to be considered alongside the infrastructure, education and systems available to deal with that packaging after use.

Five Markets. Five Different End-of-Life Realities.

By examining Japan, Spain, the USA, France and Belgium, our research demonstrated why global organisations cannot assume that a packaging solution suitable for one country will deliver the same environmental outcome in another.

A material may be technically recyclable but not collected locally. A compostable material may require a collection pathway that does not yet exist. Recycling infrastructure may be highly developed for one material and limited for another.

These differences directly influence the environmental impact of packaging — and increasingly influence market access, producer responsibility, packaging design and regulatory compliance.

Designing for What Actually Happens

The research provided Zespri with market-specific evidence to support packaging decision-making across its international supply chain.

Rather than asking only:

"Is this packaging recyclable?"

The more important questions became:

Will it be collected? Will it be correctly sorted? Is there infrastructure to process it? Is there demand for the recovered material? And what is its most likely end-of-life destination in this particular market?

These principles continue to underpin Salty's approach to packaging development.

Good packaging design doesn't end when the product reaches the consumer. It considers where the packaging will go next — and designs for the end-of-life systems that exist in the real world.