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Huhtamaki India holds a panel discussion on whether using recyclable material is enough
Huhtamaki India Limited, a leading provider of primary consumer packaging and labelling solutions in India, hosted the first India edition of its Think Circle recently. The forum facilitates an open discussion on the issues, challenges, and opportunities faced by the packaging value chain in achieving circularity.
Discussing ‘Redefining recycling systems through value chain innovations in the packaging industry’ were an esteemed set of panellists that included Yogesh Bambal, Group Leader, AMEA, Mondelez, Suraj Nandakumar, Founder of Recity, Dr. R Rangaprasad, Business Head at Packaging360 and Marco Hilty, President, Flexible Packaging at Huhtamaki.
“Whilst most food packaging can be recycled, many of today’s legacy assets that were designed to recover and recycle packaging need systemic improvements to ensure that food packaging is collected, sorted and recycled”, said Marco Hilty, President, Flexible Packaging at Huhtamaki.
“Building a material-positive system for fit-for-purpose food packaging cannot be achieved without innovation and collaboration. To improve material circularity, the first stage requires agreement on the materials to support innovation and open new possibilities. The second stage requires investments in fit-for-purpose infrastructure, which are the foundation of material circularity. Taken together, increased circularity and carbon reduction support our framework for action”, Marco further added.
Yogesh Bambal, Group Leader, AMEA, Mondelez, said, “At Mondelez, we ensure that the changes we make in our product packaging are well-research and validated and are based on consumer insights. We have a mission of making our packaging recyclable by 2025 and we are progressing very well on that journey by working on ’Less packaging’ as a first pillar. Less packaging doesn’t mean compromising on quality and safety. We need to apply the design principles smartly. In the UK, we have very well executed the smart packaging principle with our Cadbury Buttons brand. We have reduced the void spaces in the pouches and branded the product with 15 percent less packaging. So product content is the same, however, the packaging waste got reduced with it. Another change we have made is by optimizing the unnecessary packaging layers that are causing a burden on the packaging system. Hence we should not only target the primary packaging, secondary and tertiary packaging can also be addressed to unlock the efficiencies in the supply chain. So these are certain aspects we can focus on when we talk about sustainable packaging.”
Further adding to the developments Mondelez has made, Yogesh said, “In India, we recently transitioned all our chocolate packaging to recyclable packaging from earlier complex structure. Huhtamaki has played a vital role in this transition.”