Packaging manufacturer Klöckner Pentaplast (kp) hosted its ‘Inside the Future of Food Packaging’ event earlier this month, bringing together retailers, recyclers, technology providers and manufacturers to discuss how the industry can adapt to evolving sustainability regulations while maintaining performance, shelf appeal and commercial viability.
Held at held at the iconic Silverstone motor racing circuit, discussions ranged from extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) to consumer recycling behaviour, soft plastics, and the growing role of AI on the factory floor and in packaging design. While each topic considered a different challenge, a consistent theme emerged: the need for greater clarity, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making across the entire packaging ecosystem.
Speaking at the event, Thomas Jakobsen, president of food packaging for kp, said: “Packaging today is no longer simply about containment or protection. It is about balancing increasingly complex demands, performance, sustainability, compliance and cost, often under tighter timelines and greater scrutiny than ever before. In a world where volatility is increasingly the new constant, working in isolation is not an option.”
The strongest overarching theme of the day is one that kp says it encounters every day: food packaging is being pulled in multiple directions at once. Performance, sustainability, compliance, cost, recyclability, recovery infrastructure, and consumer trust are all essential considerations. During the kp event, speaker after speaker reinforced how the role of packaging has evolved into something that helps food businesses make confident decisions under greater scrutiny and tighter timelines.
That is precisely the challenge that kp’s portfolio is built around. Whether it’s kp Elite, its mono-material MAP trays made from up to 100% rPET, kp Infinity. fully recyclable EPP-based alternative to banned single serve EPS food packaging, or any other innovation throughout the range, kp says customers can rest assured that its solutions are designed not just for market needs today, but tomorrow too.
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