Vision Statement: Championing Sustainable Packaging for a Greener Future

At Nupack, our vision is to revolutionize the packaging industry in Australia by reducing our carbon footprint and promoting the use of sustainable, recyclable, and compostable materials. We acknowledge that, despite our best efforts, no packaging today—including ours—can claim to be completely sustainable. However, we firmly believe in striving towards a future where this is no longer the case.

The Path to Truly Sustainable Packaging

Our north star for sustainable packaging is circularity. We envision a future where packaging is endlessly recycled or reused, and virgin materials are derived from regenerative resources that strengthen soils, waterways, habitats, air quality, and local communities. In this future, every piece of packaging is recycled, ensuring no materials and resources are wasted, and no packaging ends up as litter in the oceans. The energy fueling the manufacturing and distribution of packaging will come from endlessly renewable sources.

Materials Circularity: Closing the Loop

Circular Packaging Solutions

The average Australian generates a significant amount of waste daily, with packaging constituting a substantial portion. Our envisioned future is drastically different:

Packaging is reused as often as possible before being recycled into new packaging materials.
Packaging is recycled back into packaging at the end of its true useful life.
Packaging is never landfilled, never littered, and only composted when composting is the optimal end-of-life scenario.
New packaging is made from high levels of post-consumer waste derived from the same material.

This vision depends on a robust recycling and remanufacturing supply chain. In this future:

Manufacturers invest in capabilities, equipment, and capacity to fully utilize recycled content, particularly post-consumer content, in producing raw packaging materials.
Plastic manufacturers convert used plastic into high-quality plastic pellets and, eventually, plastic film.
Glass manufacturers effectively use cullets to produce high-quality glass.
Paper mills produce high-strength paper from recycled paper.

With these capabilities, manufacturers highly demand recycled content, preferring it over virgin inputs. This creates a significant effort to ensure all packaging is successfully recycled. Consumers are educated on how to recycle effectively and incentivized to recycle all their waste. Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and other recyclers have the equipment, people, and processes to take in all recyclable materials and achieve a clean stream.

Designing for Recyclability

All packaging is designed for recyclability. Materials that cannot be efficiently recycled back into themselves are no longer used in packaging. Achieving this vision requires the commitment of brands, consumers, packaging companies, and manufacturers, alongside legislative action, community investments, and consumer advocacy.

Regenerative Source Materials: Restoring the Planet

While we strive for a future where packaging is made from packaging and becomes packaging again, we also recognize that virgin inputs will enter the materials stream. Most of the world’s packaging today is made with fossil fuels, chemical-intensive crops, mined metals, sand, and unsustainably logged trees. The production and extraction of these materials destroy lands, communities, water quality, and air quality and emit significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

Our vision for circularity includes a future where all virgin raw materials are regenerative and restorative to the planet. Regenerative materials are defined as those whose production improves the environment and strengthens local communities through long-term carbon sequestration, an empowered and well-paid workforce, improved soil health, improved water health, and more.

At Nupack, our role in achieving this vision involves:

Exploring and evaluating emerging packaging materials that are truly restorative.
Converting these materials into viable packaging solutions and catalyzing their market adoption.
Engaging with industry associations and community organizations to drive innovative regenerative production methods.

Moving Towards Our Vision

We recognize that we are far from our vision today. Nupack and other environmentally progressive businesses primarily focus on reducing the negative impact rather than aiming for positive ecological and humanitarian outcomes. Our vision for the future can become a reality as more individuals, businesses, communities, and governments transition from a disposable culture to one where holistic, thoughtful decisions and investments are made. These investments are rooted in respect for the human and natural resources involved in the creation, use, and disposal of packaging.

Our Sustainable Packaging Framework drives our decisions to ensure that our actions, big and small, move us towards this long-term vision. By continuously investing in circular packaging solutions, increasing the post-consumer waste levels of our packaging, and promoting effective recycling practices, we at Nupack are committed to leading the way towards a sustainable and regenerative future for the packaging industry.

Conclusion

At Nupack, we are dedicated to creating a future where packaging is truly sustainable. Our commitment to circularity and regenerative source materials is at the heart of our vision. Through innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement, we aim to reduce our environmental impact and contribute to a healthier planet. Together, we can make a significant difference and pave the way for a more sustainable and eco-friendly world.