The use of renewable or bio-materials is one of many options to enhance the sustainability of your packaging solution and is complementary to source reduction, end of life strategies including recycling and compost, and the inclusion of recycled content. Each sustainable packaging strategy offers its own unique advantages and challenges. Careful consideration must be given to package complexity, end of life options, package performance needs, cost, and manufacturability objectives when choosing the appropriate solution.

Renewable materials include those materials or additives that are naturally occurring and derived from products such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, straw, woodchips, sawdust, and recycled food waste. Renewable products can be introduced into both traditional and sustainable packaging applications typically benefiting reductions in virgin, fossil-based feedstocks, greenhouse gas emissions, and can often be added to packaging materials with minimal impact to package properties or performance.

Motivation for inclusion of renewable content includes the US Plastics Pact seeking packaging to include 30% renewable or post-consumer recycled content by 2025. The US Plastics Pact represents more than 850 organizations working toward scalable solutions tailored to the needs and challenges within the US landscape and includes major grocers including Walmart, Aldi, and Target, who are ultimately driving their suppliers to make sustainable enhancements to the products they manufacture.

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