Industry leaders at Respack address sustainable development in flexible packaging

The panel addressed the massive structural shift required as the industry approaches World Environment Day on 5 June, emphasising that the era of over-packaging has officially ended.

Opening the session, moderator Sumit Basu, executive director and head of the polymer group at Indian Oil Corporation, set the baseline for the discussion. He highlighted that while primary and secondary over-packaging are now history, the true challenge lies in engineering alternative materials that protect the product, defend barrier properties, and preserve cost efficiency without leaving a footprint on the environment.

Food packaging opportunities and the reality of cost barriers
Kaushik Nag, CEO at Jupiter Laminators, focused on the evolving demands of food-grade flexible packaging, describing it as the backbone of food safety, shelf-life extension, and supply chain productivity. As single-layer materials remain inadequate against moisture, oxygen, and light, multi-layer laminates remain a necessity.

Nag highlighted India’s booming fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and quick-commerce ecosystems as major growth catalysts. Rapidly scaling quick-service restaurant (QSR) models and platforms require “tamper-proof, spill-free and transit-ready packaging [that] must survive till the last moment it reaches the consumer” through a gruelling quick-commerce logistics chain. 

Nag also spotlighted a shift from rigid to flexible containers, notably in the liquid detergent and edible oil sectors. “From the typical rigid containers, it has moved to 5-litre and 6-litre pouches,” Nag observed. “So [there’s] ample opportunity for flexibles to play in that segment.”

However, Nag paired these opportunities with sharp industry realism regarding sustainability goals, such as polyolefin-compliant structures designed to replace traditional PET, aluminium foil, and polyethylene mixes. 

He cautioned that actual implementation is lagging behind industry rhetoric, “Although in many of the summits, we keep talking about what we want to do, but how much of that we are able to do?” He added, “We talk more, but actual actions on the ground are a little slower than what we are talking. And what is the reason for it? 70% says cost is primarily a barrier to adopting sustainable packaging solutions.”

Nag argued that what is gained in sustainability can quietly be lost in machine efficiency and margins, declaring that “the transition demands investment in machines, processes and materials, not just the intent.” 

He concluded by noting that supply chain volatility is no longer an occasional risk but a permanent operating environment. "Typically now, volatility is no longer an occasional risk. It is the operating environment, which will remain so with ever-evolving Russia-Ukraine, Iran-US and many more to come,” Nag warned. 

He urged a unified commercial model where raw material producers, machine makers, and converters share the financial weight of innovation.

Reimagining the retort: Uncompromising mono-material retort pouches
Focusing on the highly complex and demanding liquid and aseptic sectors, NS Sundaram, CEO at Paharpur 3P, detailed the company’s breakthrough work in commercialising sustainable retort packaging. 

Operating out of eco-certified facilities (including a natural gas-powered plant and a water-net-positive, zero-liquid-discharge factory equipped with 1-MW of solar power), Paharpur 3P positions its manufacturing at the cutting edge of performance-based circularity.

Retort packaging, widely utilised for ready-to-eat curries, human food, and the rapidly growing pet food sector (which is currently expanding at double-digit rates in India), represents one of the hardest packaging formats to make sustainable. The material must endure punishing thermal sterilisation conditions between 121°C and 135°C for over 30-minutes, resist aggressive food formulations, and maintain an absolute barrier for up to 24 months.

Sundaram explained that legacy designs are no longer viable under modern environmental frameworks, “The past is always tactical and operational. The multi-layer laminates are fundamentally misaligned with the global recyclability legislation. When they talk about recyclability, it is a permanent fusion of a mix of disposable materials and layering is impossible. Layer separation has become a very difficult task on that.”

To bridge this gap, Paharpur 3P spent years running extensive global and domestic trials to perfect an uncompromising mono-material retort pouch that matches the exact barrier performance, delamination resistance, and seal integrity of legacy structures. While the mono-material structures initially faced structural failure when tested in stand-up pouch formats compared to three-side-sealed pouches, iterative engineering has resolved the drop-test and permeability limits.

Sundaram stated that the industry no longer needs to approach brand owners with compromises on shelf life or structural durability. He asserted, “The future of packaging is not about making a bad material slightly better. It’s about creating the right materials from the start.”

Eliminating aluminium and adhesive via advanced printing and coating
Nilesh Pinto, zonal business director at Bobst India, outlined how Bobst is decoupling high-barrier packaging from its reliance on both aluminium foil and metalised films. Backed by a global turnover of CHF 1.62-billion, Bobst operates three manufacturing plants in India, pivoting toward a consultative approach with domestic brand owners.

Pinto highlighted Bobst’s structured innovation timeline, beginning with mono-material poly-poly (POPP) structures in 2019, integrating post-consumer recycled (PCR) content in 2021, and launching their proprietary FibreCycle high-barrier paper solutions in 2022. By utilising high-density paper treated with specialised primers and functional top-coats, Bobst introduced plastic-free, recyclable paper alternatives for soup and chocolate wrappers across Europe. 

A central highlight of Pinto’s presentation was the commercial application of AluBond, a high-optical-density aluminium oxide coating technology that achieved its foundational R&D breakthroughs directly in India before scaling globally.

Pinto concluded by introducing a new flexo-based lamination machine designed to replace traditional gravure lamination cylinders. By replacing gravure cylinders with an anilox roller system, the process is guaranteed to use “20% less adhesive and 50% less solvent,” allowing packaging solution providers to adjust coating weights between 2.5 and 4.5gsm on a single setup, driving down both production costs and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.