Pack.Nxt conference maps India's journey to a circular packaging economy

The discussions across six panels revealed that the path to circularity is a journey of collaboration, material science, technological adoption, and regulatory discipline, all while making sustainability financially viable.

The conference opened with a clear acknowledgement from esteemed panellists like Tushar Bandopadhyay of Indian Centre for Plastics Environment, that for India, circularity is not new—it’s been a practice since the 1960s, driven by necessity and livelihood. The first discussion set the tone: True circularity is achieved through a collaborative ecosystem where industry, academia, and startups work together to solve real-world problems.

The immediate, practical steps discussed were design interventions, such as reducing packaging thickness (example; moving from 250 to 200 microns) and incorporating PCR content through techniques like IV-enhanced polymer recycling.

This focus on practical application led to a panel: Smart Packaging. The panellists, including Abhishek Arora, general manager of procurement at LT Foods; Yashasvi Mishra, associate director at Licious; and Avijit Das, R&D director for product delivery and maintenance at Reckitt Benckiser, defined the future of packaging by looking beyond simple "functional" features to "inclusive" (sensing/passing information) and "interactive" packaging.

While adoption is still modest, the key to exponential growth (from 7% to a desired 45%) lies in making the technology valuable to the consumer, not just pushing it. Innovations like conductive inks, biodegradable circuits (made from cellulose or starch), and colour-changing indicators are driving this shift. The consensus was that smart packaging is moving from a "value-add" feature to a "competitive necessity," particularly in high-value, sensitive sectors like pharmaceuticals and dairy.

The session on new materials revolution, grappled with the challenges of replacing traditional plastics. The conversation centered on the critical balance of material performance (shelf-life, preventing chemical migration, maintaining aesthetic appeal) and consumer communication.

The panel stressed that messaging must be simple—avoiding "sustainable jargon" and opting for clear language like "made of 30% recycled plastics." The panellists identified a key infrastructure gap: the necessity for better sorting, composting, and recycling mechanisms, suggesting that kerbside sorting and take-back programs are essential. 

Ultimately, recyclable laminates were hailed as a promising, ready-to-go solution, provided that new materials, including biopolymers, are deployed thoughtfully to avoid creating new waste problems.

The technology thread was picked up again in AI, IOT and data-driven packaging design. Diwakar Bharadwaj of Polycab India positioned AI as a powerful support tool to boost efficiency in a human-centric system. The adoption of IoT and AI is already automating design rules, reducing bottlenecks, and enabling intelligent logistics. However, the panel cautioned that any investment must be viewed as a long-term, 5-year commitment, with Return on Investment (ROI) measured in efficiency gains rather than immediate cost savings. For successful AI integration, secure data governance and reliable, authenticated data are paramount.

The toughest question—making sustainability affordable—was addressed by the fifth panel. Industry leaders from FMCG and pharma provided real-world examples:

Cost reduction: Companies are achieving savings through light-weighting (reducing film thickness), eliminating unnecessary components (replacing stiffener poly-extrusion with anti-fungal coating), and reducing the overall material footprint of promotional bundles (replacing full-shrink sleeves with targeted hot-melt adhesive).

The 4 R's in pharma: The pharmaceutical sector, driven by stringent safety and regulatory needs, focuses on reduce (digital leaflets via QR code), reuse (reusable insulin pens), and Replace (plastic trays with cardboard).

Total cost of ownership (TCO): Panellists explained that TCO must be measured against the original baseline, factoring in the long-term benefits like a waiver on EPR credits for using PCR, which can offset the higher initial cost of sustainable materials. The consensus echoed was that packaging should never be compromised for cost; its primary purpose is to sustain the product’s life cycle.

The final session, regulatory readiness, brought the complex landscape of compliance into sharp focus. Om Prakash Sadhwani (former joint commissioner, drug control, Food and Drug Administration) highlighted that the unorganised and fragmented nature of much of the Indian packaging industry is a massive hurdle to standardisation.

Every detail matters, from the pH of ink and adhesive on a label to the FSSAI's tightening mandate for all food-contact surfaces and labelling. Crucially, the burden of compliance, and the risk associated with counterfeiting, is shifting from the supplier to the user. The closing message was that the entire ecosystem, from material science to regulatory interpretation, must mature to ensure that packaging is not just sustainable in theory, but "circular in practice."

Our takeaway: And this was the key takeaway from the Pack.Nxt conference. The realisation that a circular economy requires the entire ecosystem—from material science and design to regulatory compliance and consumer engagement—to mature, ensures that packaging is not merely sustainable in theory, but "circular in practice."