Smither's white paper has packaging focus

Smithers Strategic Consultancy has published a new white paper, Impact of Packaging Regulations in Asia Pacific, which forecasts packaging consumption growth in Asia Pacific at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2025-2028. More importantly, it discusses the evolving regulatory landscape, including six key industry initiatives and strategies to go beyond compliance for packaging circularity.

Interestingly enough, countries like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Vietnam have established specific targets for packaging recycling rates, with a particular emphasis on plastic recycling. The chemically recycled plastics for packaging market in the Asia Pacific is expected to reach a market size of 6.2-million tonnes by 2028. In India, the emergence of regulations is one of the most important drivers for the increased use of PCR (post-consumer recycled) materials in packaging.   

The white paper highlights that achieving genuine circularity requires integrated stakeholder actions across the value chain, as regulations alone are not sufficient.

The six key industry initiatives addressed in the white paper to navigate packaging regulations are: Application of PCR materials; material innovation and alternatives; reusable and refillable packaging; deposit return systems; advanced packaging waste management; and chemical recycling solution.

The white paper says that, packaging board is the largest packaging product sector. However, flexible plastics are forecast to grow at the fastest rate with 5.1%, followed by board with 4.4%. Meanwhile, industrial/transit/other is the largest end-user sector. And healthcare is forecast to grow at the fastest rate, followed by food and cosmetics.

From an Indian perspective, three things stand out in the white paper.

One is, the EPR targets set by the government for rigid plastics in India are 30% in 2024-25; this is expected to increase to 80% by 2027-28.

Two, India mandates plastic packaging manufacturers, importers, and brand owners to use recycled materials in plastic packaging from April 2025, with the proportion of use increasing year by year.

Three, the white paper alludes to Revalyu Resources, which uses a glycolysis-based chemical recycling technique and has commissioned two PET recycling plants in India. The third plant is under construction. By the end of 2025, Revalyu anticipates the Nashik site will have the capacity to recycle about 35-million PET bottles per day, with a daily output capacity of up to 310-tonnes.