Exploring sustainable packaging innovations: Are businesses addressing all key aspects?

Abstract

Businesses are increasingly adopting sustainable packaging innovations to minimize their environmental and societal impact. A key question remains whether businesses consider all key aspects of sustainable packaging. Understanding corporate preferences can highlight underutilized areas of sustainable redesign that require greater support to achieve truly effective packaging solutions. This study explores the adoption of sustainable packaging innovations in the Czech FMCG sector, with a particular focus on the chemical industry (household chemicals and cosmetics). A literature review identified 26 types of packaging innovations, followed by an empirical study involving 253 Czech FMCG manufacturers from the food and chemical industries. The findings reveal that manufacturers primarily concentrate on improving packaging protection, enhancing handling, reducing material usage, and using recyclable materials. Conversely, innovations involving renewable packaging materials and reusable packaging options remain less widespread. A comparison of the chemical and food industries indicates several differences that are discussed.