Packaging change will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

The packaging industry is bracing for transformative changes this year, driven by consumer cynicism and evolving political and business priorities. The naïve days of corporate managers stating that they will eliminate all plastic in their packaging over the next five to 10 years are behind us. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to reduce its use. Ironically, this new mindset reflects one of the oldest adages made about sustainability: It’s a journey, not a destination.

Instead of calling for 50% reductions in plastic use, we’re going to see much smaller, incremental changes by which LDPE, PP, and PS will be replaced by other materials, especially starch. Starch is nature’s original polymer, and it has excellent oil and grease resistance properties. It is also relatively inexpensive, recyclable, compostable, bio-based, and has a smaller environmental footprint (that is, greenhouse gas generation) than most traditional fossil fuel-based polymers.

改變將是漸進的，而不是革命性的。在消費者的質疑和不斷變化的政治與商業重點的推動下，包裝產業今年正準備迎接改變。企業管理者天真地宣稱在未來五到十年內將消除包裝中的所有塑料，這種日子已經過去了。但這並不意味著他們不想減少它的使用。諷刺的是，這種新思維體現了永續發展的最古老的格言之一：永續發展是一段旅程，而不是目的地。

我們不會呼籲將塑膠使用量減少 50%，而是會看到更小、更漸進的變化，其中 LDPE、PP 和 PS 將被其他材料（尤其是澱粉）取代。澱粉是自然界的原始聚合物，具有優良的抗油脂性能。與大多數傳統的基於化石燃料的聚合物相比，它也相對便宜、可回收、可堆肥、生物基，並且對環境的影響（即溫室氣體產生）較小。

Source: packagingdigest.com