Reinventing packaging [1]: the opportunity of biomaterials in a trillion-dollar industry
For decades, packaging was an operational variable: protecting the product, extending shelf life, and optimizing transport and cost. Today, in addition to all of this, it has also become a convergence point between regulation, public health, circularity, and competitive advantage. In a global market valued at around $1.2 trillion in 2025 [2], material choices are increasingly shaping regulatory compliance, market access, brand positioning, and supply chain resilience.
Plastics have been one of the most successful materials in industrial history: lightweight, cheap, versatile, and extraordinarily efficient from a logistics perspective. Thanks to them, the global system for distributing food and consumer goods has reached unprecedented levels of efficiency. But that same success has created a systemic problem. According to the OECD[3], global plastic use exceeds 450 million tonnes per year. Packaging accounts for roughly one-third of total use, but generates close to 40% of plastic waste due to its particularly short lifespan.
The issue is not only volume, but the logic of use. A large share of this packaging is used for minutes or days, while its environmental persistence is measured in years or decades. Over time, these materials fragment into micro- and nanoplastics that are already being detected in water, air, and soils. In agriculture, recent scientific literature suggests that microplastics may alter soil health and functionality, affect microbial communities, interfere with nutrient cycles, and also act as vectors for other contaminants[4].
In recent years, scientific evidence has also increased regarding the presence of micro- and nanoplastics in the human body. Although a clear causal link to specific diseases has not yet been demonstrated, their presence in multiple human tissues has been confirmed, as well as biological signals that justify stricter regulation of conventional plastics[5],[6].
Food packaging has become one of Europe’s most relevant regulatory fronts. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)[7], in force since 11 February 2025, sets a clear direction: reduce packaging and waste, decrease the use of virgin raw materials, promote recyclability, and restrict certain single-use applications and concerning substances. However, PPWR does not operate in isolation. Other regulations govern food-contact materials, set migration limits for substances, and define end-of-life classifications, clearly distinguishing between “bio-based,” “biodegradable,” and “compostable” materials[8].
Today, packaging innovation is advancing in three complementary directions. First, the industry is working to improve packaging recyclability through design, simplifying structures and reducing material complexity to better fit existing infrastructure. Second, a new generation of bio-based materials is emerging, aiming not only to replace conventional plastics but also to offer new technical properties, from improved barrier performance to active or smart functionalities. Third, a more circular production model is gaining traction, where agricultural or industrial waste is no longer seen as waste but as a resource and raw material for new materials[9].
In Europe in particular, the development of bio-based materials is experiencing strong momentum. Some of these innovations aim not only to substitute conventional plastics, but also to add new functionalities such as improved barrier properties, antimicrobial activity, or smart features.
The key challenge is no longer proving that alternatives exist, but scaling them industrially to meet market requirements, which demand “drop-in” solutions: bio-based materials that significantly reduce environmental impact while maintaining the same availability, stability, processability, and performance as fossil-based plastics—and at competitive costs versus traditional materials[10].
This is precisely where the main bottleneck for adoption lies today: cost. As in most industries, price competitiveness is closely linked to scale. And the reality is that, at this stage of development and industrialization, many of these solutions still carry a cost premium over conventional plastics.
The key question, therefore, is who should bear this cost during the transition phase. Should it be producers, at the expense of margins? Consumers, through a greater willingness to pay for more sustainable solutions? Or the public sector, through incentives, subsidies, or regulatory frameworks that accelerate adoption?
The answer is likely that this effort will need to be shared among several actors. However, it is also clear that a purely price-per-kilo analysis is becoming increasingly insufficient. As regulation tightens recyclability and traceability requirements, and as brands adopt more ambitious sustainability targets in their supply chains, the true cost of conventional plastics is no longer just the purchase price. Regulatory, reputational, and operational costs associated with materials that are increasingly misaligned with the new market framework are also becoming more significant.
It is clear that the transition to new materials will not be linear or immediate. But one idea is becoming increasingly evident: the packaging of the future will not be designed solely to be cheap and functional, but also to be regulatory-compliant, circular by design, and socially acceptable.
At Swanlaab, we have been closely following this evolution for some time. We firmly believe that biomaterials have the opportunity not only to become an alternative to plastics, but to turn sustainable packaging into one of the most relevant areas of industrial innovation over the next decade.
For this reason, we have invested in Pack2Earth, one of the companies developing solutions in this space. Its technology enables the production of materials with barrier properties and processability comparable to traditional plastics, facilitating substitution in certain food packaging applications.
The key difference lies in the origin and end-of-life of these materials: Pack2Earth’s materials are bio-based and compostable at ambient temperature, significantly reducing environmental impact and advancing towards more circular packaging models.
We believe that solutions of this kind illustrate the type of innovation needed to transform the sector in the coming years and take another step towards a more sustainable world.
By Claudia Jiménez - https://swanlaab.com
[1] In this article, “packaging” refers primarily to food packaging: containers and materials that hold, protect, preserve, transport, and present food throughout the value chain. This includes both primary packaging—directly in contact with food—and certain secondary packaging, with particular focus on single-use formats where regulatory pressure, environmental challenges, and material substitution opportunities are greatest.
[2] Smithers, The Future of Global Packaging to 2030.
[3] OECD, Global Plastics Outlook.
[4] Hoang et al., review on microplastics in agricultural soils.
[5] Roslan et al. (2024), Detection of microplastics in human tissues and organs: A scoping review.
[6] Marfella et al. (2024), Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events, The New England Journal of Medicine.
[7] European Commission, Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation and policy on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics.
[8] EFSA, Food Contact Materials.
[9] Versino et al. (2023) and Hussain et al. (2024), reviews on sustainable packaging innovation.
[10] Börner et al. (2024), Key challenges in the advancement and industrialization of biobased and biodegradable plastics.
cloud technology axon
The issuance attracted strong interest from institutional investors, w...
