If Packaging Innovations 2026 made one thing clear, it’s this. Packaging is no longer something businesses can afford to ignore simply because it hasn’t caused a problem yet.
For years, packaging sat in the operational background. If products arrived intact, lines ran smoothly and warehouses coped, packaging rarely made it into strategic conversations. It was something you specified once, optimised occasionally and left alone.
That model is breaking down. Rising logistics costs, labour pressure, regulatory exposure and sustainability scrutiny are forcing organisations to treat packaging as part of a much bigger operational and commercial system. What stood out across the show’s discussions and talks wasn’t a single breakthrough material or technology. It was a shift in mindset. Packaging is moving from being a material decision to being a system performance decision.
1. Real-world recovery, not recyclability, is what matters
For years, the industry focused on whether packaging could be recycled. Increasingly, the more uncomfortable question is: does it actually get recycled in the real world? And the answer is most likely, no it doesn’t.
Real-world recovery depends on behaviour, infrastructure and system design, not just material science. Several sessions at the show highlighted how the point of disposal influences recovery rates. Packaging used in environments such as bathrooms or on-the-go settings may be less likely to enter recycling streams, regardless of how recyclable the material is in theory. Design features such as sleeves, caps and labels can materially change how packaging is sorted. AI waste tracking is now showing brands where packaging really ends up, not where they assume it does.
Regulation is reinforcing this shift. PPWR and EPR legislation are forcing brands to move beyond theoretical recyclability and prove real recovery performance. The implication is simple really. If packaging only works in a perfect recycling scenario, it doesn’t really work.
2. Packaging is now a system cost, not just a material cost
Another shift is economic.
Packaging is no longer being judged purely on material spend and protection performance. It is increasingly being evaluated through its operational impact. In one Packaging Innovations session on moulded fibre packaging, speakers showed how redesigned inserts reduced handling time and warehouse space requirements, demonstrating how packaging design directly influences labour efficiency, storage utilisation and operational cost. Small design decisions, repeated at scale, create measurable impact.
The uncomfortable reality is that packaging rarely fails dramatically. It fails quietly. It adds seconds to packing lines. It consumes space. It introduces extra handling. None of this feels urgent. Well, not until it shows up in margin erosion.
3. Sustainability is becoming a systems engineering problem
The sustainability conversation is also maturing. The industry is moving beyond “What material replaces plastic?” towards “Does this packaging actually work inside real systems?”
Replacing plastic with fibre or biopolymers only delivers environmental benefit if those materials perform inside existing collection and recycling infrastructure. A technically sustainable material can still fail if it contaminates recycling streams, reduces recovery quality or depends on ideal consumer behaviour.
There is also growing recognition that “sustainable-looking” packaging can still fail real recovery systems. The issue is becoming are we designing packaging for sustainability outcomes, or for sustainability narratives? The most sustainable packaging is increasingly the packaging that is captured and recovered reliably, at scale.
4. Regulation is turning packaging into a financial and strategic decision
Regulation is accelerating all of this. EPR modulation, PPWR requirements and plastic taxation are moving packaging out of sustainability reporting and into financial modelling. Packaging is now a balance sheet variable. Brands are now modelling EPR fee exposure, compliance risk, recyclability classification cost scenarios and long-term material restriction risk. For some large organisations, this already translates into multi-million-pound annual cost exposure.
At the same time, there is clear unease around regulatory clarity. Many brands are redesigning packaging ahead of PPWR requirements, while implementation guidance, scoring methodologies and labelling frameworks are still evolving. Businesses are being asked to make long-term packaging decisions while the full rulebook is still being written. The risk is not just getting packaging wrong. It’s getting it wrong twice and paying for it.
5. Data and AI are turning packaging into a measurable performance discipline
Underpinning all of this is data. AI is moving from being something the industry talks about to something the industry now uses every day. Waste intelligence platforms can track billions of packaging items as they move through real recycling systems. This means packaging can now be modelled, tested and improved using real performance data, not assumptions.
At the same time, automated sorting and production environments rely heavily on packaging consistency. For brands, this changes how packaging decisions are made. Designs can be tested before they go to market. Regulatory cost exposure can be predicted earlier. And brands can see how their packaging actually performs in recycling systems, down to specific regions or facilities.
Packaging Innovations 2026 didn’t present a single solution. It reinforced a bigger reality and that is packaging now sits at the intersection of operations, compliance, logistics, automation and brand responsibility. The organisations gaining advantage are not asking which material is most sustainable. They are asking which packaging design performs best across cost, operational efficiency, regulatory exposure and sustainability at the same time.
Because increasingly, packaging isn’t just packaging anymore.
Packaging Innovations & Empack 2027 returns to the NEC in Birmingham, UK on 24 & 25 February next year. Register your interest in participating at Packaging Innovations & Empack 2027.
