It seems like each week new, eye-opening facts surface about the environment and pollution. Plastic pollution has become such a pressing environmental issue that it has even prompted the United Nations to negotiate a global treaty. Although the treaty still is in the works, there is hope for the environment as beverage manufacturers and consumers increasingly are implementing sustainable packaging options.
According to the Annapolis, Md.-based Flexible Packaging Association, the packaging industry as a whole has been diligently working to reduce its environmental impact through such initiatives as lightweighting, using life cycle assessment tools to quantify impacts, exploring novel materials and extending the shelf life of products to reduce overall product and food waste, it says in its 2018 report titled “A Holistic View of the Role of Flexible Packaging in a Sustainable World.”