What Does “Better” Look Like Across the Life of a Package

Every package follows a journey. This article explores four moments where decisions can influence its impact, from sourcing and manufacturing to design, recovery and recycling.

Most of us interact with packaging dozens of times a day. Yet every package represents a series of decisions about materials, manufacturing, design and what happens after use.

Those decisions matter. Packaging helps protect items, reduce waste and keep the products people rely on moving through the systems that support everyday life. It also influences how natural resources are used, recovered and reused.

So, what does "better" look like across the life of a package?

Let's follow the journey.

Before a Package Reaches a Shelf, Where Does It Begin?

For many packages, the answer is a forest.

Today, brands are increasingly expected to understand where wood fiber comes from. Responsible forestry is the backbone of the paper industry, driving sustainably managed forests, while ensuring a reliable supply of renewable fiber for future generations.

Responsibly managed forests do much more than provide raw materials. They help support biodiversity, provide habitat for wildlife, store carbon and protect water resources, while contributing to the long-term vitality of communities connected to the forest products value chain.

What Is Sustainable Forest Management?

Many forests that supply fiber for paperboard packaging are actively managed through a cycle of planting, growing, harvesting and regeneration.

Third-party certification systems such as SFI®, FSC® (FSC-C106260), and PEFC (PEFC/29-31-224) support responsible sourcing through standards related to forest management, biodiversity and supply-chain traceability. Together with regulatory requirements aimed at preventing deforestation and forest degradation, these frameworks strengthen confidence in sourced fiber.

Supporting those standards are forestry professionals who work with landowners and suppliers to conduct field inspections and verify responsible forestry practices.

Better by the Numbers

99%

of Graphic Packaging's purchased forest products qualified as sustainably sourced in 2025, based on third-party certification (SFI®, FSC® or PEFC).

55 miles

average distance wood travels from forest to Graphic Packaging's wood-based paperboard mills, supporting local forestry jobs, small landowners and shorter hauling distances.

Having trouble viewing the video? Watch it on Vimeo.

What Happens Before a Package Becomes a Package?

Before a package protects a product, manufacturers are working to make the most of every resource behind it.

Making packaging efficiently requires continuous improvements across the use of:

• Energy. Packaging manufacturers are working to increase the use of renewable energy and improve usage throughout their operations. Sometimes that means upgrading equipment. Sometimes it's recovering heat and steam that would otherwise be lost.
• Materials. Rather than viewing waste as the inevitable by-product of manufacturing, a circular approach seeks to maximize the value of materials at every stage. This can include designing packages to use less material, recycling paperboard scrap back into production, repurposing manufacturing by-products, and using residual tree materials as renewable fuel to help power operations.
• Water. Water helps carry fiber, generate steam and cool equipment. As a result, mills continuously look for opportunities to reuse water, improve efficiency and reduce the need for freshwater withdrawals where possible.

Before manufacturers can improve operational efficiency, they must have an environment where people can work safely.

"Safety and sustainability are both about taking responsibility for the long-term health of our people, our operations and our business. They rely on many of the same skills: identifying risks, solving problems and continuously looking for ways to improve."

- Jim Cline, Vice President, Health, Environmental, Safety, Security and Sustainability, Graphic Packaging

Better by the Numbers

66%

of energy used in Graphic Packaging's paperboard operations came from renewable sources in 2025.

66%

of waste generated across Graphic Packaging's global operations was diverted from landfills and incinerators in 2025.

What Makes a Package Better?

The choices made during design can influence a package's journey long after it leaves the shelf.

A package must do more than hold a product. It needs to protect what's inside, work efficiently in manufacturing and distribution environments, meet retailer requirements, support brand goals, create a positive consumer experience and help keep materials in use longer.

Graphic Packaging's Better by Design methodology helps evaluate decisions through three interconnected lenses: circularity, functionality and convenience.

Packaging design is also being influenced by a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. Around the world, new requirements related to recyclability, material use and producer responsibility are changing how packaging is designed and evaluated.

Packaging manufacturers, brands, retailers, recyclers, industry organizations and policymakers all play a role in shaping the next generation of packaging solutions.

"Some of the most important packaging innovations emerge through collaboration. Advancing circularity requires input from across the global value chain, from brands and packaging manufacturers to recyclers, industry organizations and policymakers. Each helps shape what is both possible and practical but also ambitious to advance towards a circular economy."

- Elodie Bugnicourt, Sustainability Director International, Graphic Packaging

What Happens After a Package is Used?

A package's story doesn't necessarily end when it's empty.

Once a package has served its purpose, what happens next depends on much more than the package itself. Collection systems, recycling infrastructure, consumer participation, end-market demand and package design all influence whether materials can be recovered and used again.

Packaging suppliers are incorporating design-for-recycling principles, testing packaging in real-world sorting and recycling systems and exploring alternatives to formats that are difficult to recycle. Industry organizations, recyclers and manufacturers also work together to help shape the standards and guidelines that influence how packaging is designed and evaluated for recycling.

When collection, sorting and recycling systems work effectively, today's package can contribute to tomorrow's paper-based products. In that way, the end of one package's lifecycle can become the beginning of another, helping valuable fiber remain in use longer and creating another opportunity to make packaging better.

Better by the Numbers

96%

of products sold in 2025 were designed to be recyclable where collection and recycling systems exist.

5 to 7

times that fiber can typically be recovered and recycled into new paper-based products before reaching the end of its useful life.

Source: Graphic Packaging International's 2025 Impact Report

SFI marks are registered marks owned by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc.

Related News & Events