The trends impacting the label industry are very much present in the growing flexible packaging segment. For example, sustainability is no longer a luxury in flexible packaging – it is imperative. Brands expect products to stand out on the shelf and protect the environment. Consumers concur, as many will spend more on a product if it comes with an enhanced sustainability profile.

Tadbik, which boasts flexible packaging operations in New Jersey, sees the flexible packaging market growing at 6.5% annually. This is due to advantages in barrier properties, extended product shelf life, ease of use, and shelf appeal. Sustainability also serves as a significant advantage for flexible packaging.

According to the FPA (Flexible Packaging Association), flexible packaging serves as one of the fastest growing segments of the packaging industry. This packaging type adds value and marketability to food and non-food products alike while employing a minimum amount of material. The focus on material reduction lends this category toward sustainability.

What Is Sustainable Flexible Packaging?

Flexible packaging involves materials that can readily change shapes, and these products differ from their rigid counterparts – glass jars or metal cans. Flexible packaging can take numerous forms. PLPS defines the following flexible packaging applications below:

• Sachets/packettes: These are ideal for small, individual servings and are commonly used in personal care products, food samples, and pharmaceuticals.
• Stick Packs: A popular choice for drink mixes, powdered supplements, and spices, offering a compact and easy-to-carry solution.
• Bags and pouches: Flexible pouches are used across multiple industries for everything from pet food to household items, offering excellent shelf presence and convenience.
• Laminate tubes: Often seen in the beauty and personal care industry, laminate tubes combine functionality with a luxurious aesthetic.
• Wrappers: Flexible packaging wrappers are commonly used for snacks and candy. They preserve freshness and offer an excellent surface for branding.
• Custom printed rollstock: This type of flexible packaging allows brands to create customized rolls of material that can be formed into bags, wrappers, or other formats during the manufacturing process.

Flexible packaging is commonly used in a variety of end markets, including food and beverage, personal care and cosmetics, nutraceuticals, household products, healthcare, and more.

Of course, sustainability has emerged as a hallmark of flexible packaging, but what makes it sustainable? Sustainable flexible packaging lowers the carbon footprint of the product and is environmentally conscious. For consumers, this often means easily recyclable. Sustainable flexible packaging also adheres to the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra. The products are often lightweight and feature compostable or biodegradable materials.

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Why Flexible Packaging Uses Less Material

Flexible packaging utilizes less material for a host of reasons. For starters, flexible packaging has been designed for functionality. The product should be easy for the consumer to carry and transport. Flexible packaging is lightweight, making it easy to transport and store at home. It is also easily stored and resealed. Additionally, less material decreases transportations costs, leading to lower carbon emissions.

Flexible packaging also boasts a significant product-to-package ratio. Efficiency is the name of the game in label and package printing, and flexible packaging hits the mark here. A measure of material efficiency is how much of a product sold to the consumer consists of product and how much of it is packaging by weight. Flexible packaging almost always has a higher product-to-package ratio when compared to other packaging formats, the FPA states.

Flexible packaging also promotes sustainability through waste reduction. This segment maintains and indicates the freshness of products it encloses. The FPA lauds this type of packaging for extending the shelf life of many products while also displaying sustainable attributes.

In addition, the FPA notes that flexible packaging requires less water and energy to manufacture and transport, and generates small quantities of greenhouse gases on its way to market.

For example, the production process utilizes less water and fossil fuels. The FTA notes that a steel can used to package coffee requires 1,605% more water than a stand-up flexible pouch. Meanwhile, a rigid pail for packaging cat litter requires more than 1,429% fossil fuel than a flexible bag, the association adds.

Is Flexible Packaging Actually Recyclable?

Flexible packaging is a popular choice because it can be recyclable and/or made from eco-friendly materials. However, there are caveats. The selected material and local municipality infrastructure will often dictate the actual recyclability of a given flexible package.

The challenge lies in material complexity. In most cases, brands utilize multiple materials in their flexible packaging construction. For example, numerous plastics might be utilized in a package. Or, a package could include plastic and aluminum. Single material plastic films are often the easiest products to recycle.

Key Sustainable Materials in Flexible Packaging

There are numerous filmic flexible packaging materials, but the most common include Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). In order to make flexible packaging more recyclable, mono-material films are trending. Mono-material films incorporate the use of one polymer instead of multiple different materials laminated together. For example, PE and PET utilized together would significantly complicate the recyclability of a flexible package.

Recyclable laminates have emerged as another popular trend. Recyclable laminates in flexible packaging feature multi-layer films designed so the whole structure can be recycled. In many instances, they feature one polymer such as PP or PE.

Meanwhile, compostable offer an environmentally friendly alternative to the popular plastics listed above. These products break down naturally in composting conditions, and often emanate from corn, sugarcane, or starch fermentation.

PCR plastics have become a popular choice for converters, as well. PCR, or post-consumer recycled, resins are often selected for films, pouches, bags, and laminates. This choice reduces the reliance on virgin fossil-based plastics. By definition, these plastics come from materials that have already been used by consumers and then collected via recycling systems.

Barrier films represent another opportunity in the quest for flexible packaging sustainability. Fortune Business Insights cites the barrier film market as a growing one. High barrier packaging films provide strong product protection against oxygen, moisture, light, aromas, contaminants, and more.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global high barrier packaging films market size was valued at $16.53 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow from $17.45 billion in 2026 to $28.38 billion by 2034. This market is expected to see a CAGR of 6.27% during the forecast period. North America represents a dominant global percentage of high barrier packaging films, boasting a 24.56% market share in 2025. Barrier films can also enhance shelf life, which will foster less waste.

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Flexible Packaging vs Rigid Packaging Sustainability

When compared to rigid packaging, flexible packaging offers a range of sustainability benefits. Flexible packaging uses less material versus rigid alternatives, thus reducing the overall carbon footprint. According to the FTA, flexible packaging is a more environmentally friendly option than materials such as glass and rigid PET. For example, 2.5 pounds of flexible packaging material is required to pack 100 pounds of beverage, compared to 84 pounds of glass required to pack the same volume.

However, historically, rigid packaging has been easier to recycle. The main reason has been the recycling stream. Rigid packaging is generally easier for sorting machines to detect and separate. Plus, these containers – like glass jars – are often made from single materials. Whereas flexible packaging often incorporates numerous materials that makes recycling a challenge.

Additionally, flexible packaging also deals with problems like thin films getting tangled in sorting equipment and food contamination.

The Biggest Sustainability Challenges

While flexible packaging offers numerous advantages, there are inherent challenges present. From the outset, the consumer must participate in material collection and recycling.

The industry also faces a lack of end-of-life alternatives and recycling options for multi-material laminated packaging. In the future, the industry will need to improve processing technologies and auto-sortation of multi-material flexibles. Flexible packaging will need to target new materials, including compostable or bio-based structures, to foster greater recyclability success.

Additionally, there are regulatory pressures pushing for increased sustainability. For example, Europe has enacted PPWR. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is a directly applicable, legally binding regulation (2025/40) that went into effect in February of 2025. This legislation replaces the old 94/62/EC directive to combat rising waste, aiming for all packaging to be recyclable by 2030. Under EU PPWR, packaging must maintain strict minimum recycled content in plastics and reach certain reuse targets for a variety of sectors.

Equipment Innovations Supporting Sustainability

From an equipment standpoint, press manufacturers have engineered solutions to deliver sustainable flexible packaging. Converters are increasingly demanding enhanced capabilities to reach new markets, and press technology plays a role into opening new avenues for flexible packaging. The equipment also plays a role in the sustainability of the product.

For example, Omet has taken feedback from the industry and incorporated their wants and needs into the newest technology.

Omet has engineered several different platforms designed for flexible packaging, ranging from 17” up to 33” wide. Additionally, with offset capabilities up to 33”, as well as hybrid solutions, Omet is able to customize any of its platforms to the needs of the flexible packaging customer. 

Omet’s presses can convert materials from 12-micron film to 24PT tag. Plus, UV and UV LED can be combined with water-based and solvent inks. Rotogravure, EB curing, Jet bar, diecutting, cold foil and lamination, hot foil, embossing, special varnish effect and more are available with Omet, as well.

The design of new press technology – featuring automation – is inherently sustainable. Omet’s full automation and servo driven presses reduce waste and time-changing jobs, achieving an environmentally friendly result. Meanwhile, Omet has designed its patented Vision System, special tension control, and its newly digital platform to ensure customer success. By adding a digital platform, converters are granted machine supervision, Lean analytics, dialog with operators, advanced maintenance, and advanced sustainability metrics.

Plus, Bobst has turned to CI flexo printing to drive success in flexible packaging. CI (central impression) flexo presses remain a cornerstone of global flexible packaging production, serving brand owners across a wide range of categories such as fresh and frozen food, drinks, dairy, snacks and confectionery, beauty, personal and home care, pet food, pharmaceuticals, and many more.

Bobst continues to introduce new technological innovations that enable packaging converters to meet the evolving needs of their brand owner customers. Underpinning this drive is Bobst’s vision for the future of packaging production: a profitable future that is built on the principles of digitalization, automation, connectivity, and sustainability for the benefit of converters, brand owners and consumers alike.

Sustainability is a major concern for the flexible packaging market. According to Bobst, flexible packaging is often mentioned by brand owners as the most difficult area of packaging to hit their sustainability targets. Therefore, brands are looking for partners that can help them achieve their Ellen MacArthur Foundation and other voluntary goals.

“The biggest long-term driving factor in decisions for flexible packaging, as well as the overall packaging industry, remains sustainability,” states Ken Brown, product and business development manager, Bobst. “Many brand owners have either signed onto the Ellen MacArthur Foundation or have their own goals that closely align with the principles that all packaging be recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2025. While it is unlikely that many companies will hit this target, it is – and will continue to be – a driving factor toward decision-making by brand owners around packaging materials for the foreseeable future.”