07-31-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

Food packaging is entering a new era of scrutiny

How to navigate the risks ahead

[Photo: Getty Images]

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BY Svanika Balasubramanian

For a long time now, food packaging has been treated as a relatively isolated and low-priority business decision. Marketing teams care about how it looks and feels to a consumer making a split decision. Procurement cares about cost and shelf-life. Over the past decade, sustainability teams entered the conversation, often with a narrower mandate: Reduce waste, reduce carbon emissions, and respond to growing consumer pressure.

But for the vast majority of companies, packaging has remained an afterthought.

Packaging has become one of the most complex decision points inside a consumer business—not because a new issue has emerged, but because several have arrived at once. Having spent close to a decade working in the circular economy alongside consumer brands, I’ve rarely seen a moment where the ground has shifted this quickly.

REGULATION HAS COME ONLINE—IT’S EXPENSIVE

The most immediate shift is regulatory. In the U.S., new packaging laws like extended producer responsibility (EPR) are beginning to change the economics of........

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