Sustainability is turning into a core focus, as customers — particularly with the rise of e-commerce — search environmentally pleasant and personalised packaging experiences, says Dhananjay Salunkhe, Managing Director, Huhtamaki India, a packaging firm. In an interplay with ET Digital, Salunkhe says that Huhtamaki India’s prime precedence is making its packaging totally recyclable and driving circularity. Edited excerpts:
The Financial Instances (ET): How is India’s packaging trade positioned, and the way has it developed over time?
Dhananjay Salunkhe (DS): India’s packaging trade is the fifth-largest sector of the financial system, with a major contribution from versatile packaging, which is projected to develop at a compound annual development fee (CAGR) of 7-8% over the following 5 years. The shift towards sustainability is a defining pattern, pushed by international initiatives and authorities rules selling eco-friendly supplies and decreasing plastic waste. The demand for revolutionary packaging options is additional amplified by the rising meals processing sector, with an emphasis on security and high quality.
Sustainability is turning into a core focus, as customers, particularly with the rise of e-commerce, search environmentally pleasant and personalised packaging experiences. Know-how, similar to sensible packaging, can also be taking part in a vital function, reworking packaging into an interactive component that enhances the general client expertise. The expansion of particular end-user classes similar to meals & drinks, FMCG, and prescribed drugs will additional drive demand for superior packaging options.
ET: How has Huhtamaki’s presence in India developed?
DS: Huhtamaki India, a subsidiary of the Finnish international packaging chief Huhtamaki Oyj, delivers revolutionary and sustainable packaging options nationwide. With 10 state-of-the-art manufacturing websites and headquarters in Thane, Mumbai, we remodel uncooked supplies into high-performance packaging. Our superior R&D facility in Khopoli, Maharashtra, allows us to create merchandise that meet on a regular basis client wants whereas addressing the trade’s evolving sustainability calls for. What units us aside within the Indian market is our built-in portfolio of versatile packaging, labels and cylinders, giving us a singular edge. We try to guard meals, folks and the planet by deploying cutting-edge know-how to drive revolutionary round packaging options which might be match for a aggressive market. Our international presence allows us to serve 37 international locations in over 100 areas throughout Europe, Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America.
ET: May you clarify Huhtamaki’s sustainability highway map in India?
DS: Our 2030 highway map revolves round advancing the round financial system and taking vital local weather motion, together with our dedication to considerably cut back carbon emissions by 2030. In India, our environmental efforts embrace decreasing vitality consumption, chopping greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions, and rising the usage of renewable vitality throughout our manufacturing websites. We’re additionally centered on sustainable end-of-life options for packaging to minimise our environmental impression all through the worth chain. Our method encompasses sturdy local weather, water, waste, and vitality administration practices. We now have applied water conservation options, prioritised waste discount via round initiatives, and are working to decrease the carbon footprint of our packaging options. A key precedence for the approaching years is transitioning to 100% renewable vitality, and we’re conducting biodiversity assessments to make sure the safety of pure ecosystems throughout our websites.On the product facet, our prime precedence is making our packaging totally recyclable and driving circularity. Final 12 months, 72.9% of our merchandise had been recyclable, compostable, or reusable globally, and we proceed to make strides on this space via our revolutionary applied sciences.ET: With versatile packaging taking part in a pivotal function within the client items trade, what rising developments do you see reshaping the panorama in India?
DS: Sustainability is the important thing issue driving the expansion of the versatile packaging market in India, providing clear advantages similar to diminished uncooked materials consumption, decreased reliance on pure assets and minimal waste technology, considerably lower than conventional packaging codecs. These benefits have made versatile packaging the best choice for each customers and producers. Moreover, versatile packaging’s versatility permits for wider distribution with diminished packaging weight, all whereas sustaining performance.
With a good portion of Indian customers preferring small-unit packages that meet their particular wants, versatile packaging caters to this demand effectively. Digitalisation can also be reshaping the panorama, emphasising connectivity, traceability and recycling. The stronger push for sustainability, pushed by new rules centered on reuse and recycling, is opening new alternatives for innovation in materials know-how and end-to-end recycling options.
ET: What key actions can India take to speed up the adoption of sustainable packaging options from each regulatory and trade views?
DS: India has demonstrated a robust dedication to implementing rules round plastic waste administration, particularly within the final couple of years. Prolonged Producers’ Duty (EPR), the single-use plastic ban, marking and labelling necessities, information visibility within the plastics worth chain, and targets for recycled content material are among the key pillars launched via these rules. One space the place we imagine rules can play a key function is by encouraging the event of recyclable buildings for versatile packaging. Whereas the inclusion of recycled content material is already being addressed, it will probably solely succeed if we have now recyclable (mono-layered) buildings. If this space can also be lined below tips and rules, it is going to add nice worth to the circularity of versatile packaging and assist shut the loop.
The trade should work with policymakers by offering technical experience and information factors wanted to kind such insurance policies. Moreover, the trade can support policymakers in testing and assessing the economic feasibility of proposed rules. A collaborative method between authorities and industries will guarantee the event of fruitful, possible, and impactful rules.
ET: What challenges does the packaging trade face in balancing sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and scalability?
DS: The important thing problem for the packaging trade is to develop options which might be each sustainable and reasonably priced whereas additionally making certain they will scale as much as meet giant industrial calls for. Balancing these elements requires innovation, funding and collaboration throughout the provision chain. Sustainable packaging applied sciences necessitate vital funding in new manufacturing gear, know-how improvement and assets over a interval of 2-4 years. Not each firm can afford this value, particularly with unsure returns. The uncertainty arises from the complexity of implementing new applied sciences on the shopper’s facet, the timing of buyer readiness to undertake, and whether or not clients and customers are keen to pay the extra prices incurred by suppliers.
We recognise a spectrum of challenges on the horizon, from making certain security and sustainability to the vital job of refining our manufacturing processes and product lineup for larger coherence and impression. The important thing problem with versatile packaging has been that these advantages have historically relied on multi-material packaging buildings, combining skinny layers of assorted forms of plastic or plastic movies laminated to aluminum or paper.
