Cory Connors on Packaging Collaboration, PaperFlex and Global Sustainability

Packaging sustainability crosses borders, so progress depends on companies and regions learning from one another. Cory Connors, host of the Sustainable Packaging Podcast, sees that exchange as central to the work ahead. With the Sustainable Packaging Summit 2026 approaching, he points to shared discussion of packaging rules, material choices and collective research as ways to tackle problems that no single region can solve alone.

Learn more about attending this year’s Sustainable Packaging Summit.

Shared pressures, different regions

Connors expects the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and extended producer responsibility (EPR) to feature prominently at the 2026 summit. He says both are already affecting the industry. Other subjects on his list include reducing plastic, assessing replacement materials and increasing the use of recyclable packaging.

For designers and packaging teams, these topics connect decisions that are often treated separately. A material swap, for example, needs to be considered alongside the systems available to collect and process the finished pack. Connors also wants to hear more about reusable formats and bio-based materials, while recognizing that material development and practical end-of-life outcomes need to be discussed together.

His view from the United States is shaped by watching colleagues elsewhere test new approaches. Connors says American teams have much to learn from Europe and from other parts of the world, and that this exchange has been going on for years. The useful point for practitioners is that local conditions matter, but lessons from another market can still help teams frame questions and compare options. Connors argues that cooperation is necessary because the sustainability challenge is global, while the systems and trials that inform solutions take place in different places.

PaperFlex puts shared research in focus

The development Connors singles out as encouraging is the PaperFlex Consortium, convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and powered by RESET®. The voluntary group’s founding members are Colgate-Palmolive, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Unilever.

Its stated aim is to speed the development and scaling of responsibly designed, paper-based flexible packaging through research and development collaboration. The work focuses on markets with limited formal collection and recycling systems, and sets a dual end-of-life ambition: recyclability and biodegradability.

Allison Lin of Mars describes the consortium’s intent as going “FURTHER and FASTER together.” The phrase captures the case for shared research: companies can work on material challenges together, particularly where collection and recycling infrastructure is limited. The stated goals also leave an important practical question in view: how a pack performs at end of life depends on the context in which it is used and handled. For teams evaluating flexible formats, the consortium’s progress will be worth following for what it reveals about designing around more than one end-of-life outcome.

A stage for emerging work

Connors says the summit is a chance to reconnect with colleagues and hear what they have been developing. He is especially looking forward to the Emerging Tech Stage, which he will host. The stage gives smaller and newer startups an opportunity to present their packaging work to the industry.

That format gives attendees a view of ideas still taking shape, alongside the broader conversations about materials, reuse and recycling. For designers and product teams, the presentations may offer useful prompts: which material problems are attracting attention, what needs to be tested, and where collaboration could help move a concept toward practical use. Connors’s emphasis is on listening and learning across the industry, then carrying those questions back into project work.

The summit’s wider agenda, as Connors describes it, links policy changes, material development and cooperation across markets. The PaperFlex effort offers one example of companies organizing around shared research goals. Connors’s takeaway is straightforward: sustainable packaging progress calls for teams to exchange what they learn, and to keep end-of-life outcomes in the design conversation from the start.

Related reading

The ultimate guide to packaging innovation in 2026

Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation: what to know in 2026

Everything you need to know about global packaging sustainability regulation

Strategic learnings from the Sustainable Packaging Summit