Packaging has an important role in our daily lives and also in our economy. However, consumers and governments are asking more and more questions about the impact of packaging. No less than 80% of Belgians say that there is too much (disposable) packaging. Although 43% of packaging brought to the market (by Fost Plus members) was reusable in 2024, this proportion must continue to increase in the coming years. Innovative, sustainable packaging systems that focus on prevention, reuse and recycling are becoming more and more important.
By focusing on innovation throughout the chain, Fost Plus is playing a crucial role in the transition to a circular economy and a more sustainable society. In doing so we are helping our members to optimise their packaging design and speed up the shift towards reusable packaging. In 2024 the amount of single-use packaging coming onto the market fell once again. This was no doubt partly due to the economic climate, but members' efforts to reduce volumes are clearly bearing fruit.
New sources for recycled content
The search for new, high-quality recycling applications is becoming very important in the light of the new European PPWR. This regulation makes the use of recycled materials mandatory in all packaging. These targets are achievable for PET bottles or metal beverage cans, as long as we make an effort. For other materials, such as polystyrene and polyethylene it is not so straightforward, as the mechanically recycled material is not suitable for food packaging.
There are a number of innovative technologies that could help us with this. At Indaver’s new Plastics2Chemicals plant, plastic packaging will be transformed into monomers that are just as pure as virgin plastics – making them suitable for demanding applications like food packaging. The HolyGrail 2030 initiative is exploring the potential of digital watermarks for more precise sorting of material streams, allowing sorting lines to distinguish between food and non-food packaging. This will make one-to-one recycling of food packaging possible.
Reuse: learning and innovating together
Reusable packaging is slowly but surely making its way into various sectors. You will have noticed the reusable cups that are now common at festivals and events. However, introducing these products often comes with major challenges – you can’t simply replace one type of packaging with another. For large-scale reuse to be economically and environmentally successful, more standardised packaging and efficient logistics systems will be needed for collection, transport, and cleaning.
‘Thanks to our key role in the Belgian packaging landscape, we are uniquely well placed to bring the right partners together. This enables us to accelerate the development of reusable packaging systems and support a large number of promising early initiatives.’ For example, the Repaco project is bringing all the Belgian retailers together to study the use of reusable packaging for fruit and vegetables. We have also launched the Reduce & Re-Use MatchMaker, a new online platform designed to help organisations to find partners for packaging reuse and prevention.
Read our Activity Report to find out how we are helping companies and organisations to transition to more sustainable packaging systems.
https://www.fostplus.be/sites/default/files/media/document/2025-06/Activity%20report%202024.pdf