It’s a tall order for commercial industries to achieve both Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and also reach their commitments for the Circular Economy. Yet, due to increasing consumption, the clock is ticking for countries, governments, companies and societies, with great pressure to meet global progress goals. 

How will we transition fast enough to make significant sweeps of change to evolve, reach and realize the ideals of a richly balanced sustainable world?  

For the past decade, PopPack has been working to help brand owners and the packaging industry transition from our current, linear, take-make-waste system, to one that is circular. We have been dedicated to further our progress and development of the Air-Powered Package^® – – a more sustainable, circular packaging design solution.

A central pillar of achieving more sustainable systems lies with the principle of the Circular Economy. Precepts of circularity are founded on both design principles and natural systems. To better understand this interconnectedness, we can view principles of circular systems that are inspired by stunningly effective natural phenomena.

For example, Michael Braungart, co-founder of the non-profit, Cradle to Cradle, describes circular design concepts as a central pillar to life’s existence through the “Wisdom of the Cherry Tree”.

“The cherry tree is just one part of a much bigger, interdependent natural eco-system and it is this interdependence that matters. For example, the blossoms of the cherry tree not only bring forth a new generation of cherry trees… they also provide food for micro-organisms which in turn nourish the soil and support the growth of future plant life. The ‘outputs’ – indeed ‘waste’ – of one process (the cherry tree and its blossoms) have become inputs for other processes. When viewed in isolation, each element within this natural system may be highly inefficient. But as a whole, the system is stunningly effective – and doesn’t produce any waste at all. We need to apply the cherry tree’s wisdom to the world of production and consumption.”

This describes the underlying concept of the Circular Economy.  Its natural process leverages the reality and the potential for abundance achieved through interdependent and vital systems.

Through this model the PopPack development team foresees a time whereby packaging, including plastics and various polymer materials, will inherently be designed not only for their use, but also for their afterlife.  If waste creation could transition to value creation, the destiny of packaging will be transformed.

With a fresh vantage point on the value of circularity, resources used within interconnected systems can be regenerative rather than depletive.

To expedite our vision, PopPack understands that we must also focus on societal, behavioral and economic incentives for modifying actions to adopt “circular” collective-minded actions. Merely relying on aspirational goals and morality for goodwill, with a promise for a future collective gain, will not drive behavioral changes fast enough.

Just a few years ago, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched a worldwide initiative to build and expand global awareness in search of global solutions to reduce plastic packaging waste.  The initiative has expanded world-wide as the “New Plastics Economy.” It tackles the dilemma of the entire life cycle of plastic materials from sourcing of materials and polymer films used to make plastic to ensure the best uses, re-uses, multi-uses and new uses of plastics so that plastics can be repurposed and reused.

PopPack is also keeping its R & D eye out for testing solutions in the field of bioplastics which are coined bio-compostable, bio-degradable or bio-based. These may not be sustainable, commercially viable or scalable yet, but they could hold a promise for more sustainable packaging in the near future. There is optimism for widespread development of films made of natural, bio-based materials – a blending of different bioplastics, and a combination of recycled components from conventional plastics, with films such as “rPET” (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) and bio-based “PET”, for example, which are beginning to expand more widely in popularity among packaging manufacturers and multinational brand owners.

PopPack is focused on the immediate opportunity to convert a substantial volume of plastic waste into new pellets and polymers used for packaging.  Post-consumer waste plastics can also be used for manufacturing industrial products, roads, pavers, tiles, furniture, clothing, and other goods. Certain plastic waste streams may also convert to gas and energy resources.

Packaging solutions, to substantially reduce plastic waste must be implemented at scale.

Over the past decade, PopPack, anticipated and invested to solve the growing challenges of plastic waste.  Our mission has been to design an entirely new category of sustainable and circular package, with a design-first, and consumer-first approach.  PopPack’s superior design-tech solution for the Air-Powered Package^® with the EasyPop^® bubble feature is consistent with the Circular Economy as defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s “New Plastics Economy.”

Today, PopPack’s next generation packages are designed for the Circular Economy with a “universal, all-in-one solution” – commercially viable and exponentially scalable.

PopPack’s next generation packages are uniquely designed. The development criteria that we set forth not only aligns with circularity standards, but also includes packaging design-tech to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

PopPack’s Air-Powered Package^® has been designed to be….

1. Simple, easy and appealing for the consumer to use – for all ages and abilities
2. Easy to recycle, collect and sort, without uncollected parts
3. Cost-efficient to develop, produce, distribute, protect and ensure reliable safety
4. Adaptable for many purposes, different packaging functions, types, sizes and shapes
5. Compact and lighter weight, with minimal use of all supply chain resources
6. Provides multi-use functionality for packages that are single-use, while reducing waste
7. Incorporates capabilities for interactive data and expansion of smart technology
8. Optimizes value chain efficiencies with e-commerce for direct-to-consumer delivery
9. Customizable and scalable, especially for emerging and developed economies

PopPack’s Air-Powered Package^® provides an exceptional, innovative, design-driven approach for integrating design, technology and more sustainable supply chain production. Its design-tech solution increases the value of plastic packaging throughout its circular life cycle.

PopPack is working in close partnership with brand owners and the packaging industry – particularly packaging machinery companies and film manufacturers to help bring to market “circular packaging solutions” to meet targets and goals. Our new and existing partners are bringing EasyPop^® packages to commercial markets.

We hope to help pave the way for a new era of plastics with a consumer-appealing solution that also delivers a cost-efficient supply chain, a lower carbon footprint and improved resource management.  Additionally, the EasyPop^® design can facilitate new circular modes of local, and home-based sorting, recycling and processing, whereby the entire package is fully collectible and recyclable for hundreds of post-consumer uses.

Specifically, we foresee a future where “smart” plastics with interconnected nano technologies embedded in the EasyPop^® Air-Powered Package^® will direct post-consumer packages to be automatically and safely sorted and shredded locally in our homes, schools, restaurants, communities and curbside recycling systems.  In other communities “smart” packaging could incentivize millions of waste-pickers in emerging countries to earn higher incomes through more effective, safer sorting for plastic waste re-use, with vastly improved production efficiencies. PopPack is designing packages to encourage circularity enabled throughout the world.   

When companies are able to access their transparent circular supply chain data, they will be able to demonstrate with proof and conviction the value of their sustainable production achievements.  Brand owners will have access to key sustainability metrics within their company reporting – among their most scrutinizing investors and discerning consumers.  In contrast, companies who don’t adhere to circular systems will be fined for producing in excess, and will be devalued for contributing to un-used, unproductive waste streams.  Eventually, ESG (Environmental – Social – Governance) mandates will prove their claim for achieving both sustainability goals and profits.

Through more sustainable and circular systems, we hope to see plastic packaging transformed into a valuable currency.

PopPack’s EasyPop^® Air-Powered Package^® is designed specifically for sustainability for the circular economy – to help the packaging industry and its supply chains move plastic packaging forward to achieve a higher asset value.

We thank the U.S. Plastics Pact for welcoming PopPack among their first Activator Members.  We are grateful to our affiliates and dedicated colleagues and collaborators for their assistance and support with our Research and Development coinciding with this initiative.

U.S. Plastic Pact (Activator Membership)
Plastic Pact – Netherlands (Member)
Holland Circular Hotspot
United Nations Development Programme, UNDP – Delhi, India
Wageningen UR, The Netherlands
University of California, Davis
Millennium Institute
OOST-NL, The Netherlands
Catalyze, The Netherlands
Vivia Ventures B.V.
Vivia Foundation