Sustainable packaging as a tool for global sustainable development

Cracow University of Economics, Department of Packaging Science, Poland

^* Corresponding author: natalia.kozik@uek.krakow.pl

Abstract

In various areas of human activity more attention is paid to environmental and ecological problems and also social issues. International enterprises take into account these criteria in management and strive to reduce the degradative impact and negative effects of their activities. These activities include the global concepts of sustainable development, circular economy and social responsibility. These concepts are also increasingly taken into account by companies from the packaging industry. For this reason, more often we hear about the so-called “sustainable packaging”, which is a consequence of the above actions and brings new opportunities in the environmental, economic, ethical and social aspects. The aim of the article was to characterize sustainable packaging. Based on the literature, sustainable packaging was defined, at the same time indicating that although this definition shows how to improve the packaging present on the global market, it should also be constantly improved and adapted to the changing market, society or environment requirements, as well as the state and development of the packaging industry. Examples of companies’ around the world activities in the field of creating sustainable packaging were also presented.