2025 The New Material World: Packaging’s Path Toward Sustainability
This report explores how packaging materials are evolving in response to shifting consumer demands, regulatory pressures, and sustainability goals. Drawing on insights from CPGs, OEMs, and suppliers, it examines trade-offs, material transitions, and the future of recyclable, reusable, and compostable solutions. The findings highlight emerging challenges, collaboration opportunities, and the critical role of packaging machinery in enabling a more sustainable future. Reflecting on our work for this topic from 2023 Packaging Compass, we aim to support and promote the dialogue on the ongoing industry conversation about balancing packaging’s core functions with the push toward sustainability and to measure what’s changed in this dynamic industry.
Be sure to check out our interactive dashboard, for insights into which materials CPG customers are currently using, as well as what they plan to phase out and replace in the coming years.
The New Material World: Packaging’s Path Toward Sustainability, a Compass Update, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines how shifting regulations, cost pressures, and material-performance considerations are shaping packaging decisions across 2024–2025 . Drawing on survey and interview data compared with the 2023 Compass baseline, the report highlights how retailers and state mandates increasingly guide strategy, while charts and dashboards show rising emphasis on recyclable materials alongside slower movement in reusable and compostable formats. Emerging patterns indicate that trade-offs around cost, equipment compatibility, and product protection tend to influence adoption decisions, with OEM–CPG collaboration becoming more critical. The report reveals where material transitions are heading—and how industry players are preparing for the next five years.
Why read this report?
- Explore shifts in packaging materials and emerging replacement priorities
- See how sustainability regulations reshape packaging strategies across regions
- Identify trends in recyclable packaging adoption and investment signals
- Assess evolving machinery–material compatibility influencing packaging operations
- Compare OEM–CPG expectations for sustainable packaging performance
Please wait for the login screen to load...
View PMMI’s member-exclusive How’s Business dashboard to analyze 20 years of packaging machinery data, track key industry trends, and explore insights tailored for your business.
View PMMI’s member-exclusive State of the Industry Dashboard to interact with packaging machinery forecasts and analyze shipment values by machine type and industry.
Published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in September 2025. Based on OEM and CPG surveys and interviews collected late-2024 to early-2025, benchmarked against 2022 Compass data.
