Sustainability must meet compliance

From the EU’s PPWR to EPR mandates worldwide, staying green and compliant is no longer optional—it’s essential. Credit: dee karen / Shutterstock

S​​​​​​​ustainability has long been the north star for innovation in the packaging sector. From bio-based materials to circular economy strategies, businesses across the globe have been racing to meet consumer expectations for greener practices.  

Yet, even the most progressive initiatives must now operate under the growing shadow of regulatory complexity.  

With the rapid evolution of environmental legislation and compliance frameworks, especially across Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, the push for sustainability can no longer be divorced from legal accountability.  

Simply put, packaging companies must align green goals with a robust understanding of the rules that govern them. 

This is not just a matter of avoiding fines. Regulatory compliance is becoming a strategic driver—shaping product design, supply chain decisions, and long-term brand equity.  

As environmental laws become more prescriptive and enforcement more consistent, a company’s ability to integrate sustainability with compliance could define its success in the coming decade. 

Governments worldwide are rewriting the rules of packaging.  

The European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), for instance, proposes sweeping changes including mandatory reuse targets, bans on certain formats, and strict recyclability standards.  

In Canada, extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation now places full financial and operational responsibility on companies for the waste they generate.  

Meanwhile, in the UK, the Plastic Packaging Tax and consistent collection schemes are pushing businesses to rethink material choices and reporting procedures. 

These changes reflect a shift in emphasis—from voluntary commitments to enforceable requirements. 

 For years, companies relied on sustainability targets as markers of leadership, often issued through glossy ESG reports. Now, those ambitions must be legally substantiated, with auditable data, transparent life-cycle assessments, and product-level accountability. 

Critically, compliance is no longer reactive. Businesses must build regulatory considerations into the earliest stages of packaging development. This means involving legal, sustainability, and supply chain teams from the outset—not just when a product is about to launch. 

A common barrier to integrating sustainability and compliance lies in organisational structure. Often, sustainability teams operate independently of regulatory affairs or legal departments.  

This disconnect can lead to conflicting priorities—such as favouring biodegradable packaging without understanding local composability infrastructure, or selecting materials that perform well on carbon metrics but fall short of recyclability criteria under EPR schemes. 

To resolve this, some leading companies are adopting cross-functional task forces, bringing together compliance, design, marketing, and operations.  

These groups evaluate packaging strategies holistically, ensuring that any environmental innovation can stand up to regulatory scrutiny across jurisdictions. It’s a model increasingly seen in global FMCG firms and major retailers who must respond to a patchwork of rules across markets. 

Digital tools are also playing a critical role. Compliance management software with integrated regulatory databases now allows businesses to assess risk exposure in real time, map regulatory obligations to product lines, and automate reporting.  

When paired with clear internal governance, such systems provide the infrastructure needed to manage both sustainability targets and legal risk. 

Perhaps the most compelling argument for integrating sustainability with compliance is strategic foresight.  

Regulators are not static—nor are public expectations. A package that meets today’s minimum legal standards might fall short tomorrow, either due to stricter rules or shifting consumer sentiment.  

In this context, the most resilient companies are those who design for the future: anticipating where the regulatory winds are blowing and building packaging systems flexible enough to evolve. 

This means embracing modular packaging that allows for easy adaptation to new rules, investing in supplier audits, and ensuring end-to-end transparency across the value chain.  

It also means rethinking sustainability metrics to reflect compliance risks—evaluating not just carbon impact or material origin, but recyclability under actual local infrastructure, traceability of inputs, and regulatory labelling requirements. 

For brands, the payoff is twofold: legal peace of mind and greater trust from increasingly discerning consumers. 

The era of sustainability as a self-declared virtue is fading. In its place is a more mature, accountable model—one in which green ambition and regulatory compliance must move in step.  

For packaging professionals, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity: to lead with innovation, but ground that leadership in the discipline of law and policy.  

As global regulations tighten, only those who bridge the gap between what is right for the planet and what is required by law will be able to move forward with confidence.