Packaging analysis for a sustainable future

The amount of packaging has significantly increased in the world and in Latvia in the recent years, and it continues to increase every year. Forecasts show that the amount of packaging produced will even continue to grow, reaching 276,000 tons in Latvia in 2035, which means an increase of 14%. According to forecasts, in the future the amount of plastic will also increase by 23%, reaching 53,000 tons in 2035. A large part of the packaging consists of food packaging, because nowadays packaging is an essential element of the process of selling food products. The purpose of the research was to summarize and analyse the types of polymer packaging materials currently present in the Latvian market, their sustainability and inclusion in the circular economy cycle. The research was carried out both by analysing the documentation attached to the packaged products and by researching product packaging in supermarkets. As the results show, most of the packaging materials currently available in the Latvian market are not recyclable; often there is an excessive amount of packaging used. A significant part of the packaging consists of multilayer packaging materials, which cannot be recycled, for which alternatives need to be sought. It is important to mention that plastic packaging can be divided into three large groups in terms of recycling: films or soft packaging, containers and bottles. Each of these groups has a different maturity in the circular economy cycle. It should be noted that, depending on the types of packaging, 60−70% of packages can be found with a symbol that identifies the type of plastic used. It is important that a detailed research analysis of packed products allow evaluating the overview of the situation of packaging materials in Latvia, considering the basic principles of the design strategy, in order to find solutions, how, after using the packaging, to turn the generated waste into resources, considering the principles of sustainability.