Innovation and insight across the value chain

By Rebecca Mick, Technical Sustainability Lead, Amcor Flexibles.

*One of the leaders featured in Amcor’s 2022 Sustainability Report, Rebecca Mick, Technical Sustainability Lead for Amcor Flexibles, reflects on the role of research and development in supporting increasing demand for more sustainable products. *

As an innovator at the forefront of responsible packaging, Amcor has a great responsibility in shaping the future of the industry. Being a member of the global flexibles research and development (R&D) team means I’m fortunate enough to be able to witness and contribute to the great progress and breakthroughs that we are making as we forge that path.

In the 2022 Sustainability Report, I share some of the technology developments I’ve been most excited about over the last 12 months and highlight how Amcor is implementing these advancements. Amcor packaging plays a vital role in making sure people get reliable and long-lasting food, safe medicines, and fresh water and other beverages. As a company, we’re committed to increasing our offering of more sustainable and responsible packaging options, and R&D teams like mine are working every day, across the world, to create solutions that meet our customers’ needs while making the environment better off.

One path we’re pursuing to achieve this is by incorporating more recycled content into our products, while contending with a limited supply of food-grade recycled content and the complexity of incorporating this content into flexible films. But we’re hugely determined, and from an R&D standpoint, it’s exciting to work to create innovative, industry-first solutions to these challenges.

Another way Amcor is working to offer more sustainable and responsible packaging options for our customers is through the development of recycle-ready alternatives for our product portfolio. We can now offer a recycle-ready alternative for 83% of our global flexibles products, having started at 56% in 2019*. Incredible achievements like this are made possible thanks to Amcor’s $100 million annual investment in R&D.

At Amcor, we are continuously working to research and innovate, applying our material science and processing expertise to develop high-quality solutions that meet the needs of the market while keeping waste out of the environment.

I am incredibly proud of our global flexibles R&D teams for the success we’ve achieved thus far, and I’m incredibly excited to see what we will achieve in the new year.

To gain more insight into the world of more responsible packaging solutions, click to download and read Amcor’s full sustainability report.

*As shared in Amcor's 2021 Sustainability Report.