Creating smarter packaging

The packaging for our consumer products fulfills many different functions. It ensures the hygiene and safety of the products, protects goods during transport, provides space for necessary consumer information, and plays an important role in the purchasing decision through attractive design.  
Our strategy to promote the circular economy for packaging is centered around three pillars:

1. Intelligent packaging design and reduction of packaging material

Sustainable packaging and smart design are key enablers of a circular economy. We apply design for recycling principles from the start, as this is the main driver for achieving our packaging targets and keeping valuable materials in the loop.

We continuously reduce packaging material without compromising quality, performance, or safety. This includes minimizing plastic use wherever technically feasible. While some applications require specific stability or barrier functions, intelligent design enables greater use of recycled or renewable materials while improving overall material efficiency.

To advance circularity, our packaging experts also develop reusable and refillable solutions with a strong focus on durability and continue to optimize transport packaging and logistics.

2. Materials from sustainable sources

We are committed to increasing the recycled content in our packaging and continue working toward our global target of more than 35% recycled plastic in consumer packaging by 2030.

We also expand the use of renewable raw materials, such as paper and cardboard, and incorporate bio based plastics and other renewable alternatives where feasible. Our goal is for 100% of paper and cardboard packaging to come from recycled sources or certified sustainable forestry.

3. Closing the loop together

To drive a circular economy, we aim for 100% of our packaging to be recyclable by 2030.  

We follow recognized design standards, including the German minimum standard. Applying these principles helps eliminate recyclability barriers such as multi material films, shrink sleeves, or carbon black plastics.

Effective circularity also requires strong collection and recycling systems. Therefore, we partner with organizations across the packaging value chain to improve infrastructure. In line with Extended Producer Responsibility ‏(EPR), our ambition is to prevent any unregulated disposal of packaging waste.

We also test new on pack logos to support sustainable purchasing and proper disposal by indicating recyclability and recycled content. Additionally, we explore multiple refill and reuse concepts for both home and in store applications, as well as solutions for secondary and tertiary packaging in logistics.

Our Adhesive Technologies business unit makes it possible to keep high ­quality materials in circulation and turn waste into valuable resources. By combining our expertise in materials with our innovative technologies, we provide solutions that play an important role in the transition to a circular economy and are driving a rethink in industrial design and production. Our approach to promoting a circular economy is centered around the following factors: 

Recyclability: Our easily recyclable or reusable packaging design solutions deliver recyclability at the end of the value chain. We work with our customers to develop solutions for the innovative redesign of products and packaging, for example in the form of sustainable and safe paper-based food packaging. We also offer adhesives that are optimized for recycling and significantly improve the recycling rate and quality.  

Debonding: A circular value chain depends on recognizing and conserving the value of materials. Debonding makes it possible to repair, reuse and recycle products and product parts, and to separate materials that are not suitable for collective recycling. This is an important lever for extending the useful life of products and recovering the value of materials at the end of a product’s life cycle. This is particularly true for products that contain highly valuable raw materials, such as batteries in electric cars.  

Renewable carbon: Henkel has been a founding member of the Renewable Carbon Initiative since 2020. This initiative aims to accelerate the transition from fossil-based to renewable carbon for all organic chemicals and materials. Adhesive Technologies is also pioneering new solutions for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings that replace fossil carbon-based raw materials with renewable materials. This reduces the carbon footprint of our products and supports our customers in reducing their emissions along the value chain. In addition, we contribute to a circular economy by reducing the consumption of resources. 

Bio-based adhesives: We have also developed a range of bio-based adhesives. Over the past few years, we have been working with our suppliers to advance the concept of mass balance. This is a transparent model for tracking the amount of certified and non-certified material along the entire production process. Because this principle enables the use of renewable carbon-based raw materials within existing processes, it is an important step for a gradual transition to the use of renewable resources. By the end of 2024, eight production sites of our Adhesive Technologies business unit were fully certified under ISCC PLUS, a globally recognized certification system for mass balance.

Progress toward sustainability in packaging will only be possible if organizations from all stages of the packaging value chain work together. Henkel’s experts are engaged in several cross-industry initiatives to drive innovation in packaging development and to find effective solutions that can be developed on a large scale. Henkel has also teamed up with different organizations that are working on improving recycling infrastructure to enable a circular economy. Appropriate systems for recycling packaging materials are not in place in many areas, especially in developing countries. We believe that partnerships along the value chain are the only way we can make sure our product packaging can be recycled or reused after the product has been consumed.

Henkel is also committed to cross-industry initiatives for sustainable packaging. Our membership in the Global Commitment Initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which brings together different stakeholders in the plastics chain to shape the future of plastics and create momentum for a circular economy, is an important example of our engagement in this area.  Other initiatives include the U.S. Plastics Pact and CEFLEX. 

The Plastic Waste Coalition of Action was formed from the Consumer Goods Forum ‏(CGF) in 2020. In this coalition, Henkel is working with 43 other companies on the basis of Golden Design Rules to develop a more circular approach to the design and processing of plastic packaging in the consumer goods industry. 

Henkel also actively supports the “Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty” of the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution. Along with more than 170 other global companies, we are engaged in a multi-stakeholder process to develop a global agreement on the sustainable use, recovery and recycling of plastics. 

We have also joined forces with various companies that are working to improve the recycling infrastructure and thus enable a circular economy. Cooperation with trading partners is very important to us in order to promote a functioning circular economy. This includes, in particular, our membership of the “Forum Rezyklat”. 

Our partnership with Circular Valley also serves to promote the circular economy and facilitate networking with local and international companies, startups, incubators and think tank. Based in Wuppertal, Germany, the non-profit foundation works across industries and technologies to close material loops in existing value chains, develop policy recommendations and ensure that the public is consistently informed about the circular economy. As part of the UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative, which is led by the non-profit organization Alupro, we are working with other companies to achieve a national aerosol recycling rate of 50 percent by 2030.