Future breakthroughs for Amcor must balance performance, sustainability

Chicago — Terry Patcheak of Amcor Rigid Packaging is already a big proponent of PET containers.

And the vice president of research and development, sustainability and program management says the future is only going to get better, as a variety of factors will come together and lead to a dramatic decrease in greenhouse gas emissions associated with PET containers.

Patcheak, during a presentation at Pack Expo 2024 in Chicago, said he believes GHG emissions will fall by 70 percent for PET containers in the years ahead as industry pushes changes including increased use of post-consumer resin, continued lightweighting, improved processing methods, new additives and the use of cleaner energy.

"This is a huge win for the consumer and for sustainability and for the environment," he said. "It's not just one or the other."

Patcheak's vision comes with the belief that brand owners will no longer have to balance performance with sustainability considerations. "In the future, we believe there will be no more trade-offs," he said.

PET already enjoys GHG advantages over other container substrates, including having just half the emissions as an aluminum can and one-third of glass containers, Patcheak said.

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Amcor Rigid Packaging, a unit of global packaging company Amcor plc, also sees a future where advancements will mean barriers will no longer render plastic containers unrecyclable. Post-consumer resin these days can face challenges and limitations that virgin resin does not, but Patcheak said that will ultimately change as Amcor's packaging engineers create change.

The Amcor executive said today's approach is limited traditional thinking, traditional processes and traditional equipment. "Tomorrow we're going to break free," he said.

Artificial intelligence will play an important part as design iterations will happen much more rapidly in a virtual setting compared with today's more laborious approach using physical models, he said. Computer intelligence will lessen the packaging development process from months or weeks to just weeks or days, he predicted.

Walt Disney is famous for creating Imagineers, a name for creators who first imagined and then brought ideas to life across the company. At Amcor, Patcheak calls these creative types Packageers in a direct nod to the entertainment company. It's these Packageers, he said, who will drive change.

Despite the growing pressure on plastics packaging from society, Patcheak said there will always be a role for packaging to preserve products, protect customers and promote brands. At the same time, he said, requirements for packaging are increasing, including consideration of end-of-life solutions and waste reduction.

These days, packaging can be a tricky balance between performance requirements and sustainability that can tip in one direction or another. But that will change in the future as improvements will allow the scale to balance without favoring one side or another, he said.

"When we take all of this into account, looking at the future, we expect there to be no more trade-offs," he said, between sustainability and performance.

Amcor is the top company in Plastics News' ranking of North American blow molders, with relevant sales of $3.54 billion.