Limiting the environmental impact of their activity and integrating sustainability in a transversal and effective way into their business strategies has been one of the priorities of Spanish companies for years. In this sense, many of them are making a significant contribution to this purpose based on the principles of the circular economy and, in particular, by focusing on the eco-design of packaging.

Furthermore, eco-design is becoming even more important within the national and European legislative framework as a way to achieve the new reduction targets, to incorporate recycled plastic and to increase the recyclability and circularity of all packaging.

Thus, with the application of different eco-design measures, companies can minimise the environmental impact of the packaging they market. This is one of the main conclusions drawn from the 8th Business Plan for Prevention (2021-2023) of Ecoembes – the non-profit environmental organisation that coordinates recycling and ecodesign of packaging in Spain – which indicates that in 2021 more than 60,000 tonnes of raw materials were saved thanks to the ecodesign of packaging. This figure has been achieved thanks to the 4,632 measures implemented in this area by 2,067 companies that are part of Ecoembes with the aim of making their packaging more sustainable.

With regard to the nature of these measures, although the most common were aimed at reducing the weight of packaging (34%), the reintroduction of recycled material (15%), facilitating the recycling of packaging (13%) and the elimination of packaging elements (10%) were also frequent.

Other eco-design measures applied were those focused on reducing environmental impact (12.4%) and promoting reuse (3%), a key concept of the circular economy which is becoming increasingly important.