The FIACE project—Flexible Packaging in a Circular Economy—issued its confidential findings on October 14, 2016, with a public non-confidential version following in March 2017. The study mapped how flexible packaging contributes value across European circular economy systems and identified barriers to increasing mechanically recycled flexible packaging volumes.
FIACE concluded that flexible packaging adds significantly more value in a circular economy before becoming waste than functionally equivalent alternative formats, primarily through resource efficiency that minimizes material usage while optimizing food waste prevention. Economic and environmental benefits often aligned across the value chain stages analyzed.
However, the report identified end-of-life constraints: collection infrastructure is a prerequisite for recycling, and only approximately 8 percent of post-consumer flexible packaging material could potentially be diverted into higher-value plastic fractions using existing sorting capabilities—highlighting that most multi-material flexible structures require design changes and improved reprocessing routes.
Design for recyclability emerged as a central challenge because many flexible packs were already optimized for minimum material use at required functionality. Balancing barrier performance, manufacturability, seal integrity, and recyclability without cost-prohibitive compromises required input from the full value chain—not isolated converter or brand decisions.
FIACE findings directly informed successor initiatives including CEFLEX, providing the economic and environmental evidence base that flexible packaging's pre-waste circular economy contributions justified investment in collection, sorting, and reprocessing infrastructure rather than simplistic material substitution away from flexible formats.