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Driving Packaging Circularity: Innovating and Collaborating for Recyclability was the inspiration for the 2025 Packaging Recycling Summit (PRS), presented by Packaging World. Held June 25-27 at the beautifully reimagined Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas Resort & Spa, PRS featured three days of learning and attracted nearly 600 registrants both in-person and online, including CPG professionals, retailers, solution providers, reprocessors and professionals from materials recovery facilities (MRFs).
“The Packaging Recycling Summit isn’t just another broad-based, wide-ranging sustainability event — it’s a working session for brand owners and CPGs navigating real packaging design decisions through the narrow lens of circularity and recycling. Every session in the Video Library offers practical insights from across the value chain, with a sharp focus on what brands can do today to design packaging that works — for consumers, for recycling infrastructure, and for a more circular packaging economy. Whether you're starting a redesign or rethinking an entire portfolio, this content will guide better decisions that drive both compliance and impact.” — Matt Reynolds, chief editor, Packaging World and Packaging Recycling Summit Host
Leading industry organizations shared their experiences and future vision. Representatives from Consumer Brands Association, Center of Plastics, Paper and Hybrid Packaging End-of-Life Solutions (C3PS), Circular Action Alliance, and other organizations addressed the challenges and opportunities for today's packaging recycling professionals.
Educational sessions explored the critical role of design and material selection for recyclability, emphasizing the importance of collaborating early in the design process. Topics included Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy developments, AI-powered sorting technologies, cross-sector partnerships driving aluminum can recovery rates, and behavioral science insights that drive sustainable packaging choices and recycling habits.
“The Packaging Recycling Summit has been a really awesome opportunity to hear about how different people across industries, whether it be CPG manufacturers, suppliers, OEMs, are thinking about the recycling space, the materials they’re leveraging, and the technologies of the future.” — Brandon Barr, VP/GM of Front-End Innovation Duracell
Sessions highlighted cutting-edge innovations in materials recovery facilities, including how AI, robotics, and data-driven insights are reshaping recyclability and what it means for the future of CPG packaging design. Experts examined the evolution of recycling labels and how programs like How2Recycle are adapting to regulatory shifts, consumer expectations, and material changes to create clearer, more actionable disposal instructions.
The program focused on identifying opportunities in the circular packaging supply chain, bringing together CPG brands, recyclers, OEMs, materials providers, and government legislators under one roof. Stakeholders from all materials were represented, with discussions centered specifically on package design for recyclability rather than general sustainability.
“I lead our packaging technology and innovation capability. We decided to attend this year because we thought it was an opportunity to meet a different cross section of like the value chain. We've found a really interesting perspective in terms of end of life. We gained a better understanding of what people in the material recovery facility part of the supply chain are dealing with, and that certainly was a very interesting perspective to get, to really help inform how we might design and also ultimately impact what we're trying to all see, which is circularity.” — Graham Jones, Sr. Manager, Packaging Technology & Innovation, The Campbell’s Company
Additional post-event coverage of the 2025 Packaging Recycling Summit can be found on Packworld.com. For information on how to access PRS Video Library, visit here.