Dr Samuel Pardo, Senior Innovation Manager at Klöckner Pentaplast (kp), works at the forefront of food packaging innovation and sustainability. With extensive experience across materials, recycling systems, and regulatory frameworks, he focuses on helping customers navigate the increasing complexity of packaging legislation while maintaining performance and food safety standards. A regular contributor to industry discussions – including PETCORE Europe (see video sent previously) – Samuel brings a practical, systems-level perspective on how the sector can accelerate progress towards more circular packaging solutions.
1. Samuel, the packaging industry seems to be facing change from every direction at the moment, from legislation to consumer expectations. Looking ahead, what do you think will be the biggest challenge keeping packaging businesses awake at night in 2026?
The biggest challenge for packaging businesses is maintaining “business as usual” while managing increasing complexity. This means continuing to drive efficiency – controlling costs, securing raw materials, and maintaining resilient supply chains – against a backdrop of global uncertainty.
These pressures are not new, but they are now compounded by growing legislative demands. Businesses must ensure compliance while continuing to innovate, particularly where packaging functionality plays a critical role in protecting food and reducing food waste.
2. The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is set to reshape the industry. For businesses that are feeling overwhelmed by the scale of change, where would you advise them to focus their efforts first?
The most effective starting point is to focus on what is coming first and prioritise against the legislative timeline. For example, PFAS requirements coming into force on 12 August 2026 represent an immediate and non-negotiable compliance priority.
Beyond timelines, it is important to understand where your business sits in the value chain, as this determines which requirements are most relevant - from recyclability to recycled content targets.
Recent European Commission guidance provides useful clarity, particularly for food packaging, where three areas are critical:
- Recycled content: Requirements must not compromise food safety. Where suitable recycling technologies are not yet available at scale, exemptions can apply if appropriately documented.
- Recyclability: A staged transition is expected, giving businesses time to adapt while aligning future designs with emerging EU criteria.
- PFAS: Clear thresholds will apply from August 2026, and compliance will be essential for market access.
At the same time, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) should not be seen as background compliance. It is becoming a key commercial driver in packaging design, with cost implications varying significantly across different national systems. EPR Fees in Europe explained: what packaging businesses need to know in 2026 and beyond
3. There is often a public perception that the most sustainable option is simply to remove plastic altogether. How do you navigate those conversations, particularly when food protection and reducing food waste also have to be part of the equation?
It is important to move beyond the perception that removing plastic automatically delivers the most sustainable outcome.
The right approach is application specific. Eco-modulation within EPR schemes is designed to incentivise packaging solutions that balance recyclability, functionality, and food waste reduction.
These systems encourage the use of the most appropriate material for each use case, ensuring that packaging is collected, sorted, and recycled effectively where possible. At the same time, businesses must navigate a fragmented regulatory landscape, with significant variation between countries in terms of fees, incentives, and system maturity.
4. Innovation is clearly at the heart of your role. Can you tell us about an innovation project that genuinely excited you recently and why you believe it could make a real difference to the future of food packaging?
Two recent innovations demonstrate how performance and sustainability can be aligned:
- 100% rPET tray from kp Tray2Tray® (launched in 2024):This market-first solution is made entirely from recycled tray material, representing a major step towards true tray-to-tray circularity. It is supported by certified supply chains, ensuring quality, safety, and traceability, while helping customers manage eco-modulated fees and plastic taxes.
- kp Elite® Nova MAP tray (launched July 2025):Designed using advanced engineering techniques, this tray is around 10% lighter than comparable solutions while maintaining strength, sealing integrity, and barrier performance. It is optimised for high-speed packing environments and reduces material usage without compromising functionality.
These innovations reflect a broader principle: true circularity starts with design. Packaging must be engineered to be compatible with existing recycling systems so that it can be recovered and reused at scale.
5. You have spoken previously about the importance of closing the packaging loop. In practical terms, what does true circularity look like for food packaging businesses, and how close are we to achieving it?
True circularity already exists in some formats, such as drinks and beverage bottles, where materials are routinely collected, recycled, and turned back into bottles.
For pots, tubs and trays, progress is being made, particularly through the integration of recycled content from PET thermoforms streams. However, further progress depends on alignment across the entire value chain to increase both the demand for and supply of recycled material, alongside significant investment in collection and sorting infrastructures.
6. Collaboration across the value chain is often described as essential, but it can be easier said than done. Who do you believe packaging businesses need to be working more closely with if we are going to accelerate progress?
Collaboration is becoming increasingly important, particularly with brands and retailers.
Through EPR schemes, these stakeholders are ultimately responsible for packaging-related fees, which is driving closer interaction across the value chain. Stronger collaboration here will be key to accelerating progress, aligning design choices with both regulatory requirements and cost implications.
7. Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in what happens to packaging after they have finished with it. How can brands communicate more clearly and build trust without adding to the confusion that already exists?
Clear and consistent communication is essential to building consumer trust.
Brands should prioritise simplicity, using harmonised, easy-to-understand labelling that clearly explains how packaging should be disposed of. Overly complex or inconsistent messages risk increasing confusion rather than reducing it.
At the same time, transparency is important. Consumers are increasingly interested in what happens after disposal, so explaining the role of collection, sorting, and recycling systems – and the challenges involved – can help create a more realistic understanding.
Ultimately, trust is built when communication is consistent, evidence-based, and aligned with actual system capabilities, rather than overstating claims or relying on generic sustainability messaging.
DRS (deposit return schemes) systems are conceived to increase customer awareness. However, scaling up them have other side implications such as cost increase or feedstock restrictions due to complexity of laying down these systems into big countries
8. kp has been involved in developing solutions that incorporate recycled content while maintaining performance standards. What have been some of the biggest lessons learned when balancing sustainability ambitions with the realities of food packaging requirements?
One of the biggest lessons is the importance of aligning expectations early in the process.
Upstream collaboration is essential to ensure all stakeholders agree on specifications, cost implications, quality standards, and material availability. Without this alignment, it becomes difficult to scale solutions that balance sustainability ambitions with the realities of food packaging performance.
9. If you could dispel one myth about plastic packaging that continues to frustrate you, what would it be and what would you like people to understand instead?
A common misconception is that recycling begins and ends with household waste separation.
In reality, recycling depends on a much broader system, including collection, sorting infrastructure, washing, and advanced recycling processes. Crucially, there must also be a viable end market for recycled materials — without demand, recycling cannot function effectively.
10. Finally, if we were having this conversation again in five years' time, what developments would you hope to see that would convince you the packaging industry is genuinely moving in the right direction?
A clear indicator of progress would be a significant increase in recycling outputs beyond the most established streams such as PET bottles, metal cans, cardboard, and glass.
Expanding effective recycling infrastructure and outputs for formats such as trays and films would demonstrate that the industry is moving meaningfully towards a more circular system.