Paper-based flexible packaging: What EMF’s new report means for brands — and what comes next

Today, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) released a new report on the role paper-based flexible packaging can play as brands move away from flexible plastic and other hard-to-recycle plastics. Canopy is honoured to have supported the report as a strategic thought partner.

The report reinforces a crucial point: paper isn’t automatically “better.” In many cases, paper-based packaging can introduce significant risks, like forest degradation, high water use, and underestimated emissions, and may not deliver meaningful improvement over the plastic if it isn’t responsibly designed and sourced.

We’re glad to see EMF lead with a portfolio-wide approach that prioritizes:

• Reducing packaging overall (the first and best lever), because there is a real global limit to how much wood can be responsibly produced.

• Reducing virgin fibre use across packaging portfolios.

• Scaling lower-footprint fibre options, including recycled fibre and Next Gen non-wood fibres (like responsibly sourced agricultural residues).

Importantly, EMF also spotlights that excluding carbon losses from sourcing (e.g., logging-related impacts) can significantly underestimate net greenhouse gas emissions — meaning paper packaging belongs squarely in Scope 3 accounting and must be estimated and minimized.

If you’re transitioning away from small-format flexible plastic, the opportunity to do it in a way that reduces plastic pollution without shifting pressure onto forests is here:

1. Reduce packaging volumes where possible

2. Cut out virgin fibre across your portfolio

3. Prioritize recycled and Next Gen non-wood fibres

4. Design for recyclability and safer chemistry

5. Account for sourcing impacts in Scope 3

Canopy is ready to help brands translate this direction into action — identifying where recycled and Next Gen fibres can best meet performance needs, sustainability goals, and procurement realities.

If your brand is interested in how best to implement the suggestions in this report, please get in touch.