How to Build a Truly Circular Packaging System

Why Circular Packaging Matters

Packaging is everywhere — in the products we consume daily, in supply chains, and in landfills. While recycling has long been promoted as the answer to packaging waste, it’s now clear that recycling alone isn’t enough. To reduce waste, recover materials, and meet growing sustainability goals, companies need to go further. They must build circular packaging systems — systems that track, recover, and reintegrate materials with precision and purpose.

Let’s look at why packaging circularity remains such a challenge, what best practices are emerging, and how digital tools can help bridge the gap.

The Circularity Problem: Why Recycling Falls Short

Even with decades of recycling programs in place, large portions of packaging waste still go unaccounted for. The reasons are systemic:

• Sorting and contamination issues often render packaging non-recyclable.
• Producers and recyclers operate in disconnected systems, with limited data exchange.
• There’s little visibility into what happens to collected packaging after it leaves consumer hands.
• Regional fragmentation makes it difficult to scale successful practices or standardize reporting.

The result? Incomplete recovery loops, regulatory risks, and missed opportunities for material reuse.

What Circular Packaging Really Requires

True packaging circularity isn’t just about switching to recyclable materials. It requires a complete shift in how packaging is designed, tracked, and recovered. That means:

• Designing for reuse, recyclability, or compostability from the start.
• Tracking materials through the product lifecycle, including post-consumer stages.
• Ensuring that recovery leads to real reuse or high-quality recycling—not just collection.

Without this level of oversight, companies can’t credibly claim circularity, nor can they report effectively under EPR or CSRD frameworks.

The Role of Digital Traceability

One of the biggest obstacles to circularity is lack of visibility. Many organizations can collect materials — but what happens after that is often a mystery.

With a digital platform in place, companies can:

• Monitor where packaging is collected and how much is recovered
• Assess the condition and recyclability of returned materials
• Compare recovery performance by geography, product line, or partner
• Align packaging data with ESG, Scope 3, and CSRD reporting needs

These insights transform recovery from a vague ambition into measurable action — while also supporting audit readiness and investor transparency.

The Benefits of Smarter Circular Systems

Companies that invest in digitally connected circularity gain major operational and strategic advantages:

• Compliance confidence: Automate EPR, CSRD, and DPP reporting
• Operational efficiency: Optimize logistics, reduce unnecessary collections
• Cost savings: Improve planning, cut waste-related expenses
• Better material quality: Ensure input for high-value recycling
• Supply chain accountability: See supplier recovery rates and gaps
• Real ESG impact: Link actions to emissions and circularity KPIs

Real-World Action: How Coca-Cola is Scaling Circular Recovery

Leading brands are already turning this vision into action.

Take Coca-Cola. Through its PACT initiative, the company is working to recover packaging across five countries — with real-time tracking, performance monitoring, and digital reporting at every step.

By partnering with Evreka, Coca-Cola has gained the ability to:

• Track packaging waste by source and region
• Automate recovery reporting and analysis
• Optimize community engagement and logistics
• Align local impact with global circularity targets

Download our case study to see how Coca-Cola’s data-driven approach is powering scalable, auditable, and circular packaging systems.

For more detailed insights into how Evreka’s solutions can enhance your sustainability practices in the packaging industry, request a demo.