74 As the world grapples with the urgency of sustainability, the packaging industry finds itself at a crossroads. The quest for solutions that balance environmental responsibility with functionality, consumer satisfaction, and economic viability has never been more complex. Amid this landscape, Google’s approach to packaging is redefining the future of design and materials. With Miguel Arevalo as Google Packaging Sustainability Lead, Google’s Packaging Team is a driving force behind the company’s efforts to rethink packaging, not just as a logistical necessity but as a catalyst for global change. Their work is at the forefront of Google’s mission to revolutionise packaging, making it more sustainable, transparent, and adaptable to the evolving needs of a rapidly changing world. For the Google Packaging Team, sustainable packaging is not a ‘onesize-fits-all’ solution but an ongoing experimentation, learning, and iteration journey. “Packaging is not just about protecting the product. It’s about ensuring that it has minimal environmental impact, that it can be reused and recycled, and that it serves the future needs of our planet,” Arevalo said at the recent record-breaking Packaging Innovations & Empack 2025 event. Google’s packaging approach prioritises using fibre-based materials to drive circularity. Recognising the challenges of mixed-material packaging, Google focuses on a single material stream—fibre—to leverage the existing paper waste stream and improve recyclability rates. “We acknowledge plastic’s versatility across various applications; however, its ubiquity in packaging poses direct challenges to its effective recyclability. Recognising this, our team focuses on maximising the potential of fibre,” Arevalo explained. “This strategy requires the elimination of plastics from our packaging to ensure compatibility with existing recycling systems.” Google’s packaging evolution centres on the concept of circularity. With millions of products shipping globally, its team recognises the need for packaging that works across diverse regions and product categories. Google’s commitment to eliminating plastic from its packaging reflects a focus on material circularity, ensuring that packaging components can be readily recycled within existing infrastructure. RECYCLABILITY IS KEY Google is committed to developing plastic-free packaging solutions that prioritise recyclability. “We need to ask ourselves: how can we create packaging that is truly circular, ensuring materials are effectively recycled?” Arevalo added. In the race to develop sustainable packaging, transparency and knowledge sharing have become cornerstones of Google’s strategy. The Google Packaging Team stressed that one of the biggest challenges in the packaging sector today is managing consumer expectations. With sustainability claims often clouded by greenwashing, they believe honest communication is crucial to building consumer trust. “One of the key lessons we’ve learned is that consumers want transparency. They don’t just want to hear about what we’re doing – they want to understand why and how we’re doing it,” Arevalo Miguel Arevalo, Google Packaging Sustainability Lead, discusses the company’s forwardthinking approach to sustainable packaging at Packaging Innovations & Empack 2025 RETHINKING PACKAGING FOR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=