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Master Flexible Packaging: Designing for Recyclability & Sustainability

Master Flexible Packaging: Designing for Recyclability & Sustainability
Language: English
Length: 90 min
Jun 10, 2025 03:00 PM
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Course Description

Eliminate material inefficiencies, enhance recyclability, and meet evolving sustainability standards in flexible packaging. Gain the right strategies to incorporate PCR, reduce material use, and design for recycling while tackling challenges (stiffness loss, seal failures, film instability, and regulatory roadblocks).


This course will equip you with the latest strategies for designing flexible packaging that meets sustainability targets while maintaining functionality and durability. Join industry expert Barry Moris for practical, formulation-driven solutions, backed by real-world case studies to:


  • Integrate post-consumer recycled (PCR) content effectively by addressing supply challenges, quality concerns, and mechanical property retention while staying compliant with regulations.
  • Optimize material usage with lightweighting strategies that reduce costs and environmental impact without compromising stiffness, heat-seal performance, or film stability.
  • Achieve true recyclability by designing flexible packaging that meets mechanical recycling guidelines, ensuring material compatibility and end-of-life viability.
Intermediate
Level
Barry A. Morris
Barry A. Morris
0 courses

Barry A. Morris retired from Dow as an R&D Fellow with over 35 years of experience in material science, extrusion and packaging innovation and technology. He held a variety of technology roles supporting the ethylene copolymer business at Dow (formerly DuPont). Barry is a holder of 12 U.S. granted patents and has written for over 125 publications, including his recently published 2nd edition to his comprehensive book, The science and technology of flexible packaging (Elsevier, 2022). He excels at applying scientific principles to complex technical issues and explaining it in a way that the practitioner can understand and use. In 2022 he formed BA Morris Consulting LLC to continue to offer his expertise to the packaging and plastics industries. In 2022 he also assumed the role of Chief Technology Advisor at VOID Technologies, a company developing solutions for more sustainable packaging.

Barry is the recipient of several industry awards including Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), SPE’s Bruce Maddock award for advances in extrusion technology, TAPPI’s Rohm & Haas Prize for technical contributions to the paper and plastics converting industry, and DuPont’s Pederson Medal for outstanding technical accomplishments. He has a leadership role in the SPE Flexible Packaging and Extrusion divisions and helps organize their technical conferences. He is also on the editorial boards of two leading technical journals.

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Why should you view this course?

Sustainability and performance demands are reshaping flexible packaging design—forcing formulators and packaging engineers to rethink material selection, recyclability, and lightweighting strategies. With increasing regulatory pressure and the push for circularity, traditional approaches often fall short, leading to inefficiencies, product failures, and compliance risks. 

New challenges require advanced solutions and a deeper understanding of how to integrate recycled content, optimize structures for recyclability, and maintain mechanical properties. Sticking to outdated design principles can result in packaging that is difficult to recycle, lacks durability, or encounters processing issues (flow instability, dimensional changes.....) 

Join this course to: 

  1. Master design-for-recycling principles to ensure your flexible packaging meets industry guidelines while maintaining functionality and barrier performance.

  2. Optimize post-consumer recycled (PCR) integration by tackling quality concerns, loss of mechanical properties, and processing challenges.

  3. Improve packaging performance by addressing stiffness, heat seal, film handling, and oxygen barrier issues in material selection.

  4. Leverage lightweighting strategies to reduce material usage while maintaining stiffness, heat-seal strength, and overall package integrity.

  5. Explore real-world case studiesshowcasing successful material substitutions and sustainable packaging innovations adopted by top industry leaders.

Who should join this course?

  • Complete the course and (unlock your personalized certificate)– your badge of accomplishment awaits!

  • Professional in flexible packaging industry seeking knowledge for sustainable solutions.

  • Packaging Designers and Engineers looking to address their challenges.

  • Sustainability Managers seeking practical strategies to shift to sustainable packaging.

  • R&D and Innovation Teams focused on creating sustainable packaging alternatives.

  • This course is suitable for intermediate level proficiency
    Intermediate
Course Outline

Introduction

Function of flexible packaging 

Evolution to multi-layer, multi-material design 

Flexible packaging sustainability positives and negatives 

Design for sustainability has several goals 

Market and regulatory trends around sustainability 

Challenges for recycling flexible packaging 

  1. Collection and sorting 
  2. Types of recycling 
  3. Markets for recycling 

Design for sustainability

Light weighting (reducing material usage)

  1. New tools for using less material

Incorporating post-consumer recycle (PCR) into flexible packaging

  1. Supply issues
  2. Quality concerns
  3. Loss of mechanical properties
  4. Regulatory compliance issues

Design for mechanical recycle

  1. Guidelines for designing for PE-recyle stream

Case study: Replacing OPET in stand-up pouch

  1. Motivation: OPET is incompatible with PE
  2. Function of OPET and properties needed in replacement
  3. Design concepts

Challenges and solutions

  1. Stiffness
  2. Heat seal
  3. Film handling (blocking, high COF)
  4. Aesthetics
  5. Oxygen barrier
  6. Other
  7. Commercial example: Kellogg’s Bear Naked Granola

Design for composting

  1. Bio-based vs. biodegradable polymers: definitions and examples
  2. Composting vs. biodegrading
  3. Characteristics of commonly available compostable materials
  4. Package formulation design for compositing concepts
  5. Commercial example: Pepsico (Frito-Lay) salty snack bags

Factors that affect material choice

New resin considerations: performance and processing

Process considerations that limit material choice

  1. Dimensional stability
  2. Thermal stability during film converting
  3. Flow stability during film converting
  4. Bubble stability during film blowing
  5. Coextrusion flow instability

Additives are often used to help mitigate performance and process issues

Conclusion & Key Takeaways

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30 min Q & As for this course
Interact directly with your tutor and clarify your doubts
  1. 30 mins per session for Questions and Answers
  2. Clarify your doubts.
  3. If your questions are not answered, dont worry you will recieve tutor’s reply via email after sessions.
Master Flexible Packaging: Designing for Recyclability & Sustainability
€299
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