Driving the Circular Economy: Reusable Packaging in the Snack Segment

The Spotlight Forum at interpack 2026 brings together key trends and developments in the global packaging industry-from market analyses and technologies to regulatory issues. This platform for international speakers and best practices provides guidance for decision-makers across the entire value chain. One of the speakers is Benjamin Merz, Packaging & Circularity Officer at Seeberger. We spoke with him about the circular economy, reusable packaging, and the future of snack packaging. 

It bothered me from the very beginning that packaging in the food industry is often viewed merely as a necessary evil. Yet it is a key lever for resource conservation, climate impact, and the credibility of sustainability strategies. For me, circularity means much more than just recycling. At its core, it’s about avoiding waste and using materials for as long as possible.

At Seeberger, high-quality, natural products are the focus. This calls for packaging that supports this commitment and does not unnecessarily burden the origin of our products. This conviction, increasing regulatory requirements, and the opportunity to work on innovative solutions have motivated me to strategically advance this issue.

Reusable packaging can be a useful addition, especially for products with high repurchase rates and well-functioning return systems, such as in the food retail sector. Standardized reusable containers can help reduce waste in this context. Expanding into the drugstore segment is also an interesting prospect, as our product category has a strong presence there.

The biggest challenges currently lie in logistics, hygiene, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Snacks are perishable foods with high requirements for product protection and food safety. At the same time, reusable systems must be easy to understand and economically viable.

The PPWR clearly acts as an accelerator for us. It shifts the focus from pure recycling to waste prevention and reuse. Reusable packaging thus becomes an integral part of corporate responsibility. For us, this means: testing early, learning quickly, and developing solutions that are legally compliant, practical, and economically viable. 

Data is the foundation of any functioning circular economy. We need reliable information on material flows, circulation rates, return rates, cleaning cycles, and environmental impacts.

Digitalization helps manage this complexity, for example in analyzing packaging volumes, conducting regulatory assessments, or making informed decisions within the company.

The greatest potential currently lies less in entirely new materials and more in consistently developing existing systems to achieve true circularity. It is crucial that recycling not only works in theory but also delivers high-quality recycled materials for reuse.

Packaging design is a key lever. Printing inks, coatings, and adhesives have a major impact on the quality of recycled materials. Another key factor is barrier concepts. Traditional multilayer structures protect the product but often make recycling difficult. Functional barriers should be very thin, easily separable, or compatible with recycling.
There is significant potential for innovation in the use of recycled materials themselves. However, due to the high standards in the food sector, improvements in processing, odor reduction, additive formulation, and quality control are crucial. Biopolymers can be useful if they are system-compatible and do not introduce additional complexity.

Overall, a systemic approach across the entire life cycle is crucial.

Ideally, packaging will then be part of stable, scalable, and clearly defined regulatory systems. Which solutions prevail will depend less on visionary concepts than on clear legal frameworks and industrial feasibility.

When it comes to legal requirements, concrete decisions at the European level are still lacking for many key issues. And as for feasibility: Many solutions work well on a pilot scale but hit limits when scaled up, for example in terms of material availability, process stability, and costs. The key factor will be how well regulation, technology, and infrastructure work together.  

For us, packaging is not a short-term optimization issue, but a strategic field for the future in which we are working on solutions that are sustainable in the long term and enable true circularity. 

Above all, I’m looking for concrete technological insights: What works with recycled materials? Where do barrier and recycling technologies really stand? What is industrially scalable? Dialogue across the entire value chain is crucial for realistically evaluating innovations and jointly developing them into sustainable packaging systems.