Individual Presentation: Impact of Extended Producer Responsibility on Food Science and Food Packaging

The expansion and evolution of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws across North America and Europe is transforming how food and beverage packaging must be designed, manufactured, and validated. These policies place new obligations on producers to meet recyclability criteria, minimize packaging, and incorporate post-consumer recycled content for primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging. While these requirements are typically viewed through a sustainability lens, they also have profound implications for food safety, food quality, and packaging performance—areas central to food science.Food products rely on packaging to provide barrier protection, microbiological safety, chemical stability, and sensory preservation. However, many package features that ensure safety and quality (e.g., multilayer structures, barrier coatings, thermal insulating materials) may be penalized or restricted under EPR frameworks if they reduce recyclability or obstruct circular design requirements. Similarly, mandatory increased use of PCR (post-consumer recycled) materials or reusable packaging formats introduce new variables that food scientists must address for their products.In this session, attendees will learn how new packaging requirements introduced by EPR regulations in North America (US and Canada) and in Europe via the Packaging and Plastic Waste Regulation (PPWR) impact both consumer-facing (B2C) and business-facing (B2B) food products. The session further analyzes where food science and packaging engineering can converge to deliver safe and high-quality food products that navigate new food product requirements and packaging design restraints from EPR/PPWR. The session will be delivered by Colin Preston, who is a respected EPR regulatory expert with a background in materials science developing sustainable food and packaging products.