Discover how paper is reinventing packaging at Packaging Innovations & Empack 2026, where creativity, sustainability, and innovation converge.
For decades, paper has quietly been the backbone of communication, packaging, and creative expression. It has wrapped gifts, carried words, and protected products, yet in recent years it has been asked to do far more. Sustainability is no longer a differentiator; it’s a baseline expectation. Brands now demand that paper not only performs but tells a story, communicates values, and connects emotionally with the consumer. Events such as Packaging Innovations & Empack illustrate this shift, showcasing how the industry is responding to these evolving expectations.
Across the creative, packaging, and print industries, a quiet revolution is underway. Paper is being reimagined as a material that is simultaneously innovative, circular, and emotionally resonant. Its journey from commodity to strategic tool requires a multi-dimensional understanding – from design and engineering to supply chain integrity and public perception.
As Tim Percival, Category Director for Papers at Antalis, explains…, explains: “Sustainability will always be a priority, but looking beyond that, we see innovation in paper and packaging being increasingly driven by the need for agility, personalisation, and strategic impact.”
The creative-technical balance
The world of paper innovation occupies a unique intersection between art and engineering. Percival comments that the choice of paper is as strategic as the creative idea itself. It influences perception, touch, and ultimately, the brand experience.
“Paper isn’t just what you print on,” he says. “It’s what defines the experience. The substrate, texture, and finish can completely transform how a message is received. It’s as much a part of the design as the ink itself.”
Central to this process are tools such as swatch books and sample kits, which allow brands and designers to explore possibilities, from high-end digital print to offset, coated to uncoated, embossed to foil-stamped. Percival highlights the Creative Power Digibox as a key example of this hands-on exploration:
“It shows what’s possible when design meets technology. You can achieve high-end results on sustainable media, at shorter runs, with faster turnaround times.”
Circular thinking and material mastery
Where Percival represents the creative and experiential side, Dimitra Rappou, Executive Director for Sustainable Products at the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), brings the systemic lens. Her focus is on the lifecycle of materials and the mechanics of circularity, how fibre, energy, and design decisions influence sustainability.
“Right-weighting is optimisation effectively, isn’t it?” Rappou says. “It’s not light-weighting; it’s keeping the strength of the product fit for purpose with the right amount of material. If you look at corrugated packaging, in the last twenty years it’s reduced in weight by 15% without losing functionality. That’s exactly the kind of innovation we need – maintaining performance while improving material efficiency.”
Rappou stresses that these optimisations are not just about saving materials, they are central to paper’s circularity:
“To produce an innovative product that has all the properties you want – strength, durability – but at the same time is easily recyclable in standard paper mills, that’s what makes paper circular. The more fibre you get out of a product at the end of life, the more circular your system becomes.”
These insights illuminate a hidden engine driving the industry: small innovations, systemic thinking, and long-term guidance from organisations such as CPI. The guidelines, now in their fourth edition, help designers create paper and card products that can be recycled efficiently in standard mills.
Practicality and public perception
For Rebecca Elliott, Sustainability Manager at EBB, the challenge is keeping paper relevant in a market defined by rising costs, environmental scrutiny, and digital alternatives. Her perspective as a merchant underscores the practical, human-facing side of the industry.
“Key challenges for a lot of people are keeping print relevant and at a cost that’s affordable,” Elliott says. “However, there’s a great opportunity in the fact that paper and paperboard is sustainable. It opens a circular economy, comes from a renewable source, and can be recycled. I always feel that paper and paperboard is an easy victim—people say, ‘don’t cut down trees’—but actually, if we get the messaging right, forests are growing, not reducing. Paper has a very large part in a sustainable future for many businesses.”
According to the European Packaging Preferences 2020 report, paper and cardboard packaging products rank highest with UK consumers for sustainability attributes, including being “better for the environment” (69%) and “easier to recycle” (61%). But Elliott’s observations highlight the dual reality the paper trade must navigate: managing cost, supply, and customer expectations while also correcting public misconceptions about sustainability.
“The paper trade has been such a victim to flames of deforestation and environmental criticism that we’ve really had to pick up our game and disprove myths,” Elliott says. “It’s not just about our supply chain, it’s about changing the narrative with end users.”
For Elliott, this is both a professional and personal mission: “I’m proud to see my seven-year-old’s homework come home printed with the Sustainable Development Goals. It’s a small but meaningful signal that the next generation is beginning to understand the facts rather than propaganda.”
The intangible soul
Part of this changing narrative is the increasing use of paper as a premium or luxury material. As one of the most historic paper manufacturers in the world, James Cropper has more than played its role in this shift. Stephanie Walker, Head of Technical at James Cropper, argues this is due to the inherent craftsmanship involved in papermaking, which lends itself well to the artisanal standards that luxury consumers expect from packaging.
“Packaging is both a science and an art,” Walker says. “The best packaging is made by companies that can understand and balance both elements. Industry leaders have a rigorous grasp of all the technical elements that go into making a pack, like its barrier properties, how well it runs on converting and packing lines, print fidelity, and so on – all of these elements can be measured and quantified at the most minute scale. But they are no more or less important than the intangible elements that can’t be measured – the soul.”
When a consumer holds paper or moulded fibre, they’re not just holding a piece of packaging. The fibres they’re holding came from a tree that was planted in the ground decades ago. On its journey to the consumer’s hand, it could have been recycled many times, becoming anything from a coffee cup bought on a first date to a solid board pack for a child’s first Christmas present to a beloved pair of jeans. And all of these items can themselves become circular sources of fibre thanks to James Cropper’s FibreBlend upcycling technology, which collects fibre from sources like used denim, office waste, coffee cups, mill waste, and responsibly managed forests, sorts it, and uses it to create a range of specialty paper products.
“We believe these memories and emotions are as much a part of recycled packaging as the fibres themselves,” continues Walker. “In the hands of a packaging craftsman, they can be used to deliver that sense of authenticity that consumers crave.”
A material that evolves
Percival emphasises that paper innovation is evolutionary, not disruptive. It’s about pushing boundaries while maintaining the qualities that make paper unique: renewability, recyclability, and tactility.
“We’re seeing unboxing experiences that are 100% board-based—no tape, no glue—using structural engineering alone,” he says. “That’s sustainability and creativity working in harmony.”
Rappou echoes this sentiment: “Policy shifts like Extended Producer Responsibility influence design decisions, but stability in reforms gives designers and manufacturers confidence to invest and experiment. Certainty accelerates innovation.”
Elliott sees this adaptability as intrinsic to paper merchants: “Because we’re independent, we can move with the times. Our packaging division, which is relatively new, is doing very well because we’ve been able to respond quickly to the transition from plastics to paperboard packaging.”
Tactility, emotion, and experience
Paper’s physicality allows it to communicate on levels digital cannot.
Percival explains: “The moment someone feels a texture, a weight, a finish—that’s where emotional connection happens. You can’t replicate that on a screen.”
Elliott sees the same trend in the market: “Everyone wants that uncoated feel. It gives a sustainable, earthy, recyclable impression. There’s a huge market growth for paperboard packaging as people move away from plastic.”
These insights highlight paper’s strategic value: not only does it communicate sustainability, but it also provides a tactile and emotional link between the brand and the consumer, as Walker highlights.
“You can’t ‘fake it til you make it’ with today’s consumers,” she says. “Often, all it takes is a single touch to make or break a particular narrative in a consumers’ mind. And this is where paper materials really shine.”
The carbon equation and alternative fibres
Rappou highlights a key environmental success: decoupling production from carbon emissions.
“Production increased last year, but emissions decreased. That’s a great step forward—it shows circularity and efficiency aligning with climate goals,” she says.
In fact, in 2024, UK papermaking production rose while carbon emissions remained steady—78% lower than 1990 levels—demonstrating the industry’s long-term decarbonisation progress.
The solution is multi-faceted: energy-efficient mills, recycled fibre, transport optimisation, and digitalisation of production. Rappou sees alternative fibres as an innovative area.
“There’s a lot of potential in hemp, straw, seaweed, and agricultural by-products. It’s not just about recyclability—it’s about reducing energy use and carbon emissions.”
Strategic insight from the merchant perspective
Elliott highlights how merchants enable practical innovation. Stocking the right grades, finishes, and colours ensures that brands can experiment with print while maintaining quality.
“As a merchant, we stock a large range of papers and paperboards to fit most needs. Some want recycled paper to be very white; others want it grainy and textured. It’s about helping people realise their vision.”
She also underscores that the paper trade has long been ahead in responsible sourcing:
“FSC and PEFC have been around for decades, and the EUDR simply reinforces what we’ve been doing all along. For paper and paperboard, fibre-based businesses, EUDR shouldn’t be an issue—we’re already operating responsibly.”
Connecting design, systems, and market realities
The narratives from Percival, Rappou, Elliott, and Walker intersect beautifully. Rappou brings systemic circularity and regulatory insight, Elliott and Percival bring the pragmatic lens of supply, merchandising, and public perception, and Walker adds that all-important soul. Together, they form a three-dimensional understanding of paper’s evolving role:
- Material as experience – Tactile, aesthetic, and emotionally resonant.
- Material as system – Recyclable, optimised, traceable, and circular.
- Material as marketable commodity – Cost-effective, responsive, and practical for end users.
- Material as a carrier for meaning – Communicating a sense of craftsmanship.
“Paper has always been about more than just printing,” Percival says. “It’s theatre, strategy, and sustainability all in one.”
“Right-weighting, optimisation, recyclability—these are the foundations of responsible innovation,” Rappou adds. “This is what keeps paper strong—literally and symbolically.”
“Paper has a huge part in a sustainable future for businesses and brands,” Elliott concludes. “Being part of that supply chain is exciting because we get to educate, innovate, and prove that paper can lead the way in circularity.”
The future of paper
Paper’s next chapter is not about reinvention but realisation: seeing what has always been possible and refining it for modern challenges. With tactile appeal, circular efficiency, and strategic flexibility, it remains one of the most advanced materials in the world, quietly shaping design, sustainability, and commerce.
Walker says this gives paper a unique role in the future.
“The beauty of paper is that it’s never really yours – the Earth just loans it to you for a little while,” she says. “One day, you’ll get to give it back. Ultimately, this is what many consumers want from their packaging – they want a positive experience that they can enjoy without any sense of guilt.”
“The next chapter of paper and packaging isn’t just about new products,” Percival concludes. “It’s about creating a connected, responsive ecosystem—where knowledge, technology, and creativity come together to deliver solutions that meet today’s challenges and anticipate tomorrow’s opportunities.”
As Rappou says: “The more fibre you get out of the product at the end of life, the more circular your system becomes. It’s simple, effective, and elegant.”
And Elliott reminds us that communication, perception, and education are equally vital: “The paper trade has been under unfair criticism for years. If we get the messaging right, we can show the next generation the truth: paper is sustainable, renewable, and circular. It’s part of the solution, not the problem.”
Paper’s future is now: adaptive, innovative, and fully alive. It continues to challenge perceptions, inspire creativity, and underpin circularity—all while remaining a material that feels, in the most literal sense, right. This evolution is on full display at Packaging Innovations & Empack, which brings together over 7,400 visitors, 450+ suppliers, and 80+ expert speakers across 13 hours of networking, highlighting how designers, brands, and manufacturers are pushing the boundaries of paper-based packaging. Register now to see it for yourself.
