Battling with the tensions in sustainable packaging

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the systemic tensions that arise during the transition from conventional plastics to sustainable packaging systems, focusing on biobased plastics and reusable packaging. While these eco-innovations are promoted as solutions to reduce environmental burdens, they often generate tensions leading to unintended consequences due to competing sustainability goals. The study is motivated by the need to understand and mitigate such tensions in order to support more effective sustainability transitions.

The dissertation builds on sustainability transitions, eco-innovation, and the dark side of sustainability literature to provide a systems-level perspective. Methodologically, it employs a mixed approach, combining a literature review with qualitative, exploratory research. Semi-structured expert interviews with diverse stakeholders such as businesses, NGOs, municipalities, and waste management organizations form the core empirical material. This multi-actor approach offers insights into how tensions emerge across different levels of the system.

The findings reveal that systemic tensions manifest at organizational, systemic, and policy levels, leading to tensions such as increased costs, inefficient resource use, consumer confusion, or infrastructural misalignments. At the same time, the research demonstrates that these tensions can be mitigated through a combination of firm-level strategies (e.g., process optimization, closed-loop models), systemic innovations (e.g., collaboration, standardization, localization), and policy interventions (e.g., supportive infrastructure, incentives, and regulations). Recognizing tensions as defining features of sustainability transitions, rather than as mere obstacles, provides a more realistic and actionable understanding of how eco-innovations evolve.

The dissertation contributes theoretically by integrating sustainability transitions with critical perspectives to foreground the “dark side” of eco-innovation. Practically, it provides actionable insights for managers and policymakers to anticipate and navigate tensions, thus avoiding lock-ins and supporting more resilient packaging transitions.