CPG brands are under growing pressure to design packaging that is functional, appealing, and recyclable within existing waste systems. Yet municipal solid waste (MSW) infrastructure continues to face challenges from contamination, new material formats, and inconsistent recycling practices—particularly as flexible packaging grows.
At the same time, Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) are evolving rapidly through automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and advanced data analytics. These technologies are improving sorting accuracy, increasing recovery rates, and influencing how packaging is evaluated for recyclability. 
This session will explore how these innovations are reshaping packaging design decisions and what CPG professionals can learn about their existing packages' real-world path the recovery and recycling, and how design can improve it.