This may be the first time you’ve come across the term “circular economy” or it could be your company is already assessing how you can update your processes and structure to embrace its core principle of reduce, reuse and recycle. Simply put, the aim of the circular economy is to drastically reduce the use of single trip packaging (STP) or, in an ideal scenario, remove it altogether. Over the years, whether as businesses or consumers, we have been lulled into a false sense of security by the ease, convenience and, above all, the low cost of STP, mostly ignorant to the devastating impact on our environment. Whilst a so called throwaway culture has been allowed to develop over the years, we are now much more aware of the consequences of our actions and we live in an age where advanced technology and understanding of materials will allow us to change for the better. Action is needed to encourage us all to move away from continuing with the comfortable ease of STP and instead invest time and resources into creating a more sustainable future. To that end the EU directive 2018/852 has been issued, which outlines a number of targets to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill over the coming years, not least that a minimum of 70% by weight of all packaging must be recycled by 2030. With the reusable materials available to us today, plus a little thought, planning and organisation, there are very few reasons why we cannot achieve this ambitious target within the next 10 years. The short term benefits of STP have masked the fact that investing in high quality, reusable packaging not only reduces the use of raw materials and waste but is much more economical and commercially viable in the mid to long term. The ethos of reduce, reuse and recycle has been at the core of IPI Global since its inception and we are proud of the product portfolio we can offer you, providing high quality products that are not only a perfect fit for the circular economy, but also form a closed loop system for the added protection of your workers and the environment. To find out more, visit our website at www.ipi-global.com or contact us.