32NOTICIAS I NEWS la deseabilidad que pide el mercado actual. El lujo se expresa a través de acentos sutiles, paletas sobrias y un uso consciente del material, más que mediante recubrimientos integrales. De cara a 2026 y en adelante, el diseño en cartón se aleja de imitar plástico o metal y pasa a celebrar la fibra como protagonista. Del material al sistema: el nuevo rol del cartón en la cadena de valor El futuro del cartón no se juega solo en el material, sino en el sistema. Regulación, funcionalidad, datos, experiencia del consumidor y diseño humano convergen y redefinen qué significa hoy un envase bien diseñado. En este nuevo contexto, el cartón gana protagonismo, pero también responsabilidad. Para fabricantes y convertidores, la oportunidad está en ir más allá del suministro y posicionarse como verdaderos arquitectos de soluciones de envase: capaces de integrar requisitos regulatorios, rendimiento técnico, eficiencia industrial y coherencia de marca en una economía cada vez más regulada, digital y circular. A partir de aquí, la clave no está en “paperizar” más, sino en hacerlo mejor: diseñar envases simples, reciclables en la práctica, respaldados por datos, análisis de ciclo de vida rigurosos y una visión de sistema compartida entre marcas y fabricantes. Why has the material that promised sustainability, recyclability and performance become one of the biggest strategic challenges in the sector? I remember my first Luxe Pack over twenty years ago, having just arrived in Spain as Export Manager for a printing company specializing in cardboard packaging for premium and mass-market brands. In those corridors in Monaco, cardboard was a given: the noble material, the perfect canvas for hot stamping, embossing, laminating, and selective varnishing. Discussions revolved around special effects and paper’s infinite capacity to be adorned with other materials, not so much its impact. Cardboard, with the more special treatments the better, was the natural choice for communicating value. Today, that same material is caught in the middle of a battle between relentless regulation, consumer expectations, contradictory technical requirements, and an aesthetic revolution that challenges the last thirty years of visual codes, although it is also true that it plays a more prominent role than ever before in the strategic agendas of brands and manufacturers. The Paradox Redefining the Sector From food to cosmetics, from e-commerce to brick-and-mortar stores, Europe is moving towards requiring all packaging to be recyclable (classes A–C, at least 70%) by 2030 and penalizing complex structures with increasingly higher EPR rates in many European markets, linked to producer responsibility for the waste they generate. At the same time, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food brands demand high-performance barrier packaging, an unobstructed unboxing experience, and packaging that communicates value, aligned with their positioning. On the other hand, according to recent McKinsey (2025) analyses on sustainable packaging, within sustainability, the number one driver is circularity: recyclability, reuse, and recycled content are the most important packaging attributes for consumers in all the countries analyzed. In this context, cardboard emerges as the obvious solution. The challenge is to simultaneously meet all technical, regulatory, and market expectations. At this intersection, the competitive landscape of European packaging is being redrawn for the next decade. Levers that are redefining innovation in cardboard packaging We explore some of the emerging trends that will continue to shape packaging innovation in the coming years. “Paperization”: from less plastic to fiber-based systems (paper and cardboard) A cross-cutting shift from plastic to fiber is accelerating across multiple categories. The industry is no longer just talking about reducing plastic, but about designing fiberfirst packaging systems, with cardboard and paper as the structural backbone, even in formats historically dominated by plastic. Paper is becoming the primary narrative medium for responsible brands, while plastic is reserved for those technical components that are difficult to replace. High-Performance Barrier Papers for Demanding Applications Accelerating innovation in barrier-coated papers is expanding the reach of cardboard and paper, providing resistance to moisture, grease, oil, oxygen, and aromas. New hybrid formats, in which a thin, recyclable barrier (dispersion coatings, biopolymers, or ultrathin films) is applied to cardboard, can achieve high levels of recyclability in Europe (Classes A and B) and allow for the replacement of multi-layer or laminated plastic structures in a growing number of applications. Single-Material Designs as Key to Recyclability (and PPWR Scoring) The recyclability class system of the new European Union Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), along with national EPR rates, is accelerating a shift towards simple, single-material paper structures or those designed for efficient separation. In industries like beauty and perfumery, excluding the ultra-luxury niche, we will see secondary packaging with foil laminates, metallization, windows, and other “problematic” elements evolve in the coming years toward uncoated or lightly treated cardboard with understated decoration. Premium value will be expressed through embossing, texture, and structural design, while recyclability emerges as a new hallmark of brand quality.
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