Black Friday: the role of plastics in e-commerce logistics

Plastics play an important role in keeping e-commerce running, although few consumers are aware of it. The break-resistant material protects goods, reduces packaging weight and prevents costly damage during transport. To mark the biggest shopping event of the year, the Plastic is Fantastic Association (PiFA), together with leading industry representatives, highlights the role of this versatile material.

The scale of shipping around Black Friday is enormous. It marks the beginning of an unprecedented increase in parcel deliveries ahead of Christmas. In the US alone, the industry handles around 2.3 billion shipments during the December holiday season. Weight is a decisive factor: if each of these packages weighed just 10 grams more, for example due to heavier alternative materials such as paper or cardboard, trucks would have to transport an additional 23,000 tonnes in this short period. In this context, plastics offer an effective combination of weight savings and protection.

Lightweight packaging supports transport

According to forecasts, the global volume of parcel shipments could rise to nearly 500 billion by 2028. Keeping freight weight to a minimum requires lightweight product packaging that also provides protection. Plastics fulfil both functions: stretch films and void-fill films secure pallets and improve transport safety. Preventing breakage reduces costs and improves the environmental footprint by avoiding returns.

"Plastic is lightweight, versatile and conserves resources. Blanket criticism often fails to do the material justice," points out Dominic Fiel, Executive Director of the Plastic is Fantastic Association. In his view, the material's properties make it indispensable for product safety and resilient supply chains. Alternative packaging materials quickly reach their limits in this respect. For example, achieving the same level of protection as an extremely thin sheet of plastic bubble wrap would require large amounts of crumpled paper. This makes packages heavier, bulkier and more expensive to ship.

Philipp Lehner, CEO of packaging manufacturer Alpla, highlights the impact of reducing plastic weight: "Every tenth of a gram saved significantly reduces energy consumption when multiplied across large volumes." To reduce the burden of transport, Alpla is researching further weight reductions by continuously improving material efficiency.

Recycling preserves the value of packaging

To highlight the benefits of a material that often works behind the scenes, PiFA focuses on science-based education and a consistent circular economy approach. The aim is to use plastic as a flexible, high-performance material throughout its entire life cycle. Dominic Fiel therefore calls for a change in mindset, with plastics assessed on the basis of objective criteria.

Sandra Pechac, Managing Director of the platform Verpackung mit Zukunft (Packaging with a Future), also advocates a fact-based perspective. Speaking figuratively on behalf of packaging itself, she says: "Please don't judge me solely by the material I'm made of, but by what I can do." For Sandra Pechac, this also means viewing used packaging not as waste but as a valuable raw material and returning it to the circular economy wherever possible. She emphasises: "We want to recognize the value of resources, preserve that value and use them for as long as possible. This requires cooperation across the entire value chain."

Philipp Lehner, who advocates the widespread adoption of design for recycling in production, confirms that this also safeguards the industry's independence: "Recycling has long since become a matter of economic resilience."

Reliable recyclate quality makes sustainability profitable

This point is also emphasised by Jan Sültemeyer, Global Sustainability Leader at Avient, a specialist provider of plastic formulations. The industry remains heavily dependent on fossil-based imports and needs to make greater use of raw materials available closer to home. However, for recycled materials to remain competitive under retail price pressure, they must be reliable and affordable. "Sustainability will only be implemented if it is affordable," says Jan Sültemeyer.

In the demanding environment of logistics centres, packaging containing recycled material must not be expensive, tear or show visual defects. Avient addresses this challenge through a dual technological strategy developed in its own recycling laboratory. A software solution uses digital predictions to determine in advance which colour can be achieved for packaging made from pre-coloured recycled material. This saves brand owners costly laboratory testing when making adjustments. At the same time, specialised molecular additives stabilise the material's structure. This makes the recyclate sufficiently impact-resistant and tear-resistant to withstand the high demands of parcel handling, protecting online retailers' tight margins against costly transport damage.

Packaging remains the foundation of consumption

With the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the Empowering Consumers Directive (EmpCo), the EU aims to advance a genuine circular economy. For Alpla CEO Philipp Lehner, this transformation also sends an important signal to the next generation: anyone who wants to take action for the climate can find in packaging optimisation a powerful lever for achieving real global impact.

Nevertheless, PiFA Executive Director Dominic Fiel warns of market distortions: "Although Europe's recycling targets for 2030 are drawing closer, the European circular economy is at risk of coming to a premature end." Cheap imports are undermining recyclate prices, which is why, in his view, policymakers must take countermeasures through tariffs. Only a stable domestic circular economy can keep the logistics behind Black Friday affordable.