The vast array of ProAmpac displays at the 2024 PACK EXPO International in November in Chicago includes a section simply titled “Curbside Recyclable Paper,” with a more elaborate slogan: “Kick Our Packaging to the Curb.”
Curious passersby stop to peruse the packages lined on the shelves, as Ray Recchia, ProAmpac’s manager of sustainable paper packaging, eagerly answers their questions. Recchia, who has a chemical engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati, points out that the packaging includes fiber-based products with barrier properties that have been thoroughly vetted for their curbside recyclability.
After undergoing rigorous testing at institutions such as Western Michigan University or the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Recchia says, the materials are sent for further certification at How2Recycle®.
The packages are examples of how ProAmpac is “substrate agnostic,” says Greg Tucker, ProAmpac CEO, at an earlier meeting with editors and writers of trade publications for the packaging industry. During his presentation and question-and-answer segment, Tucker and some of his key lieutenants discuss the company’s evolution since it was formed in 2015 with the merger of global flexible packaging companies Prolamina and Ampac.
All along, Tucker says, ProAmpac—which he calls a material science company—has been focused on innovation and sustainability, hiring people with technical degrees and doctorates by the dozens. Flexible packaging has advantages over other materials because of the environmental benefits that include lighter weights and lower shipping costs, Tucker points out.
“In and of itself, flexible packaging is a sustainable solution,” he says. But the company wants to make sure it builds sustainable packaging options that are substrate agnostic as long as they can be recyclable or compostable and not go into landfills. Much of that innovation is happening at the company’s Collaboration and Innovation Center, which opened in 2021 in Rochester, New York.
Growth Built on Innovation and Acquisitions
As the privately held company goes from $2.5 billion in revenue in 2024 to an anticipated $3 billion this year and on to a projected $5 billion within the next few years, Tucker says, “sustainable solutions are not something that we are talking about. It is something that is happening.”
The goals will be fueled by organic growth, technological advancements, and acquisitions, Tucker says. ProAmpac is owned by Pritzker Private Capital, along with management and co-investors. On the technology side, ProAmpac will be looking at companies with coating technologies that can augment fiber products. Potential acquisition targets will be substrate agnostic, too, meaning the company will be eyeing the right fit from either fiber-based companies or ones that specialize in polymers. One key will be to find companies with similar views about innovating and adapting to the changing packaging environment.
Some of the company’s innovations have been gaining attention. In 2024, ProAmpac received the United Kingdom’s UK Packaging Awards’ Cartonboard Pack of the Year for its Pret Hong Kong Recycall HandRap™. Designed for fresh food-to-go products, HandRap™ is recyclable in paper streams when the film wrap is removed, according to the company’s website.
The company’s products were also strong contenders in the 2025 Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition. Sponsored by the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), the annual contest highlights achievements in categories such as expanding the use of flexible packaging, sustainability, technical innovation, and packaging excellence.
Over the past few years, Tucker says, the company has developed a product pipeline where about half of it has a sustainable attribute. “Over the next few years, all of our pipelines will have a sustainable attribute,” he says.
His own technical background—he has a mechanical engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts—gives him an affinity for polymers.
“Flexible packaging is at an inflection point. It is going to move significantly into proactive and sustainable solutions so it never sees a landfill or the ocean, but it also is going to move into intelligent lines.”
Greg Tucker, ProAmpac CEO
“There’s a lot you can do with polymers. Polymers are here to stay,” Tucker says.
“But fiber has come a long way. And being substrate agnostic, we are able to offer our customers a solution in any format they want and in any substrate they want.”
He suggests that the flexible packaging industry is at a turning point because of the advances in technologies, and the companies that haven’t embraced the changes are going to be left behind.
“Fiber is now coming of age because we can do things with polymer and fiber,” he suggests. The company has trademarked one of its advances: Fiberization of Packaging™. “We can do things with coating and fiber. We can do things that are getting close to making fiber have similar barrier properties as polymers.”
The trend is being driven by ProAmpac’s customers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies that are pushing toward fiber-based products. For consumers, they identify with fiber because it is easy to recycle, and that further encourages the development of new markets where fiber hasn’t been a big player before.
“It is fast and first with fiber right now,” Tucker says.
“We are getting more requests for fiber. And there are a lot of products that can give you the same shelf life between fiber and polymer or a combination thereof. Remember, with 8% polymer or less on a fiber package, it is still curbside recyclable. You can have poly on fiber and recycle it, and it gives you the extra barrier protection you might need. That’s why we are staying substrate agnostic.”
As recycling systems for plastics improve, polymers will continue to remain important, especially with mono-materials, Tucker stresses.
Following Regulatory Trends
That flexibility is key to being proactive on the sustainability front but also because the company needs to navigate the numerous laws that governments worldwide have been developing to regulate packaging such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules and labeling laws. Packaging producers also must adjust around legal challenges that seek to ban plastics or limit their use.
California has been particularly aggressive against plastics, which is creating opportunities, Tucker says. For example, California’s move to ban plastic bags at grocery stores—he suggests 400 million bags annually—is an opportunity for companies such as ProAmpac to develop fiber options for grocery bags, he says.
As a global company, ProAmpac is accustomed to dealing with varying rules and regulations such as in Europe, Canada, or the United States, says Ian Moore, ProAmpac’s corporate sustainability specialist. California has been particularly aggressive with recyclability and compostability targets, he explains.
“Oftentimes when it comes to sustainability, it’s a lowest common denominator approach,” Moore says. That means the company will look at the toughest standards such as in California and then build products that meet those standards, knowing the packaging will exceed standards in other states, thereby retaining their marketability elsewhere.
Tucker quickly adds that being material agnostic allows the company to adjust more readily and to meet the needs of customers such as CPGs while adhering to shifts with new laws. However, more readily doesn’t mean it is easy to adapt to the constantly evolving laws and regulations, says Tucker and Kristy Paulin, ProAmpac’s executive vice president of global marketing.
“There are a lot of competing priorities,” Paulin says. Regulations might try to address greenhouse gas emissions but establish rules that conflict with products that are easy to recycle. Fiber, she explains, “has a tendency to have a little bit of a higher carbon output.”
When talking to CPGs, she says, the conversation then becomes about where they want to put their emphasis.
The path to diversifying their packaging portfolio is wide and includes bio-resins, post-consumer recycled content, compostable materials, and anything else that can help achieve sustainability goals while meeting the performance requirements of customers.
“Ultimately, there is no one answer to any of this, and it is going to be really interesting to see where the CPGs come out with some of their goals,” Paulin says, adding that new laws and regulations will continue to steadily roll out. “It’s going to be tough.”
Most people don’t understand the complexity of rules that companies face, Tucker says. EPR is being expanded on a state-by-state basis, which is challenging. Meanwhile, some packaging regulations are passed at the county level. As another example of the complexity, ProAmpac has been a supporter of chemical and advanced recycling and increasing that infrastructure. Meanwhile, the attorney general in California sued ExxonMobil in 2024 partly because it said the company overstated the benefits of the advanced recycling process.
That is where diversification in all approaches makes sense, says Hesam Tabatabaei, Ph.D., who is senior vice president of global product development and innovation at ProAmpac.
“That goes back to the point that we have different offerings when it comes to recycled content,” he says. The company invests in mechanical recycling, composting, and advanced recycling. “We are not just tied to one technology,” Tabatabaei adds.
It is the same with the substrates. “We try to expand our offerings, so if there is going to be certain legislation, we are going to have various offerings,” he says.
The company works with different groups such as FPA, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and Manufacturers’ Association to stay on top of changes, Paulin says. But other groups work at cross purposes to promote their own products such as organizations that support rigid packaging options, Tucker says.
“The regulations are coming to companies everywhere in the world. It doesn’t matter where you are. You could be in South America, you could be in Mexico, you could be in Europe, you could be in the U.S. or Canada. It’s going to be harder to run your business,” Tucker says. It will be particularly difficult for smaller companies, he suggests.
“You’re going to have to have resources. You’re going to have to have the technical teams. You’re going to have to have the legal teams. You have to understand all of it and navigate it,” he adds.
All along, Tucker says, ProAmpac is staying focused on innovation. The company is developing ProActive Intelligence—so-called “smart packaging” that can connect products to people. Using technologies such as radio frequency identification devices and hidden watermarks, the packages could alert users to all sorts of issues, including when a product has been recalled because of contamination. The technologies are also being used to divert waste from landfills.
“Flexible packaging is at an inflection point,” he says. “It is going to move significantly into proactive and sustainable solutions so it never sees a landfill or the ocean, but it also is going to move into intelligent lines.
“And polymers are going to be part of the future. They’ll get better on the recycling of polymers, especially the mono-material. They will have a place, so being substrate agnostic is still absolute.”
Thomas A. Barstow is senior editor at FlexPack VOICE®.