For many brand teams, replacing plastic is no longer a values question — it is a compliance and roadmap question with a date attached. The harder part is sorting the options. Some alternatives are proven and scalable today. Others get significant media coverage but cannot yet be manufactured at the volumes a consumer brand needs.

Arkay Packaging is a fourth-generation, family-owned premium folding carton manufacturer that has operated continuously since 1922, producing secondary packaging for the exact categories now moving away from plastic — cosmetics, spirits, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. That perspective matters here, because most guides to plastic alternatives are written by advocacy groups or general publishers, not by the people who put these materials on press.

This guide covers the six alternatives brand teams evaluate most often, with the honest trade-offs behind each.

Why Brands Are Switching Away From Plastic

The strongest driver right now is regulation. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR 2025/40) applies from August 12, 2026, and requires that all packaging placed on the EU market be designed for recycling by 2030 (European Commission, 2025). In the US, there is no federal packaging law, but seven states have enacted extended producer responsibility rules covering roughly a quarter of the population. For a brand selling across both markets, that patchwork already favors fiber-based secondary packaging — because paperboard meets design-for-recycling requirements as it is, while many plastic formats do not.

Consumer sentiment adds a second signal. In a Shorr Packaging survey (November–December 2024, n=2,016), 54% of Americans said they had deliberately chosen a product with sustainable packaging in the past six months. That tells brand teams the preference is real and worth designing for.

It is worth being precise about what that number does and does not mean. Separate research from PA Consulting (February 2024) found that four in five consumers do not actively prioritize sustainable packaging at the point of purchase. The honest read: the mandate to switch is driven as much by regulation and retailer ESG requirements as by shopper behavior. Brands that treat it purely as a marketing play tend to be surprised by the compliance side.

The 6 Main Alternatives to Plastic Packaging

The six alternatives below are ordered from most to least production-ready. Each is labeled for the packaging tier it actually serves — a primary container (the bottle or jar in direct contact with the product) or secondary packaging (the outer carton or sleeve) — because a plastic outer-carton problem cannot be solved with a primary-container material like glass. We start with the one Arkay makes, and the one most brands in these categories land on: paperboard.

1. Paperboard and Folding Cartons

What it is: Fiber-based secondary packaging made from wood pulp. Solid Bleached Sulfate (SBS) is the premium grade — a bright white surface, superior printability, and consistent caliper that make it the standard for premium beauty, spirits, and pharma cartons.

Pros: Paperboard’s headline advantage is end-of-life recovery. US paperboard recycling rates run at 69–74% (AF&PA, 2025), compared with 13.3% for plastic packaging (US Plastics Pact, 2024). That gap — better than 5:1 — means a brand switching from a plastic outer carton to a folding carton is choosing a material the existing recycling infrastructure is actually built to handle, not one that hopes to be recovered.

On emissions, peer-reviewed life-cycle assessments generally find fiber-based packaging carries a lower carbon footprint than plastic in secondary-packaging applications, though the gap varies with weight, transport, and end-of-life handling — which is why the recyclability advantage above is the cleaner, better-documented case. The greenhouse gas emissions comparison between materials is worth documenting early in a switch. Paperboard also ships flat before erection, prints to luxury standards with foil and embossing, and carries FSC, SFI, and PEFC chain-of-custody certification.

The shift is already underway at scale: more than 58% of FMCG brands are moving to paperboard to meet sustainability, brand, and compliance goals (MarketsandMarkets, 2025). For a brand weighing the switch, that means following a proven path in these categories rather than pioneering an untested one.

Cons: Paperboard is moisture-sensitive without barrier coatings, and those barrier laminations can complicate recyclability — finish compatibility should be verified per project. It can also carry a higher upfront cost than plastic at equivalent scale, though that gap is narrowing as capacity and regulation shift the market. It is not suitable for primary liquid containment. One practical note from the production floor: paperboard is a living material, and inventory aged well beyond a few months can behave differently on high-speed fill lines, so ordering cadence matters.

Applies to secondary packaging: Yes. This is the proven, scalable answer for most secondary CPG packaging decisions.

2. Glass

What it is: An inert primary container material made from silica sand, soda ash, and limestone — bottles, jars, and vials.

Pros: Glass is infinitely recyclable without quality loss, non-porous, and does not leach. It carries a premium aesthetic well established in spirits, fragrance, and beauty, with excellent product protection.

Cons: Weight is the problem. Glass is significantly heavier than comparable plastic or paperboard, and life-cycle comparisons put its carbon footprint considerably higher per unit than folding cartons, largely from that weight in transport and from high furnace energy in manufacturing. Breakage adds waste risk.

Applies to secondary packaging: No. Glass is a primary container material. A brand with a plastic outer carton to replace cannot substitute glass for it.

3. Aluminum

What it is: Metal packaging for cans, tubes, and foil, used mainly in food, beverage, and personal care primary packaging.

Pros: Aluminum recycles exceptionally well — a large share of all aluminum ever produced remains in circulation, and recycling it uses only a small fraction of the energy required for primary production. It has excellent barrier properties and is light relative to glass.

Cons: Primary aluminum production is energy-intensive, creating a large upfront carbon footprint, and it costs more than plastic or paperboard at equivalent volumes. It is fundamentally a primary container format.

Applies to secondary packaging: No. Aluminum does not replace a rigid folding carton. A brand choosing secondary packaging still needs a carton.

4. Bioplastics (PLA, PHA, Cornstarch-Based)

What it is: Plastics derived from biological sources such as corn, sugarcane, and cassava. Some formulations are compostable; others are bio-based but not biodegradable.

Pros: Reduced reliance on fossil feedstocks, compostability under the right industrial conditions, and the ability to mimic conventional plastic form factors.

Cons: This is the category with the most misunderstanding. Most bioplastics require industrial composting — not curbside or home composting — and industrial composting facilities remain relatively limited across the US. They also tend to have lower barrier properties and shorter shelf lives, and “compostable” is widely misread by shoppers as home-compostable.

Applies to secondary packaging: Not at mainstream CPG scale today. Bioplastics are not a drop-in substitute for secondary cartons. Brand teams evaluating them should understand the infrastructure gap first.

5. Mycelium Packaging

What it is: Packaging grown from mushroom root structures (mycelium) bound with agricultural waste, formed into biodegradable cushioning.

Pros: Home-compostable, made from low-cost agricultural byproducts, and effective as protective cushioning for fragile goods.

Cons: It remains at R&D and pilot scale, carries a higher per-unit cost, and — critically — cannot be printed for brand communication. Its form factor is limited to protective inserts.

Applies to secondary packaging: No. Mycelium is an emerging material for cushioning inserts, not a folding carton alternative, and it is not at mainstream CPG volume.

6. Seaweed-Based Packaging

What it is: Films and coatings made from seaweed and algae biopolymers — still a research-stage material.

Pros: Biodegradable and compostable, drawn from an abundant raw material that does not compete with food crops for land.

Cons: Low tensile strength and water solubility are real performance challenges, harvesting is labor-intensive and hard to scale, and there is no mainstream CPG supply chain as of 2025.

Applies to secondary packaging: No. Seaweed attracts high media coverage and low near-term commercial viability. It is not a practical option for a brand team making a decision today.

How to Evaluate a Switch to Paperboard Secondary Packaging

For teams actively considering the move, the following sequence keeps the decision grounded.

1. Audit Which Secondary Formats Are Currently Plastic

Identify the outer cartons, sleeves, window boxes, display packaging, and gift boxes across your SKU line that are currently produced in plastic. In beauty, personal care, spirits, and nutraceuticals, a folding carton is a like-for-like structural substitute for most of these formats.

2. Select the Right Substrate for Your Product Category

SBS is the premium-grade choice — a superior print surface, consistent caliper, and bright white base, and the standard for cosmetics, spirits, and pharma. Recycled board options exist for cost-sensitive lines where print-fidelity requirements are lower — our guide to PCR packaging covers the recycled-content trade-offs. Match the substrate to the product, not the other way around.

3. Request Certification Documentation From Your Manufacturer

Ask for FSC, SFI, and PEFC chain-of-custody certification to verify responsible sourcing, an EcoVadis rating to confirm supply chain sustainability management, and BRCGS for packaging safety. A manufacturer’s certified forest sourcing documentation is what lets you carry a sourcing claim into your own retailer paperwork.

4. Understand Recyclability Documentation

Recyclability is substrate-driven — anchored to the underlying board, with finishes such as coatings, foils, and embossing assessed against it. Certified manufacturers can provide per-project spec sheets covering substrate certification (FSC, SFI, PEFC), finish composition, and recyclability characteristics. Ask for that documentation up front, so the recyclability of the finished carton is confirmed before production, not assumed after.

How Arkay Manufactures the Paperboard Alternative to Plastic

For brands whose switch lands in secondary packaging, this is where a century of folding carton work becomes practical. Arkay has produced SBS folding cartons for cosmetics, beauty, spirits, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals — the exact categories now moving off plastic — for more than 100 years across four generations of family ownership. Folding cartons are not a new plastic alternative for these categories; they are the format premium brands have trusted all along.

The sustainability position sits on audited credentials, not adjectives. Arkay holds EcoVadis Platinum recognition — the top 1% of manufacturers globally, held consecutively since 2022 — alongside triple-certified fiber sourcing (FSC, SFI, PEFC), CarbonNeutral® operations, BRCGS packaging safety certification, and G7 color management. Those sustainability credentials are what let a brand carry a defensible sourcing claim into its own documentation, and they are detailed further in the Arkay Sustainability Report.

Recyclability is handled the same way — at the substrate level. Because recyclability is anchored to the board and finish compatibility is assessed against it, Arkay provides per-project spec sheets rather than blanket claims, so a brand knows exactly how a given carton’s coatings and foils interact with its recyclability before it goes to press. That is the difference between a manufacturer that prints paperboard and one that can help a brand stand behind the switch.

Plan Your Plastic-to-Paperboard Switch With Arkay

Let’s talk about the right packaging for your brand. If you have read this far, you are likely weighing a specific secondary packaging format — an outer carton, a sleeve, a window box — and wondering whether paperboard can carry both the performance and the sustainability credentials you need.

That is exactly the conversation Arkay’s team has every week. Get in touch and we will walk through your current formats, the substrate and finish options that fit your category, and the certification documentation that makes the switch defensible.