Behind a Sustainability Director Award: How a U.S. Flexible Packaging Converter Is Upgrading Sustainability Governance

Accredo Packaging Sustainability Director Trei Johnson won Sustainability Leader of the Year at the 2026 Packaging News Sustainability & Impact Awards. If you only skim the headline, it is easy to file this away as an individual award and move on. But from what I have seen across U.S. and European flexible packaging supply chains, this is a signal that the organization has upgraded. Accredo says it plainly in the award write-up: its sustainability function has moved beyond "writing reports and answering customer questionnaires" into a global strategy unit with data, cadence, and influence over product development

That is a long way from where many print shops and brand owners in Taiwan still are. What I often see is sustainability sitting under sales or admin as a side duty. Once the ESG report is finished, the job is treated as done. No one is truly accountable for PCR, meaning post-consumer recycled content, adoption rates, mono-material structure development progress, or supplier carbon audit results. When brand customers start using "do you have a sustainability director" as a screening question, what they are really asking about is the governance system behind it, not the title on a business card

Flexible packaging has been under some of the heaviest sustainability pressure in recent years. Flexible packaging materials need to be lightweight, provide barrier performance, be recyclable, and actually be handled by existing recycling systems. Those four goals often pull against each other. The three workstreams Accredo names in the coverage are worth paying attention to:

・PCR adoption: post-consumer recycled content percentage, source traceability, and supply stability

・Mono-material PE structure development: moving away from multilayer laminates toward recyclable single-resin systems

・Supplier carbon accounting: forcing out scope 3 numbers, meaning supply chain and use-phase emissions, so the company can answer brand-side carbon footprint requirements

None of these three lines can be driven by marketing alone. Procurement, R&D, quality assurance, and customer service all have to move together. That is why Accredo has elevated sustainability into a function that reports directly to the CEO. Without that level, the role does not have enough weight to hold cross-department work together

Most flexible packaging and laminated bag converters in Taiwan still work in a "sales plus environmental paperwork" mode. As soon as customers ask for details, the reply becomes "let me check." That pace will have a harder time passing export reviews over the next three years

The real signal behind Accredo's award is that brand-side sustainability review criteria are shifting gears. In the RFPs I have seen from customers over the past few months, three tables keep showing up:

・PCR content table: by product type and item number, with PCR percentage and recycled material source certification, not just one overall average

・Carbon footprint table: at least cradle-to-gate, from raw materials to factory gate. Scope 1 and scope 2 are required, and scope 3 should at least cover tier-one suppliers

・Recyclability certification: How2Recycle, APR, meaning Association of Plastic Recyclers, certification, or test reports aligned with Europe's CEFLEX design guidelines

None of these three tables can be replaced by a press release. The most urgent homework for small and mid-sized print shops and brands in Taiwan is to generate these numbers for their main product lines first. Even a reasonable estimate with a clear basis is better than a blank. On the new review forms, blank means you are out

Mid-sized and larger suppliers can consider moving sustainability out from under sales support and making it an independent function that reports to the general manager or CEO. The key is to give the role three tools: the authority to convene cross-department meetings, the right to recommend stopping or rejecting product development decisions, and ownership of responses to customer sustainability reviews. Take away any one of the three, and the role is just a new business card

For companies that cannot yet support a full-time sustainability director, there are two practical starting points:

・Assign sustainability ownership to an existing quality assurance or R&D lead, and give that person a fixed share of work time to handle external review responses

・Bring in an outside consultant or work with a team such as the Mai Strategy Knowledge Academy consulting team to build the inventory process for the three tables first, then decide whether to create a formal role

Either way, the point is the same: sustainability cannot stop at "someone writes the ESG report." Someone has to own the numbers, answer customers, and have a voice in product line decisions. What Accredo's award really demonstrates is the level of the role, not the name of the person who won it

Many printers that make paper boxes, labels, or books may feel this has nothing to do with them. That thinking might hold for another year or two in Taiwan's domestic market. But if your customer is a brand owner, and your customer's customer sells through retail channels in Europe or the United States, you are already inside this supply chain. Personnel moves at Graphic Packaging during the same period point in the same direction: brand owners are changing the review criteria. It is not a change in law. It is a change in who grades the paper

Instead of waiting for customers to ask whether you have a sustainability director, ask yourself first: for our main product lines, can we produce the three tables on PCR content, carbon footprint, and recyclability certification within three days? If yes, you have room to negotiate. If not, you can only compete on price

The advantage in printing has never really been capacity. It is the trust that makes a customer give you a second look once you pass their review. That trust now sits on the completeness of your sustainability data, not on a title

A sustainability director is a signal of upgraded governance, not HR news

Brand customers want three tables: PCR content, carbon footprint, and recyclability certification

Sustainability work at flexible packaging converters has to involve procurement, R&D, quality assurance, and customer service

A sustainability role needs authority to convene departments, recommend product vetoes, and lead customer responses

Small and mid-sized companies can start with outside consultants, build the inventory process first, and create a formal role later

Looking back at Taiwan's industry through the lens of Accredo's award, what I see is a widening time gap in governance structure. The most practical move for small and mid-sized print shops and brands in Taiwan is to map out PCR content, carbon footprint, and recyclability certification data for their main product lines, with a six-month deadline. Companies that already serve export brand customers should directly ask those customers for the latest supplier sustainability review form, whether it is an RFP or SAQ. Using the customer's own questions as your inventory checklist is more accurate than guessing. The next signal to watch is whether Accredo's suppliers will also be asked to submit these three tables. If that timing falls between the fourth quarter of this year and the second quarter of next year, Taiwan's flexible packaging and laminated bag converters need to finish their first round of data preparation before customers send the formal notice. To bring this process into your own company's sustainability governance or product lines, contact MINDS and start with material specifications and carbon footprint inventory at the printed product level

・Accredo Packaging Sustainability Director Named Sustainability Leader of the Year