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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/sustainable-packaging-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Updated 2026Sustainable packaging patents: who is filing, what they claim, and where the field is still open
- Filing momentum is real but recent. growth ran +40% from 2021 to 2024 (5 to 7 filings), with 2023 the peak year so far at 28 records — 2025 and later are still filling in as publications lag filing.
- One leader, then a long tail. the top-ranked assignee holds 18 records against 20 ranked companies total, with fifth place at 5 and tenth place down to a single filing.
- Containers and hygiene overlap heavily. B65D packaging classes cover 47.3% of the 55 records in scope, but A47K sanitary equipment (30.9%) and D21H pulp/paper compositions (29.1%) show packaging claims are colliding with tissue and nonwoven material science.
55
Published Records
+40%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
20
Active Filers Ranked
Filing growth compares 2021 (5 records) with 2024 (7) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What the sustainable packaging patent record actually shows
Sustainable packaging sits at the intersection of materials science, logistics data systems and consumer hygiene products. The 55 records in scope span container and wrapping design (B65D, B65B), nonwoven and pulp-based substrates (D04H, D21H), and a smaller but present layer of tracking and inventory software (G06Q, G01B) tied to handling units, transport routes and item identifiers. That combination reflects a field where the packaging itself and the supply-chain data wrapped around it are being claimed together.
Filing activity is concentrated in the United States as receiving office, with the EPO, WIPO/PCT, Canada, India and the UK making up the remainder. The most-cited records date from earlier in the window, which is typical of citation counts inside a searched corpus — they reward age, not current relevance.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 55-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings moved from zero in 2017 to a peak of 28 in 2023, with 2021-to-2024 growth of +40% (5 to 7 records). 2024 is the last year that can be read as complete; 2025 and 2026 are still filling in under the roughly 18-month publication lag.
IPC subclass composition (share of 55 records)
B65D containers and packaging lead at 47.3% of records, followed by A47K sanitary equipment at 30.9% and D21H pulp/paper compositions at 29.1%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares sum to well over 100% — they describe overlap, not a partition of the dataset.
Shares are the percentage of the 55 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Most-cited records and a representative recent filing
Representative Recent Filing
Method of producing rigid package material and rigid box from textile waste (US20260160003A1)
KIUD TECHNOLOGIES OÜ
The application discloses mechanically shredding synthetic textile waste into fibres, blending the fibres with a binder, forming the blend into a nonwoven web, needle-punching that web into a felt, and thermomechanically pressing the felt into a rigid package material usable for boxes.Filed by KIUD Technologies OÜ, dated 2026-06-11 — sits at the D04H/B65D boundary between nonwoven material processing and rigid container substrates.
Most-cited records in the dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US8296101B1 | Systems and methods for evaluating environmental aspects of shipping systems | 34 |
| 2 | WO2023245027A1 | Arrays of sanitary tissue products comprising non-wood(s) | 16 |
| 3 | US8639472B2 | Systems and methods for evaluating environmental aspects of shipping systems | 8 |
| 4 | US20230406608A1 | Arrays of sanitary tissue products comprising non-wood(s) | 7 |
| 5 | US20230406609A1 | Sanitary tissue product packages conveying sustainability | 6 |
| 6 | US20230404332A1 | Arrays comprising high tier and lower tier sustainable sanitary tissue products | 5 |
| 7 | US20230406610A1 | Digital arrays comprising sustainable sanitary tissue products | 4 |
| 8 | US20150142380A1 | Systems and methods for evaluating environmental aspects of shipping systems | 4 |
| 9 | WO2023245028A1 | Sanitary tissue product packages conveying sustainability | 3 |
| 10 | US12415672B2 | Sanitary tissue product packages conveying sustainability | 2 |
Citation counts favour older records inside a searched corpus; read them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current commercial weight.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the filing pattern means for R&D and IP strategy
Three read-outs from the trend, class composition and citation data that matter for deciding where to file or where to design around existing claims.
Growth Signal
+40%
2021 → 2024 filings
Momentum is building, not exploding
The three-year growth figure of +40% (5 filings in 2021 to 7 in 2024) is a steady climb rather than a rush. Combined with 2023's peak of 28 records, the data suggests sustained rather than speculative interest — but 2025 onward is still incomplete under publication lag, so it is too early to call a slowdown.
Source: filing trend, 2021–2024
Class Overlap
47.3% / 30.9%
B65D vs A47K share
Packaging claims collide with hygiene products
Nearly half of records touch B65D container and packaging classes, but almost a third also sit in A47K sanitary equipment. That overlap points to sustainable tissue and hygiene product packaging as a distinct sub-field rather than a side note, with D21H pulp/paper compositions reinforcing the same material link.
Source: IPC composition, 55 records
Concentration
18 of 20
leader's share of the ranked field
One filer, then a steep drop
The ranked leader holds 18 records while the field runs to 20 ranked companies with fifth place at only 5 and tenth place at a single filing. That shape is a leader-plus-long-tail structure, not a broadly contested field — most of the ranked companies have filed only once or twice.
Source: assignee ranking, 20 companies
Citation Pattern
34 citations
top-cited record
Influence sits with older shipping-environment patents
The most-cited record in the set concerns evaluating environmental aspects of shipping systems, cited 34 times, well ahead of the next tier. High citation counts here reflect age and foundational status in the corpus rather than current filing activity, since newer sanitary-tissue-array filings are already drawing meaningful citations of their own.
Source: most-cited records table
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to sustainable packaging patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players & Landscape
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked leader has filed well ahead of the rest, but recent-year momentum data shows even that lead cooling, and several under-claimed sub-areas remain open to a first mover.
Leader
18 records
of 20 ranked companies
A single leader, filing across container and hygiene classes
The top-ranked assignee's 18 records dwarf the rest of the field, but recent-year momentum shows only 1 filing in the latest year, down 50% year-on-year — a sign the lead is not accelerating.
Source: assignee ranking and recent-year momentum
New Entrant
1 filing
latest year, textile-waste route
A newer entrant working textile-waste substrates
KIUD Technologies OÜ's recent filing on rigid package material from textile waste shows a materials-first entrant working the D04H/B65D boundary, distinct from the tissue-and-hygiene cluster the largest filer occupies.
Source: representative record, US20260160003A1
Co-filing
7 pairs
co-assignee pairs identified
Collaboration is limited and pairwise
Only 7 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest linking two engineering firms on 3 shared records. Co-filing is not yet a dominant strategy here; most records carry a single assignee.
Source: co-assignee pairs
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Procter & Gamble Co | 1 | -50% |
| KIUD TECHNOLOGIES OÜ | 1 | — |
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc | 0 | — |
| United Parcel Service of America Inc | 0 | — |
| Tata Consultancy Services Ltd | 0 | — |
| RIPAC GMBH | 0 | — |
| GFC ENGINEERING SP ZOO | 0 | — |
| WELLSPECT AB | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this from here
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing partners, or spotting where to file next.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's claim set
With one assignee holding 18 of 20 ranked positions, any new filing in container or hygiene packaging should be checked against that portfolio's claim scope before drafting.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTrack the textile-waste and nonwoven substrate route
The KIUD Technologies filing signals a materials-first alternative to virgin substrates; watch this sub-area for further entrants before it consolidates.
Set up a monitoring alert in EurekaMap the G06Q overlap with logistics data claims
8 of 55 records already blend packaging with business-data processing; this boundary is thinner and worth a targeted search before committing R&D spend.
Explore the overlap in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about the sustainable packaging patent landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 18 records, well ahead of the rest of the 20 ranked companies, where fifth place holds only 5 filings and tenth place is down to a single record. This is a leader-plus-long-tail structure rather than a broadly contested field, so most named companies in the ranking have filed only once or twice. Recent-year momentum data shows even the leader's filing pace has slowed year-on-year, which is worth watching before assuming the lead will keep growing at the same rate.
Yes, filings grew 40% from 2021 to 2024, rising from 5 to 7 records in that span, with 2023 marking the highest single year so far at 28 records. Filings in 2025 and 2026 appear lower only because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so those years are still filling in rather than showing a genuine decline. Anyone tracking this space should treat 2024 as the most recent complete year for trend comparisons.
B65D, covering containers and packaging generally, appears in 47.3% of the 55 records in scope, making it the single largest class. A47K sanitary and bathroom equipment (30.9%) and D21H pulp and paper compositions (29.1%) follow closely, showing meaningful overlap between packaging design and hygiene-product material science. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages sum to more than 100% and describe overlapping claim areas rather than a strict breakdown.
Sub-areas such as textile-waste-to-rigid-substrate conversion, handling-unit-level sustainability tracking that overlaps with G06Q business-data classes, and coir or other natural-fibre substrates show thinner filing density relative to the dominant B65D and A47K clusters. A recent filing from KIUD Technologies on rigid package material from textile waste illustrates one such route already being staked out. Teams considering these branches should run a focused prior-art search rather than assuming the space is empty, since thin does not mean unclaimed.
The most-cited record, US8296101B1, concerns systems and methods for evaluating environmental aspects of shipping systems and carries 34 citations, the highest in the dataset. High citation counts inside a searched corpus tend to favour older, foundational filings rather than current commercial importance, so this figure should be read as a marker of influence on later filings, not as a signal that the underlying technology is still the most active area today. Newer records on sanitary tissue product arrays are already accumulating meaningful citation counts of their own.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Sustainable Packaging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.