Transitioning from linear to circular packaging is critical for sustainable supply chains yet faces significant implementation challenges. This study investigates how Smart Packaging (SP) acts as a digital enabler to overcome these challenges and support the circular economy (CE) transition. Adopting an embedded case study approach, the research synthesizes empirical data from six Scandinavian manufacturers with expert insights from SP technology providers. The analysis identifies six core challenges hindering the adoption of circular packaging: material innovation resistance, supply chain redesign and complexity, financial uncertainties and cost implications of change, regulatory fragmentation and uncertainty, consumer resistance and behavior, and fragmented collaboration and stakeholder misalignment. The findings demonstrate that SP technologies address these hurdles by transforming packaging from passive containers into active and connected data interfaces. Specifically, SP facilitates the transition by enhancing end-to-end traceability, enabling data-driven compliance with emerging regulations, and facilitating information sharing between stakeholders. The study concludes that successful CE transition cannot rely on material innovation alone; it requires a parallel digital infrastructure and managerial systemic change. By reframing packaging as a dynamic boundary object, this research highlights how SP resolves trade-offs between logistics efficiency and circularity. Practically, SP is positioned as a strategic asset for regulatory resilience and compliance with mandates.
Fiałkowska-Filipek et al. (Wed,) studied this question.