Sustainability has shifted from a corporate buzzword to a business imperative and nowhere is this more evident than in Asia’s packaging industry. Home to some of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets, Southeast Asia is also a critical hub for manufacturing and packaging solutions, supplying global FMCG brands with what they need to keep supply chains moving.

But the region faces mounting environmental pressures, tightening regulations, and rising consumer expectations. Navigating these challenges requires more than innovation — it demands a fundamental transformation in how supply chains are designed, sourced, and led.

Having spent the past decade leading procurement and sustainability at Dynapack Asia — one of the region’s largest rigid plastic packaging manufacturers — I’ve seen firsthand how the packaging value chain is evolving, particularly for plastic converters. The green supply chain is no longer optional. It is central to long-term resilience and business continuity.

Transforming Procurement into a Driver of ESG Impact

Procurement is where sustainability ambitions meet reality. At Dynapack, we transformed procurement from a transactional function into a strategic driver of ESG performance. Across our operations in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, we implemented vendor evaluations with a 10-20% ESG score weighting, directly influencing supplier allocation decisions and safeguarding our spend from risk and poor practices.

We integrated key environmental metrics into supplier scorecards: greenhouse gas emissions, circular economy support, water use, and reporting transparency. This created greater visibility, ensuring our supply chain directly aligns with our group’s sustainability vision and elevates procurement's strategic role.

Partnering with FMCG Brands to Scale Sustainable Innovation

Our most impactful sustainability initiatives have come from collaboration. At Dynapack, we developed programmes with top global and regional FMCG companies to deliver more sustainable packaging formats. Together, we launched commercial-scale products containing 25% to 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, redesigned high-volume SKUs for recyclability (with all problematic materials fully eliminated by 2025), and transitioned several brands to lightweighted bottle formats.

One of our most successful initiatives is in recycled PET manufacturing in Indonesia. Partnering with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, we established in 2021 a non-profit foundation, Mahija Parahita Nusantara, to collect plastic waste. Then, in 2022, we opened Amandina Bumi Nusantara, a 25,000-ton facility to produce food-grade recycled PET. With plans to collect over 35,000 tons in 2025, this initiative makes a tangible impact on fighting plastic pollution and supporting local communities, as more than 40,000 waste-pickers now support our collection network of 30+ centers. These partnerships are a blueprint for how industry collaboration can deliver both environmental and social impact at scale.

Building Resilient Supply Chains Through Local Sourcing

The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with global raw material volatility, exposed significant vulnerabilities in long, centralized supply chains. At Dynapack, we accelerated efforts to localize sourcing and close the loop within each market.

Currently, 60% of our spend is sourced locally (within the same country), and over 80% regionally. This strategy strengthens partnerships with key vendors while directly shortening lead times, reducing inventory levels, and significantly mitigating supply chain risks, proving localization is a cornerstone of resilience.

Embedding Sustainability Across the Group: A Regional Blueprint

One of the most impactful actions I led at Dynapack was the creation of a Group Sustainability function in 2018, followed by a comprehensive, group-wide strategy in 2021. This was not about setting up a silo; it was about embedding sustainability across functions, countries, and leadership levels.

We defined four core pillars: climate action, sustainable materials, circular economy, and responsible operations. I led the development of our sustainability roadmap, aligning targets with global standards like the GHG Protocol and GRI. Critically, I facilitated ESG integration across procurement, R&D, and manufacturing — leveraging my procurement role to drive adoption as a true regional blueprint.

This effort harmonized sustainability programs across 25+ sites in Southeast Asia, aligned us with customer ESG requirements, and enabled more transparent, credible stakeholder reporting, solidifying our commitment at every level.

Strengthening Supplier Governance and ESG Traceability

Governance forms the backbone of sustainable supply chains. We deployed Dynapack’s first group-wide Supplier Code of Conduct in 2023 across more than 1,000 vendors, setting clear environmental and ethical expectations for our supplier base. By the end of 2024, 92% of our spend was aligned to our Procurement CoC, helping ensure fundamental values and ways of working are respected. We are also enhancing our evaluation of main vendors, with 71% of our spend now reviewed to meet minimum ESG standards.

In 2025, to improve traceability, we are asking key strategic vendors to report on greenhouse gas emissions and women’s leadership — two sustainability metrics we are keen to advance in our supply chain, as they are also part of our Sustainability Linked Loan, demonstrating our financial commitment to these goals.

Empowering People to Drive Sustainable Supply Chains

One of our biggest challenges and opportunities at Dynapack has been building sustainability capabilities across a highly diverse workforce. To address this, I launched internal training programs and workshops for procurement, plant managers, and R&D teams, effectively bridging knowledge gaps on circular design, carbon accounting, and sustainable procurement.

We meticulously localized content to reflect the unique regulatory and cultural differences across our markets. These efforts helped shift sustainability from a corporate mandate to an operational mindset — a critical step to drive systemic change across our 6,000+ employees in the region

Final Thoughts: Sustainability as a Strategic Advantage

Building a green supply chain is undeniably complex. It demands leadership, consistent investment, and a fundamental shift in mindset. Yet, it simultaneously unlocks powerful opportunities: strengthening customer partnerships, attracting and retaining top talent, mitigating climate risk, and ultimately future-proofing the business.

At Dynapack, our experience has shown that sustainability isn’t just about ticking ESG boxes — it’s a strategic lever for resilience and relevance in a rapidly changing world. A key enabler of our success was the strong support I received from shareholders and the board, ensuring sustainability was prioritized at the highest levels and adequately resourced.

For packaging manufacturers and FMCG brands operating in Asia, especially those gathered at ProcureCon 2025, the path forward is clear: embed responsibility into every layer of your supply chain. The journey won't be easy, but the rewards for business, society, and the planet will be well worth it in the years ahead.