Interview | ArcelorMittal talks new innovations, new trends, and why they attend ADF Paris

Tell us a bit about your company 

ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and primary steelmaking facilities in 17 countries.
Our goal is to help build a better world with smarter steels. Steels made using innovative processes which use less energy, emit significantly less carbon, and reduce costs. Steels that are cleaner, stronger, and infinitely recyclable. With steel at our core, our inventive people, and an entrepreneurial culture at heart, we will support the world in making that change. This is what we believe it takes to be the steel company of the future.

Why did you choose to exhibit at Paris Packaging Week 2022 and how will it help develop your business? 

ADF is the perfect opportunity to engage with key European and international players in the aerosol industry and present our latest innovations (BPA NI mounting cups, specific steels for aerosol components, and XCarb® – our journey to becoming a carbon neutral steelmaker) to a larger audience.

What are you most excited about for the 2022 event in June? Are you presenting/ launching anything at the show?

ArcelorMittal is honoured to receive an ADF Award during the event for our latest innovation – a BPA NI mounting cup. The development of this BPA-free product was a real challenge, but it meets our aim to provide innovative and sustainable solutions to the market. We are also happy that we can offer a product which already complies with the next level of European BPA regulations.

What innovation trends do you think we can expect to see in the packaging industry in the next 12 months? 

The main trends will be the development of more sustainable packaging solutions which utilise BPA NI coatings, and which are lighter and therefore use less raw materials per packaging unit. There will be an increased use of metal for packaging as it is completely recyclable and has a higher recycling rate (85.5% on average in Europe in 2020!) compared to alternative materials such as plastics. Refillable packaging solutions is another development we are watching closely.

The customer profile is ever-changing (e.g. people are more likely to buy products that are environmentally friendly). How do you think the customer profile will evolve through time? 

Consumers are becoming much more sensitive to environmental factors when making purchases and expect certain information so they can make the right choices. Information such as manufacturing location, how to recycle the packaging and data CO2 emissions linked to the packaging helps consumers make the right choice. Conveying this information requires clear and effective communication. 

What do you see as the key challenges for your sector? 

Reducing CO2 emissions is key for the packaging industry. That’s a path that ArcelorMittal has already embarked on with our goal of becoming a carbon neutral steelmaking by 2050. Achieving that goal requires significant investment and expertise. We also need to establish carbon-neutral manufacturing which takes advantage of the high effective-recycling rate that has already been achieved for steel packaging in Europe.

What do you think the future of perfume & cosmetic packaging will look like? To you, what’s the ‘ideal’ pack of the future?  

We believe packaging steels are the ideal solution for cosmetics and perfumes! As well as offering the premium look consumers desire, they are more cost-effective and more sustainable than other materials. Expect to see perfumes and cosmetics packaged in steel in the very near future.

What’s been the impact of sustainability on NPD and packaging design? 

Sustainability is differentiating steel from other packaging materials due to its intrinsic magnetic properties. Almost all steel packaging can be removed from waste streams with a simple magnet. Add to that specific developments such as BPA NI coatings and lightweighting and you have the perfect packaging material for sustainability, convenience, reliability, and value for money for consumers, canmakers, and fillers.