Packaging is one of the world’s most analogue industries. €1.2 trillion a year, still run on PDFs, email and Excel. Karolina Ling-Vannerus, founder and CEO of tech company Circulate, on why that is about to change.
Because the data behind every box, bag and label sits in documents rather than databases, packaging never got the software and automation other industries take for granted. AI, automation and tools all run on data.
PPWR, in force since 12 August 2026, now demands transparency per component and reporting per market, with digital product passports to follow. That means keeping thousands, for some companies millions, of datapoints up to date. It is only feasible if the industry digitalises, and fast.
In this fireside chat with Mats Linder, circular economy expert, Karolina explains what AI changed in 2025, why one shared data network beats a thousand supplier portals, and what buyers, suppliers and 3PLs should start and stop doing on Monday.
The stakes are bigger than compliance. Packaging is a driver of overconsumption and one of the largest sources of plastic waste and marine litter, and rising raw-material costs are squeezing thin margins. The inevitable transition to circularity has started. It won’t succeed without data, tools and technology.
Circulate is an AI and data company based at Norrsken House in Stockholm, backed by early investors behind Nordic unicorns such as Lovable. Built on years of packaging-specific AI context, it turns supplier documentation into structured data, up to 200 datapoints per SKU, and connects it in one shared network used for sourcing, restocking and PPWR/EPR reporting by the whole value chain across Europe. Customers include Asket, La Poste, Foxway, Nybloms and Ahnviks.
Mats Linder is a circular economy expert, part of creating the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’ packaging program and has worked with top global companies in the CPG sector for over 10 years.
