Will Smart Packaging Save our Planet?

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My Sustainable Encounter with Maneesh Sharma

by Albert Schiller

Beyond Materials—The System Behind the Wrapper

We often talk about sustainability in terms of materials. Less often do we talk about the systems that move those materials or how something as everyday as packaging ends up shaping the world we live in.

That’s what made my conversation with Maneesh Sharma so clarifying.

A seasoned packaging consultant with over 30 years in India’s FMCG sector, Maneesh isn’t driven by trends. He’s driven by responsibility. His focus? Making sure packaging protects not only the product—but also the planet.

He’s not exaggerating. Maneesh has built his career on the backbone of sustainable principles reduce, replace, recycle, and reuse and he’s done it long before circular economy became a boardroom priority. These days, he’s working as a connector: helping institutions and industries build the capability and infrastructure required to implement sustainable packaging at scale.

Context, Not Copy-Paste

And here’s what I appreciated most:

He’s not interested in blaming consumers. He’s focused on systems. On design. On relationships between product and geography, between materials and people.

“The challenge is balancing cost and availability,” he said,

“while still meeting the protection standards. It has to fit a circular model.”

He doesn’t just ask what a package is made of. He asks how it moves, where it goes, and whether it can re-enter the cycle without harm. And if it can’t? He says no.

That last part stuck with me. Based on context.

Because what works in one region doesn’t work everywhere. You have to understand local economies. Available infrastructure. User behavior. Otherwise, what looks sustainable on paper ends up being waste in practice.

Maneesh’s approach is technical, yes, but it’s also deeply human. He doesn’t preach. He enables. And his quiet consistency reveals something powerful: real sustainability doesn’t need to sell itself. It just needs to work.

You may not design packaging. But you use it every day. You interact with it, throw it out, or try to recycle it, sometimes unsuccessfully. And in that small, repetitive act, you become part of a much bigger system.

Maneesh’s story reminds us that:

So next time you unbox something, ask:

Was this necessary? Was it designed to return? Or was it made to be forgotten?

And if you’re in a position to influence how something is produced, packed, or distributed—do what Maneesh does:

Design it not just to sell.

Design it to last.

Because one Earth, as he put it, will only hold up if we remember this simple truth:

One problem. Many solutions. And every contribution matters.