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Target Extended Packaging Sustainability Goals to 2035

The retailer missed its 2025 targets, prompting a reset of timelines for packaging circularity and design.

Updated on Sept. 28, 2026 in Consumer Goods

Bold flat-color editorial illustration featuring a plastic tray and cardboard stack, representing circular packaging goals.
Target has extended its sustainability deadline for owned-brand packaging to 2035, citing the technical challenges of achieving full circularity at scale. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Target pushed its deadline for 100 percent recyclable, compostable, or reusable owned-brand packaging back to 2035 after failing to meet its 2025 goal. As of fiscal year 2025, only 41 percent of the company's owned-brand packaging met circularity criteria.

Why it matters

The delay underscores the technical and operational difficulty of achieving full packaging circularity at scale. Retailers must balance product performance and consumer expectations with the limitations of current recycling infrastructure.

Target reported 41 percent of owned-brand packaging met circularity criteria in fiscal year 2025, compared to 39 percent in 2023. Total post-consumer recycled resin consumption reached 56,275 metric tons, while plastic bag recycled content remained static at 40 percent.

The players

Target

A major U.S. general merchandise retailer operating over 1,900 stores and managing a large portfolio of owned brands.

The details

Target is iterating its product design to improve compatibility with recycling systems, such as removing carbon black colorant from PET food trays. The company also modified over 2,000 Up & Up body wash bottles to incorporate 25 percent post-consumer recycled content while maintaining functional performance. These adjustments serve to align product materials with existing recovery technology as the retailer attempts to scale toward its 2035 recyclability goal.

Timeline

  1. 2021: Target launched its Target Forward sustainability strategy.

  2. 2023: 39 percent of owned-brand packaging met circularity criteria.

  3. 2025: Target joined the Extended Producer Responsibility Leadership Forum.

  4. 2035: New deadline for 100 percent packaging recyclability.

  5. 2040: New deadline for circular economy product design.

Market Landscape

Target's adjusted timeline follows its involvement with the Extended Producer Responsibility Leadership Forum. This move aligns with a broader industry trend where retailers are recalibrating sustainability commitments as they navigate the complexity of circular supply chains.

Operators should evaluate their own packaging material sourcing to account for regional recycling compatibility limitations. Relying on current benchmarks may require revising operational cost projections as supply chains for recycled resins remain volatile.

The takeaway

The move from 2025 to 2035 highlights the gap between public sustainability targets and logistical reality. Operators should track their own packaging compliance percentages against specific recycling infrastructure availability in their key markets.

Further reading

For more on industry shifts in packaging, explore Consumer Goods.

Source note: This article includes information reported by Argusmedia.

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Do you trust major retailers to meet their long-term environmental and sustainability goals?