How does sustainable food packaging reduce a company’s carbon footprint?

Kestävä elintarvikepakkaus pienentää yrityksen hiilijalanjälkeä ennen kaikkea korvaamalla fossiilipohjaisen muovin uusiutuvilla, kuitumateriaaleilla, joiden elinkaaren aikaiset päästöt ovat merkittävästi pienemmät. Muutos vähentää myös kaatopaikalle päätyvää jätettä ja tukee kiertotalousjärjestelmiä, joissa materiaalin energia hyödynnetään uudelleen. Alla käymme läpi keskeisimmät kysymykset, joita elintarvikeyhtiöt esittävät tätä siirtymää arvioidessaan.

What makes food packaging unsustainable in the first place?

Food packaging becomes unsustainable when it relies heavily on fossil-based plastics, generates more material than necessary to protect the product, and cannot be recovered or recycled after use. These three factors, combined, drive up both carbon emissions and long-term waste accumulation across the supply chain.

Conventional rigid plastic trays are a clear example. They are manufactured from virgin petrochemical feedstocks, which means their production is energy-intensive and tied directly to fossil fuel extraction. When that tray reaches the end of its life, it often cannot be recycled in standard municipal streams, so the embedded carbon is never recovered.

Material volume also matters. A packaging format that uses more material than the product requires creates unnecessary emissions at every stage: raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, and disposal. Reducing material use is therefore just as important as switching to a lower-carbon material. According to Eurostat packaging data, plastic accounts for roughly one in five tonnes of all packaging waste generated across the EU, making it a priority target for reduction strategies.

How does switching to sustainable packaging lower CO₂ emissions?

Switching to sustainable food packaging lowers CO₂ emissions by replacing fossil-based raw materials with renewable alternatives, reducing the total amount of material used per pack, and enabling end-of-life recovery through recycling. Each of these levers cuts emissions at a different stage of the packaging lifecycle.

The raw material choice is the most significant driver. Fiber-based packaging, made from wood pulp sourced from sustainably managed forests, stores biogenic carbon during tree growth and uses far less fossil energy to process than virgin plastic. The Jospak® cardboard tray, for instance, generates at least three times fewer CO₂ emissions compared to an equivalent rigid plastic tray, because the majority of the pack is wood fiber rather than petrochemical resin.

Material efficiency compounds the benefit. A fiber tray that contains at least 85% less plastic than a conventional rigid tray — compared to an equivalent fully plastic tray — is not simply swapping one material for another; it removes a large portion of the carbon-intensive component entirely. The thin barrier film that remains serves a specific functional purpose, keeping the pack gas-tight for modified atmosphere packaging, rather than being structural mass that could be eliminated.

Finally, recyclability closes the loop. When a pack can re-enter the material stream as cardboard, the energy and carbon invested in its production are partially recovered, rather than lost to landfill or incineration.

What types of sustainable food packaging have the lowest carbon footprint?

Among commercially available formats for fresh and chilled food, fiber-based trays with a minimal barrier layer consistently show the lowest carbon footprint per unit. They combine a renewable, low-carbon primary material with a dramatically reduced plastic content, and they are recyclable in standard cardboard streams across most European markets.

The key factors that determine a format’s carbon characteristics are: the origin of the primary material (renewable versus fossil), the total weight of plastic per pack, whether the pack is recyclable or compostable under the right conditions at end of life, and the energy intensity of the manufacturing process. Formats that perform well on all four tend to be fiber-led structures, such as molded pulp trays, paperboard trays with barrier coatings, and hybrid cardboard-film trays designed for modified atmosphere packaging.

All-plastic mono-material trays score poorly on raw material origin even when they are technically recyclable, because they still require fossil feedstocks to manufacture. Uncoated paper wraps perform well on carbon but often cannot protect moisture-sensitive foods like meat or fish without additional layers. The fiber-film hybrid approach, which is the basis of the Jospak® tray, is specifically designed to resolve that tension: lower carbon emissions from the fiber structure, adequate barrier from a minimal plastic film.

FSC certification adds a further layer of credibility. Packaging made from FSC-certified wood fiber carries verified proof that the raw material came from responsibly managed forests, which supports accurate carbon accounting and satisfies due diligence requirements under EU deforestation rules.

Does sustainable packaging affect food shelf life or safety?

Well-designed sustainable food packaging does not compromise shelf life or food safety. Fiber-based trays with a gas-tight barrier film are fully compatible with modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), the preservation method used across meat, fish, poultry, and ready meal categories to extend freshness and minimize food waste.

The critical function in any fresh food tray is the barrier: it must prevent oxygen ingress, retain the protective gas mixture inside the pack, and maintain a hermetic seal from the factory to the consumer. In a hybrid cardboard-film tray, the thin plastic lining on the inner surface performs exactly this role. The fiber structure provides rigidity and shape; the film provides the barrier. Neither function is sacrificed for the other.

Food safety is supported through manufacturing certifications rather than material choice alone. Our facility holds the BRCGS Packaging certification with an AA+ grade, which is the highest possible result under that standard. This means the production environment, quality controls, and traceability systems meet internationally recognized food safety requirements, regardless of what material the tray is made from.

Reducing food waste is itself a sustainability outcome. Packaging that keeps fresh food safe for longer directly reduces the emissions associated with food that spoils and is discarded before consumption. Packaging that also extends shelf life therefore delivers a double carbon benefit: lower emissions from the pack itself, and fewer emissions from wasted food.

Can sustainable packaging fit existing food production lines?

Sustainable fiber-based trays can be used directly on existing tray-sealing lines without capital investment in new equipment. This is one of the most commercially important characteristics of modern fiber-based packaging formats, and it removes the most common operational barrier to switching away from conventional plastic trays.

Standard tray-sealing machinery in the food industry is designed around a tray footprint and a sealing film, not around what the tray is made of. A cardboard tray engineered to match the dimensions and rigidity of the plastic tray it replaces will run on the same line, at the same speed, with the same lidding film. The food manufacturer does not need to retool, retrain, or re-validate their production process from scratch.

This compatibility matters beyond convenience. It means the transition to lower-carbon packaging can happen incrementally, product line by product line, without disrupting overall factory output. It also means the business case for switching is not burdened by large upfront equipment costs, which makes the carbon and cost arguments easier to present to procurement and operations teams simultaneously.

How can food companies measure and report packaging carbon savings?

Food companies measure packaging carbon savings by comparing the lifecycle emissions of their current packaging format against the proposed alternative, typically using a lifecycle assessment (LCA) framework. The key data inputs are raw material origin, manufacturing energy, transport distances, and end-of-life recovery rates for each material in the pack.

A credible measurement process covers at minimum three lifecycle stages: raw material extraction and processing, manufacturing and conversion, and end-of-life treatment. Transport between stages is often included as well. The output is usually expressed as kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per thousand units of packaging, which makes it straightforward to scale up to annual production volumes and report against corporate sustainability targets.

For reporting purposes, the most widely accepted frameworks are the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO 14064. These provide standardized methods for calculating and disclosing emissions reductions, which is increasingly important as corporate sustainability reports face external scrutiny under EU disclosure requirements. Certifications such as FSC and BRCGS support the underlying data quality by verifying raw material sourcing and manufacturing controls, giving auditors and customers confidence in the numbers behind the claims.

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is a regulation — not a directive — meaning it applies directly and uniformly across all EU member states without requiring national legislative changes. Its requirements begin to apply on 12 August 2026, and include obligations around recyclability at scale, with all packaging required to be recyclable by 2030, as well as strict limits on intentionally added PFAS substances in food-contact packaging. The fiber materials and manufacturing processes Jospak uses already meet these stringent purity requirements, and the risk posed by unintentional residues from recycled fiber is actively managed. The Jospak® tray is designed with exactly this regulatory direction in mind: the cardboard and film are separable so that the valuable fiber fraction can re-enter existing collection systems, in full alignment with the PPWR’s recyclability requirements. The regulation also introduces recyclability labelling requirements and digital product identifiers that will make it easier for companies to communicate packaging environmental data to both regulators and consumers. Building measurement systems now, ahead of the August 2026 application date, puts companies in a stronger position when reporting obligations take effect. We support food and packaging companies through exactly this process, from mapping the current packaging footprint to identifying concrete reduction opportunities and navigating certification requirements.