Confectionery packaging gears up for circular economy with recyclable plastic, fiber-based and compostable innovation

11 Feb 2021 --- Confectionery snacks are hard to give up, but so is the environment. With legislative pressure and consumer demands for more eco-friendly packaging intensifying, packaging innovators are responding with recyclable plastic solutions, as well as bioplastic and fiber-based alternatives.

The EU’s Plastics Strategy requires all packaging to be recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030, while its recently introduced plastics tax imposes a €0.80/kg (US$0.97/kg) levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste. Likewise, the UK is proposing a £200 (US$264) per ton tax rate for plastic packaging with less than 30 percent recycled content, effective from April 2022. China’s National Development and Reform Commission has also begun phasing out single-use plastic products.

On the consumer side, 75 percent of global shoppers say they “expect companies to invest in sustainability,” according to Innova Market Insights (2020). Meanwhile, as media focus on plastic pollution peaked around 2019, 71 percent of Brazilian consumers, 60 percent of Spanish consumers, and 55 percent of Indian consumers “strongly agreed” that “F&B companies should use sustainable packaging only,” the market researcher found.

PackagingInsights discusses trends in confectionery packaging with Innovia Films, Futamura, Huhtamaki, Schubert and others.

Plastic films realize recyclability
Plastic confectionery packaging, such as wrappers and pouches, experience notoriously low recycling rates. The main challenge in this space is increasing recyclability and ultimately reincorporating recycled content back into the packaging.

Innovia’s latest Propafilm Strata range film is certified recyclable and suitable for high-speed horizontal-form-fill-seal (Image credit: Innovia Films). Stephen Langstaff, global business manager for packaging at Innovia Films, believes plastic confectionery packaging has a healthy future, as polypropylene (PP) can, in theory, be recycled with other polyolefin films via existing infrastructure. The main issue, he says, is the collection of flexible films.

Innovia has developed two new biaxially oriented PP (BOPP) film ranges to improve recyclability and reduce carbon footprints. The high-barrier, mono-structure Propafilm Strata range can be used as standalone packaging or within laminate structures such as pouches, making them easier to recycle.

Meanwhile, the Encore film range is manufactured from renewable raw materials, reducing fossil-based material use. This range can also be produced with the addition of post-consumer recycled content.

The issue here is the availability of food-grade recycled PP. “Significant investments are currently being made into new recycling systems, both mechanical and chemical,” Langstaff points out.

“Chemically recycled polymer has the advantage of providing full food compliance, and the material performance is exactly the same as virgin polymer. Unfortunately, only limited quantities of this polymer are currently available, although Innovia has now secured some polymer to convert into film.”

Plastics combat climate change
At a time of rising anti-plastic sentiment, Langstaff stresses that plastic films protect and preserve products, combating the environmental and societal global food waste problem. Moreover, films provide this value with relatively low energy and resource use, contributing positively to climate change.Futamura’s NatureFlex films boast oxygen and moisture barriers comparable to conventional plastic films (Image credit: Futamura). 

“Brands need to be careful about moving to other alternative forms of packaging,” he asserts. “It is well known that other packaging formats can increase the carbon footprint of products. Equally, bioplastics cannot be recycled with traditional flexible films, as they would contaminate the process. If collected, they would require their own waste stream, which may confuse consumers.”

Composting the unrecyclable
Few would argue there should be a drive for change where conventional plastic packaging can be successfully recycled or reused. However, for particularly hard-to-recycle small format items, like individual candy wrappers, biodegradable and compostable bioplastic alternatives offer a viable solution.

This is the opinion of Andy Sweetman, sales and marketing director EMEA at Futamura. The company’s NatureFlex films, made from sustainably sourced cellulose, are wastewater biodegradable and meet all global standards for industrial composting and the OK Compost Home standard for backyard composting. 

“As they are generally consumed ‘on-the-go,’ sweet wrappers are a high litter risk. While we strongly advocate proper waste management, the fact is, if our wrapper were to end up in the environment, its impact would be less damaging than a plastic film that would take hundreds of years to break down,” explains Sweetman.

Huhtamaki is offering recyclable PP-based solutions for high-speed cold seal wrappers in India (Image credit: Huhtamaki).NatureFlex films boast “excellent” oxygen and moisture barriers, maintaining product shelf lives comparable to conventional plastic films. Furthermore, the bioplastic films provide effective natural dead fold, enabling easy twisting for children and consumers with dexterity challenges.

Paper alternatives go mainstream
Also on the renewable material front, Huhtamaki is experiencing a trend favoring paper-based solutions over conventional plastics. The Finnish food packaging specialist has already developed recyclable PP-based solutions for high-speed cold seal wrappers in India and is now working on paper-based solutions with sufficient fat and moisture barriers, such as mono-layer metalized paper.

“A common challenge for all food packaging innovation is improving the sustainability performance without compromising on the protective properties, and many confectionery items, such as chocolates, require high-barrier solutions,” outlines Alexandra Zech, marketing manager of flexible packaging Europe at Huhtamaki.

“Food protection is always our number one priority, as preventing spoilage and food waste is most important from the sustainability point of view.”

Huhtamaki is also offering antiviral protective packaging for retail and e-commerce, boosting multi-touch safety and convenience during a time of heightened hygiene concerns brought on by COVID-19.

The increased sophistication of fiber-based solutions is exemplified by Nestlé’s Smarties industry-first global rollout of recyclable paper packaging for its chocolate confectionery products.Stora Enso has created a plastic-free, lightweight board for chocolates (Image credit: Stora Enso). 

Meanwhile, Mars Wrigley Germany is piloting a paper-based Balisto chocolate cookie bar wrapper for the first time with retail partner EDEKA Minden-Hannover. Also, Dutch chocolate manufacturer Tony’s Chocolonely is adopting Sappi Guard Nature MS paper-based pouches for the secondary packaging of its “Tiny Tony’s” chocolate varieties.

In the premium space, Stora Enso has developed a plastic-free, lightweight board for chocolates. Performa Light allows for a 70 percent reduction in CO2 emissions over conventional solutions due to fossil-free energy production and a patented fiber treatment technology – FiberLight Tec – the paper-based packaging supplier highlights.

Robots rev up eco-sustainability
Flow-wrapper and carton packing machinery are also integral to energy and resource efficiency in the confectionery sector. Ritter Sport recently reintroduced its Chocolate & Weed product in limited edition paper wrappers in Austria. The family-owned brand also recruited machinery company Schubert to devise a more efficient packaging process for its 100 g bars.

Ritter Sport’s existing system could not automatically cope with differences of up to 3 mm in thickness for product types such as nougat and whole nuts.

Schubert’s robot-enhanced packing system has afforded Ritter Sport 30% storage space and carton packaging savings (Image credit: Schubert). “We wanted to optimize this complex process in a cost-efficient and sustainable manner. That’s why we were looking for a system as an in-house solution that would pack our 100 g bars directly in the right formation and reliably detect whether 10, 11, 12 or, 13 bars, depending on the thickness of the variety, needed to be sorted into the carton,” explains Ivo Buncuga, head of technology at Ritter Sport.

Schubert’s solution was a new machine combining a collating device, three F2 robots to erect, fill and close the cartons, and a downstream turning unit in a single frame. The 100 g bars are fed directly from a flow-wrapping machine to the Schubert system on a single track at a speed of 400 bars per minute. The bars are then sorted by thickness via a pre-formatted grouping chain into the right numbers to fit inside the carton.

Ritter Sport has reported 30 percent storage space and carton packaging savings, while Schubert’s new system also avoids time-consuming format changes.

“Today, the only requirement for the use of plastic is the impermeability of packaging to ensure a longer product shelf life,” notes Valentin Köhler, packaging developer at Schubert.

“This can be seen in the case of films for flow-wrapped packaging, where paper-based alternatives are still in the early stages of development. [Meanwhile,] cardboard is now in even greater demand from manufacturers.”

By Joshua Poole