Ice cream packaging: Finding the sweet spot between durability and environmental sustainability

19 May 2021 --- Over the past 14 months, COVID-19 pandemic-induced uncertainties have encouraged consumers to reach into their home freezers for ice cream comfort.

The ice cream packaging sector has seen an unprecedented peak in large-sized frozen dessert tubs, but demand for out-of-home (OOH) ice cream impulse purchases have dropped due to foodservice closures.

In this Special Report, PackagingInsights speaks with experts from Huhtamaki, Mondi, Stanpac, Ben & Jerry’s and others about changing consumer behavior amid the pandemic as well as testing consumer and regulatory plastic reduction demands.

A shift in sizes
Consumers are increasingly turning to ice cream for indulgent pleasures, which is driving up Stanpac’s sales substantially. 

“Our customers couldn’t keep their freezers full and have constantly been increasing their orders and placing extra orders,” says Murray Bain, vice president of Stanpac marketing.

Sales for Stanpac’s pint sizes, depicted here, have increased during the pandemic.Single-served sizes have remained “somewhat constant,” he continues, but Stanpac has seen strong sales for pint sizes and larger family sizes from 48 ounce [1.4 L] to 2 L. Meanwhile, Mondi notes a move to multipacks or bigger paper cups sized 0.5 to 1 kg.

Huhtamaki further pinpoints the standard retail-sold 450 mL format is “outpacing” other pack sizes in growth. All this stems from the growing preference for ice cream as a “leisure product.” 

At the same time, individual portion sizes that are popular across OOH retail channels, such as 100 or 200 mL cups have gone down. The loss of business was felt most by restaurants, cruise ships, public attractions and the wider travel industry. 

“The dollars were there, but they shifted to in-home products and consumption, moving ice cream demand to retail and family package containers,” says Kevin Gunning, senior vice president of consumer goods at Huhtamaki North America.

Conflicting demands
The general prerequisites for ice cream packaging are already quite demanding without factoring in environmental sustainability, flags Oscar Brocades, manager director at BPO, a Dutch technical product development agency. 

Berry Superfos advises its new bamboo spoon should be used in soft or slightly thawed ice cream.Ice cream packaging must withstand freezing temperatures and have enough structural integrity to be thrown into transport pallet cars without rupturing. 

In a bid to combine durability with sustainability, Berry Superfos recently launched a bamboo spoon on a plastic lid for on-the-go food packaging. When asked if the spoon-lid combo is also suitable for ice cream packaging, Søren Marcussen, Berry Superfos’s regional director, Region Nordic, responds:

“The product is refrigerator- and freezer-safe, however, the storage conditions may contract or expand the material. We recommend that the bamboo spoon is used in soft or slightly thawed ice cream. Using the bamboo spoon in hard ice cream may risk the spoon to break.”

Another functionality challenge is that ice cream packaging should be tamper-evident in the shop, but effortlessly opened at home. All the while, packaging costs should be low and its design attractive on supermarket shelf display. “These are very conflicting requirements,” Brocades asserts.

Devising plastic alternatives
Scrapping as much plastic from ice cream packaging as possible remains a key target for the sector.

The EU’s Plastics Strategy requires all packaging to be recyclable or reusable in an economically viable way by 2030, while its recently introduced plastics tax imposes a €0.80/kg (US$0.98/kg) levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste.

Huhtamaki notes package design must perform well at filling locations, withstand the distribution system, and provide a positive consumer experience leading to repurchases.Likewise, the UK is proposing a £200 (US$283) per ton tax rate for plastic packaging with less than 30 percent recycled content, effective from April 2022. 

In line with this ambition, Stanpac has created a variety of plastic alternatives, including a plant-based polyethylene called Sentinel. Meanwhile, Stanpac’s Nuvo uses 60 percent less polyethylene and has up to 30 percent post-consumer fiber. 

To reduce its dependence on fossil-based plastics, Huhtamaki has removed outer PE layers from ice cream tubs, introduced alternative coatings for at-home compostability, and transitioned to plant- and bio-based materials.

“We are committed to making 100 percent of our packaging recyclable, compostable or reusable. We always aim for a minimal environmental impact without compromising on the protective properties,” says David Julian, European key account manager at Huhtamaki fiber foodservice in Europe-Asia-Oceania.

Popular paper 
With fiber-based solutions being explored as a plastic replacement, the majority of Mondi’s ice cream packaging solutions today are paper-based or fully made out of paper. The company’s push-up cylinders are predominantly paper, substituting rigid plastic solutions.

Mondi partners with customers using its EcoSolutions approach to create “fit-for-purpose” packaging.“Our cone sleeves, squeeze-up tubes and push-up solutions are also good examples of ice cream packaging that has been on the European shelves for years,” says Dawid Blasiak, business development manager of Mondi’s ice cream consumer flexibles division.

Earlier this year, Unilever brand Ben & Jerry’s introduced its Cookie Dough Peace Pop in fully recyclable paper wrapper. 

“The package will help our commitment to reducing the amount of plastic we use, helping us as well to increase its bio-based content and recyclability,” says Jenna Evans, Ben & Jerry’s global sustainability manager.

Innova Market Insights ranks “Fiber-based Frenzy” as this year’s third top packaging trend. 

Ben & Jerry’s launched the recyclable paper wrapper for its “flavor fans in Europe.” (Credit: Unilever)Mono-materials where possible
Despite these promising efforts, conventional plastic has been the go-to choice for ice cream packs for several reasons. For marketing purposes, transparent packaging is preferable, according to BPO’s Brocades, allowing consumers to see the contents of a pack, such as vanilla ice cream’s yellow color or fruit pieces in strawberry ice cream. 

As a clear material, glass is too heavy for transport and the risk of chipped glass in the product is too high. Aluminum presents a sturdier alternative, but is also more expensive, energy-intensive and not see-through. “You solve one problem but get another,” says Brocades.

He further highlights that plastic is still needed in some applications. “For certain applications, the high barrier functionality and mechanical properties of plastic-based packaging is still the most suitable material,” adds Blasiak from Mondi. “But many of these solutions are already recyclable.”

Ben & Jerry’s recyclable wrapper is made with 88 percent paper, for instance. “The remaining 12 percent relates to the food-safe inside coating. This moisture barrier protects the product’s integrity and wrapper from damage, so we’re not able to remove this right now,” says Evans.

On the road to plastic-free
BPO uses FEM simulations to establish where ice cream tubs need to be thickest to withstand transport safely.Can ice cream packaging ever be fully circular? Brocades concludes there is a lot of movement to look for plastic alternatives, “but not toward an actual result.” 

“Industry has decided to steer clear of plastic, driven by consumers who don’t want to accept waste anymore,” says Brocades. “The problem is consumers are still littering. Whether paper, aluminum or plastic, it’s the same problem.”

Another key problem, he flags, is that materials and energy used to transport the goods are produced in one location, but the end product is consumed in another. 

“As long as we are [7.9 billion] people on Earth, and this many people insist on eating ice cream when they want it, it will be hard to avoid these problems.” 

By Anni Schleicher