Ready meal packaging: Economics drive trends while calls for regulated reuse grow
Food packaging companies should not consider single-use ready meal packaging a more economically profitable option than reuse, says Larissa Copello, Packaging and Reuse policy officer at Zero Waste Europe.
“Transitioning from disposable to reusable packaging across Europe faces significant challenges, primarily due to the current economic imbalance favoring single-use options,” she tells Packaging Insights.
Single-use packaging can often appear more cost-effective as its environmental impacts and externalities are not reflected in its market price, she argues. “This disparity creates an uneven playing field.”
Meanwhile, UPM Raflatac says it supports the circular economy in the ready meal industry by offering container labels made from resource-optimized, renewable, and recycled raw materials.
“Our solutions also enhance the recyclability of ready meal packaging, helping brands advance their packaging circularity,” says Suvi Rasa, sustainability manager at UPM Raflatac.
Further highlighting the economic benefits of the reuse market, Laura Griestop, senior manager for Sustainable Business and Markets at WWF, says: “The reuse market is valued as a multi-billion dollar economic opportunity. This is because reuse involves creating new market opportunities through the collection, washing, and redistribution of reusable packaging.”
“This can create vocational jobs, which can add to the incomes of waste workers and store owners. When scaled up, reuse can provide business opportunities for regional cleaning facilities that can create regional jobs as well.”
A push toward reuse
A functioning reuse system for ready meal packaging will mobilize “massive economies of scale,” argues Griestop. “For instance, reusable packaging can be reused 50–100 times, reducing the need to depend on single-use resources such as paper or plastics and increasing the cost benefits.”
Zero Waste Europe calls on the Horeca and F&B industries to reduce reliance on single-use packaging.“Businesses can band together to support the development of reuse systems such as reverse logistics and cleaning facilities. Ultimately, scaling reuse requires a globally coordinated approach to create the system and market conditions for supply chain cooperation, infrastructure harmonization, and a level economic playing field.”
Griestop asserts that businesses should lobby for a strong UN Global Plastic Treaty that has a clear stance on reuse and supports the growth and development of infrastructure, technology transfer, and financing that would make reuse a “universal norm.”
Copello comments: “Zero Waste Europe envisions a future where the Horeca and F&B industries significantly reduce reliance on single-use packaging by adopting scalable and efficient reusable systems, in line with the recently adopted Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).”
She says that policy interventions are “essential” because implementing fiscal measures like levies or taxes on single-use packaging can “internalize” some hidden costs.
Calls for regulated reuse
Zero Waste Europe says that it envisions “a truly circular and zero-waste” ready meal packaging system that prioritizes waste prevention, reuse, and the elimination of hazardous substances.
“Therefore, a true circular economy for packaging should encompass at least these four approaches,” says Copello:
- Waste prevention by eliminating unnecessary packaging to conserve resources and reduce emissions.
- Safe, toxic-free packaging by phasing out hazardous chemicals to ensure packaging is safe for use, reuse, and recycling.
- Reusable packaging systems: implementing effective reuse systems for packaging, with the necessary infrastructure and logistics to make it efficient and environmentally sound.
- Effective recycling: designing packaging for recycling, avoiding reliance on methods like chemical recycling that may hinder innovation in sustainable design.
WWF’s Griestop similarly argues that transitioning from single-use to reuse systems “at a meaningful scale” can be challenging without regulatory intervention. “For instance, single-use packaging systems have become entrenched over the years, and companies may see few incentives to change.”
“In contrast, reuse systems that can disrupt the status quo may face significant start-up costs and will, at first, lack economies of scale. At the same time, capacity and funding to undertake this transition is also unequally distributed internationally.”
Furthermore, food safety and hygiene regulations add another layer of complexity, adds UPM Raflatac’s Rasa. “Labels must meet strict food safety standards, which influence the selection of adhesives and materials.”
“For instance, while some recycled plastic label solutions are approved for food packaging, others are not. Each must adhere to regulatory requirements to ensure food safety is not compromised.”
Powering sustainability through labeling
UPM Raflatac’s labelling solutions for ready meal packaging include the UPM Raflatac Carbon Action PP UCO label 30% made from cooking oil, an alternative to fossil-based films with the same quality and performance.
“It enables packaging carbon footprint reduction with an impact quantified by an externally validated LCA calculation process and is recycling compatible with specified material streams,” explains Rasa.
Another UPM Raflatac food packaging labeling solution is the PureCycle wash-off paper labels, which are separate from primary packaging in PET and HDPE recycling streams.
“The packaging industry is undergoing significant transformation due to evolving regulations, and ready meal packaging is no exception. In Europe, the PPWR is driving circularity by increasing recycling rates and using secondary raw materials.”
Ready meals in the Global South
A report by the WWF and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, published earlier this year, highlighted case studies of ready-meal reusable packaging implementation in countries in the Global South.
These include the Infinity Box in India, which works with corporate clients to offer reusable packaging for large-scale catering, preventing the use of around 70,000 single-use packaging items per day. In Costa Rica, the Ficus Box offers reusable F&B packaging for meal prep companies, small restaurants, school cafeterias, and events.
Griestop says that in Indonesia, the WWF has seen how Alner, a local company, “increased the livelihoods of informal workers by collaborating with and integrating them into its reuse business model.”
Alner distributes food in refillable containers instead of single-use packaging and employs waste pickers as salespeople for its reusable products. “This entails waste pickers adding, delivering, and collecting Alner products for their usual home-to-home waste collection rounds.”
Griestop explains that Alner’s reusable meal containers can boost the local economy by providing an additional income stream for waste pickers.
“Nothing beats involving informal workers early on, for instance, through roundtable discussions, to get their perspective and for developing a joint way forward on how to integrate them while improving working conditions,” she continues.
The perspectives of informal sector workers should then be worked into the economic measures essential to driving the adoption of reuse and discourage reliance on single-use systems, she explains.
“Governments can do this by providing targeted incentives that support reuse initiatives, such as tax breaks or subsidies, while simultaneously disincentivizing single-use packaging through taxes, levies or outright bans.”
