Soups and sauces packaging: ProAmpac, Amcor, Huhtamaki and SIG merge environmental sustainability with convenience

16 Jun 2021 --- Long-term growth in the soups and sauces category has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with more consumers purchasing shelf-stable foods via e-commerce channels and preparing meals at home. 

Innova Market Insights found 35 percent of global consumers have increased their use of home food delivery since the virus outbreak. Brazil is above average, with 58 percent of consumers turning to online purchasing.

Moreover, the market researcher expects 15 percent of global consumers to maintain their new online purchasing behavior post-pandemic. In the UK, Germany and the US, the number is as high as 20 percent, adding to burgeoning home delivery demand.

Competition between the top packaging formats for soups and sauces is fierce. Although there is a general trend away from metal cans, this traditional option still enjoys equal market share with increasingly popular stand-up pouches. Meanwhile, carton packs are seen as a solution to plastic-reduction demands.

PackagingInsights explores the key trends in soups and sauces packaging with leading flexible packaging suppliers ProAmpac, Amcor and Huhtamaki and carton pack giant SIG.

Circular economy pouches
Nathan Klettlinger, market manager at ProAmpac, spotlights more frequent at-home cooking, convenient packaging designs, shelf presence, environmental sustainability and microwaveability as the category’s core trends.

“ProAmpac offers solutions to meet upcoming legislation changes within its ProActive Sustainability product line. Our latest addition is ProActive Recycle Ready RT-3000 Retort pouches that use a proprietary mono-material to provide the high-performance product protection of traditional retort pouches with the enhanced sustainability characteristic of being recycle-ready,” outlines Klettlinger.ProAmpac offers flexible pouches for soups and sauces, coupling agile manufacturing with scalability for both large and small brands (Image credit: ProAmpac).

“Also, our ProActive PCR film helps to add 15-30 percent post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials into a retort pouch structure. Obtaining 30 percent PCR will exempt packaging from the UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax, further benefiting brands striving to meet new sustainable legislation.”

Innova Market Insights found 50 percent of global consumers are willing to pay more for planet-friendly packaging, and 65 percent are eager to switch to a brand using more environmentally sustainable solutions. Meanwhile, 64 percent believe increased sustainability shouldn’t affect pack performance.

Pouches are light, easy to transport and available in different shapes and sizes, enhancing consumer convenience but also helping to decrease carbon footprint through material savings and reduced shipping.

Stand up for stand-up pouches
Ivan Tyur, marketing manager at Amcor Flexibles EMEA, echoes that the biggest trends in soups and sauces are pack format perceptions, shopping habits and environmental sustainability.

“We continue to see an increase in brands moving to stand-up pouches. In part, this is to appeal to younger consumers, who may perceive cans as old-fashioned. The stand-up pouch is a modern format offering better options for printing, branding and an optional transparent window to make the product inside visible,” explains Tyur.

“Pouches allow brands to better highlight new flavors and fresh combinations – appealing to Gen X and Millennials.”Amcor’s “Mason Jar” pouch for South American brand Sacciali was awarded one Gold and two Silver Flexible Packaging Association Achievement Awards for shelf appeal (Image credit: Amcor).

In October 2020, Amcor launched the world’s first recyclable retort pouch – AmLite HeatFlex Recyclable. This high-barrier, high-heat-resistant packaging is now in supermarkets for ready-to-heat rice and will soon be available for other retort applications like sauces and soups. 

Amcor says this new mono-PP pouch can be recycled within plastic recycling streams already existing in several European countries. Company research has confirmed global warming and plastic pollution remain high priorities for consumers, with 37 percent of Europeans saying they are determined to make a difference through sustainable living.

A future for cans?
Amcor’s research also found that even though consumers like the convenience of ready-to-eat canned foods, many perceive them as too difficult or unsafe to open, impacting their buying decisions. For example, in Spain, 85 percent of shoppers said they would consider buying more canned food if they were safer to open.

“There are still ways to modernize the metal can,” says Tyur. “Easy-peel, lightweight, aluminum membranes – called Peel-Off-Ends – have no sharp edges, are easy to open and fully printable. In a side-by-side study, Peel-Off-Ends had more appeal to younger consumers than cans with the traditional stiff ring-pull lidding.”

“Peel-Off-Ends are also thought to be a sign of a higher quality product, presenting an opportunity for brands to modernize their packaging. Other advantages include shelf differentiation and increased re-purchase intent through satisfying consumer experience.”Amcor offers easy opening peel-off-ends, such as the AluFix line of peelable aluminum lidding, which research suggests may improve cans’ appeal to younger audiences (Image credit: Amcor).

Although cans are heavier than plastic pouches, they boast superior recycling rates. According to the Association for European Producers of Steel for Packaging, Europe’s steel packaging recycling rate hit a record 84 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, recycling rates for aluminum beverage cans in the EU rose to a record high 76 percent in 2018 (European Aluminum, 2020). Meanwhile, a 2019 Ellen MacArthur Foundation report found only 14 percent of plastic packaging is collected for recycling globally.

E-commerce champions
However, according to Ruturaj Kamthekar, senior product development manager at Huhtamaki, flexible packaging for soups and sauces is well suited to the demands of the booming e-commerce sector.

“As this packaging is made from high-barrier materials and ‘flexible’ in nature, the challenging logistics conditions do not pose any threat to the product contained inside. Flexible packaging scores significantly over rigid and bulky packaging formats, which are less effective as they add weight and higher chances of breakage,” explains Kamthekar.

Huhtamaki supplies high barrier flexible laminates and preformed pouches for soups and sauces, offering enhanced product protection combined with reduced packaging weight compared to rigid plastic or glass packaging.

“Today’s flexible packaging delivers impressive growth in sales unit volume compared to some other traditional types,” adds Sergey Chaplin, senior marketing manager at Huhtamaki.SIG’s carton packs use minimal materials, made primarily of paperboard with a thin layer of plastic to keep moisture out and protect what’s inside (Image credit: SIG).

“While the average size of European households continues to decline, the shift to smaller packaging sizes is also important to observe. The fast development of small flexible sachets for mustard and mayonnaise may open new opportunities for flexible converters like Huhtamaki.”

According to Amcor, the average e-commerce pack is dropped 17 times on route, making the toughness of multi-layer packages and their ability to flex when dropped crucial for online channels.

Amcor has two e-commerce testing laboratories – one in the US and one in Europe – that test brands’ packaging against the most common e-commerce protocols, such as ISTA 6-Amazon and ASTM.

Moreover, consumers often order larger packs or multipacks via e-commerce as they do not need to carry them, adds Grigory Vikentyev, category manager for Beverages & Food Europe at SIG, challenging designers to create a stable, large and convenient pack.

“Our experience shows that 1-liter soup carton packs are a perfect solution for home delivery thanks to low pack weight and greater convenience for the end consumer. The same applies to sauce packaging, which is most often between 300-500 ml and can be delivered together with fruits and vegetables without damaging them,” he underscores.

Virgin plastic reductions
Chaplin concedes, however, that many consumers remain engaged with reducing their plastic consumption amid widespread publicity of the global plastic pollution crisis.

“According to our research, in key European markets, more than 50 percent of consumers reported their intent to reduce the use of plastic packaging, and more than 40 percent said they would like to use more environmentally friendly packaging.”

Vikentyev at SIG also remarks on the plastic-out trend, indicating several legislative initiatives, driven at the EU and Member State level, are driving interest in fiber-based packaging.SIG’s filling lines boast low utilities consumption and high speed from 6,000 packs/hour to 24,000 packs/hour, reducing costs (Image credit: SIG).

“The key drivers are reducing plastic, breaking free from fossil-fuel dependency and cutting carbon emissions. Independent lifecycle assessments show aseptic carton packs offer a significantly better environmental performance than alternative packaging solutions, such as glass, HDPE or PET bottles, pouches and cans,” he highlights.

“The lifecycle carbon footprint of a carton is 28-70 percent lower than the alternatives. Carton packs also use considerably fewer fossil fuel resources, with consumption rates between 38-77 percent lower. The most important reason is their main material is paperboard made from renewable wood, and their lightweight, space-saving design is exceptionally efficient to make, fill and transport.”

SIG has more than five different carton formats available for soups and sauces. Customers can choose from several opening solutions, including convenient, one-step closures and now also tethered caps, as required by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive by July 2024. The company also offers different perforation options, enabling the reduction of plastic for closures.

However, virgin plastic reduction can also be achieved through recycled plastic solutions. “Our sustainability offerings such as our ProActive Recycle Ready RT-3000 Retort Pouches and our ability to add PCR to our pouches allows us to provide solutions to our customers’ sustainability goals and plastics legislation,” explains Klettlinger at ProAmpac.

According to Innova Market Insights, many global consumers regard packaging’s recyclability (52%) and incorporation of recycled content (41%) as key sustainability credentials, trumped only by reusability (53%), but considered more essential than compostability (24%).

By Joshua Poole