Although environmental awareness is increasing among the general public, Greenpeace reports that around 12.7 m tons of plastic waste still end up in the oceans each year, with rising tendency. At the same time, however, regulatory changes, initiatives and altering consumer behaviour are leading to increased efforts towards more sustainable packaging and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. Bosch Packaging Technology has been contributing its expertise in various consortia for many years. One of them is EIT Food, Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, that is aiming to make the food system more sustainable, healthy and trusted by consumers.

The 50 EIT Food partners are working in various projects alongside start-ups and innovation leaders to develop new concepts for a more sustainable food industry. A closer look at refrigerated shelves or into confectionery departments of supermarkets shows that paper-based packaging has the potential of standing out from competing products.

The EIT Food project “inPaper”, led by Matthias Klauser, is developing paper-based trays for confectionery and refrigerated products, which meet all barrier requirements while significantly reducing the use of fossil raw materials compared to conventional packaging solutions. The concept phase has already been completed and the first consumer surveys have been carried out. Currently, the project partners are working on technically implementing the requirements of manufacturers, retailers and consumers. In parallel, Bosch Packaging Technology is working on a machine for three-dimensional paper forming.