In July 2026, Fiber-based packaging has moved way beyond the packaging sector by proving its efficiency and efficacy. The sustainable material has successfully proven to be a great alternative to plastic, as well as PFAS-free barrier coatings, bio-based inks, and lightweighting efforts.
“Fiber-based packaging can now compete in more demanding markets, deliver reliable product protection, and remain valuable at the end of life,” says Jürgen Kleinrath, chief science officer for Board and Paper at MM Board and Paper.
“The real breakthrough is not simply a better coating or lighter board, but packaging that performs like the alternatives it is designed to replace while supporting a more circular material system.”
Matthias Waltz, head of Group Software Solutions at Aicomp, states that one technical barrier limiting fiber circularity is the lack of solutions to replace grease barriers containing PFAS.
“PFAS as a grease barrier is banned from 2026, and for fat- and moisture-sensitive products, there simply is no easy one-to-one replacement. That’s a genuinely unsolved problem, not a detail.”
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) states that packaging must contain less than 5% ink by packaging weight. The statement is formally argued by Waltz, “gets tight on heavily printed retail and shelf-ready packaging.” Waltz also states that adhesives, unless designed for removability from product design, can interrupt sorting and pulping. Alessio Crivellari, product manager for Paper and Board Europe at Flint Group, concurs, explaining that during the fiber repulping procedure, the inks and coatings should come off easily from a package. He adds: “If they are not designed for this, they can reduce the quality and value of the recovered material or even make it unsuitable for reuse.”
Packaging experts state that innovation in surface technology is helping fiber to shape its position as a circular solution. BoxWay Packaging Group’s CEO, Andrew Woollard, points to another development.
“Lightweighting packs with smarter, more efficiently designed material structures is the most promising route forward for fiber-based packaging,” he explains.
“Material reduction sits at the top of the waste hierarchy as the most effective way to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. Materials can never become waste if they are never used in the first place.”
He also believes that advances in digital engineering and AI-assisted design can help “unlock new potential” in the material’s circularity. The main aim of BoxWay is to optimize flute geometries, engineer microflute structures, and run finite element simulations to improve pack strength without adding any more material.
“This is the most reliable way for companies to meet their sustainable packaging goals, while also protecting margins and keeping costs low, all of which are critical in the current market.”
Barrier coating helps to keep the food safe, along with maintaining its shelf life. Such coatings help to keep the food safe from grease, moisture, and migration. Companies like Xampla, Notpla, and Kelpi are innovating PFAS-free and plastic-free coatings from pea proteins and seaweed that are said to be food contact safe and circular.
Kleinrath at MM Board & Paper urges caution, states that the “technically strongest barrier is not automatically the best circular solution if it makes fiber separation unnecessarily difficult.”
He explains that, to ensure food-contact safety, fiber packaging must be tested in a complete packaging system. “The industry needs to understand both how a pack performs in use and how it behaves in the appropriate recycling process.”
Aicomp’s Waltz asserts that “food contact is the hardest knot” as chemical migration limits under EU 1935/2004 and PPWR force brands “back toward the barrier layers that hurt recyclability.”
“Where we come in at Aicomp is the data side. We carry recyclability, material structure, and substance restrictions directly in the product configuration, so a ‘circular’ fiber pack is built that way from the design stage and not assessed after the fact.”
Woollard points to another limiting factor: recycling systems. “Recycling infrastructure itself is probably the biggest challenge” to making fiber-based packaging circular, he argues. Specifically, he points to the lack of harmonized infrastructure across regions and countries.
“This makes it difficult to determine what real-world circularity actually looks like. Even within nations, one state or region can have a wildly different infrastructure from another. This makes material and structural packaging innovation all the more important.”
Aicomp’s Waltz does not share Woollard's infrastructure concerns. “Fiber is already strong on recycling,” he says. “The problem isn’t that fiber recycles badly, it’s that we tend to undo that good recyclability at the design stage, with laminations, barriers, and too much ink.”
Fiber-based packaging is expected to balance recyclability and product performance without disturbing the nature or its burden over other factors. Kleinrath says, “The right approach,” he underscores, “is to assess the full packaging system,” from product sensitivity, barriers, converting performance, and transport to material efficiency and recycling routes. “Environmental indicators such as energy, water, timber use, carbon footprint, and recycled content should also be considered together, rather than selecting one measure as the sole definition of sustainability.”
31 July 2026
30 July 2026
30 July 2026
30 July 2026