Recyclable
TK paper bags.

Image source: FRoSTA

The Special Packaging Award of the German Sustainability Award went to food manufacturer Frosta in December 2020 for its paper bag for frozen vegetables. With this special award for more sustainable product packaging ideas, the German Sustainability Award Foundation honored packaging that does not require any plastic coating or film at all. In this bag for frozen vegetable mixes, Frosta replaces plastic with paper. The packaging is made of unbleached and uncoated kraft paper and comes from sustainable, FSC®-certified forestry (FSC® N003262). It can be disposed of with the paper waste. Water-based inks are used for printing.

Image source: FRoSTA

The bag has now been in use for several years, but could only be applied to a limited number of products. The reason, according to board member Hinnerk Ehlers: “We encountered one or two unexpected difficulties.”
It turned out that some ingredients such as beet juice or soy sauce seep through the packaging. Frosta’s packaging team is currently working on optimizing the paper packaging. The mono-PP plastic bags, which are used for the majority of products, are also designed according to Design for Recycling criteria.

Our conclusion: This example shows that paper can be a very good solution if the product allows it. However, mono plastic will initially remain the best packaging material for more sophisticated dishes from the frozen food department, as it best combines product protection and sustainability.

Best practice: FRoSTA Tiefkühlkost GmbH