Tambrite Aqua+ is a new circular packaging material for frozen and chilled food packaging that reduces the need for fossil-based plastics and improves recyclability after use. Tambrite folding box board has been providing industry-leading stiffness and bulk for over fifty years with its excellent printability, runnability, and robustness. Aqua+ is a new water-based dispersion coating that provides the necessary protection and food safety. Tambrite Aqua+ utilises a dispersion coating that helps to reduce the use of plastic that is increasingly subject to costs incurred by packagers, such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees. Tambrite Aqua+ is fluorochemical-free, resistant to grease and moisture, comes with the PAP21 logo that shows it is easily recyclable with normal paper and board waste streams.

Ensuring PCR in more challenging packaging like food-grade flexibles pouches can be “way down the road,” said APR’s Kate Bailey. For now, there’s plenty to do on policy and secondary products. The flow of recycled content from recyclers to new packaging or products is never simple, yet in some ways 2026 feels especially complicated. In the last year or so, seven out of 30 major PET recycling facilities in the U.S. closed, wiping out 25% of domestic capacity. At the same time, in just the last few months the Iran war’s impact on oil prices has driven up the price of different virgin resin grades internationally. And all the while, new extended producer responsibility laws are still on the horizon, some of which have recycled content stipulations or incentives of their own.

Mondi commissioned a life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing its new ground-breaking paper pallet wrapping innovation, Advantage StretchWrap, with conventional plastic stretch film wrapping. The full study was conducted by an external consultancy, is ISO-compliant and includes an external critical review. Based on the assumption that both materials are recycled at the end-of-life, the findings showed that the paper-based pallet wrapping by Mondi has a lower climate impact as one of the LCA indicators. The basis of comparison is the potential environmental impacts arising from wrapping one pallet. The LCA examined 16 indicators to understand potential trade-offs between the two materials. It covers all relevant life cycle stages, from raw material extraction, production, up to the application on a pallet at the customer. In addition, the impact of the end-of-life stage is assessed. The LCA found that Advantage StretchWrap has 62% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when compared to virgin plastic stretch film, and 49% lower GHG emissions when compared to plastic stretch film made with 50% recycled content. Advantage StretchWrap has a lower environmental impact than plastic in a number of categories including climate change and fossil resource use. The plastic stretch film did perform better in some indicators, such as land use and freshwater eutrophication.