We’re continuing our focus on sustainable packaging this week as well, following up on the interview with Ippei Miki, Head of Innovation Incubation Office, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings. In case you missed it, catch up here.

There’s a lot of interest in new bio-materials for packaging, and there are some extremely interesting solutions playing out.

• Researchers have developed a chitosan-based film using rice husk nanofibers, which is biodegradable, offers UV protection, and has the strength to handle the rigors of food storage.

• Scottish startup HUID has made a couple of compostable prototypes for packaging using onion skin – a cardboard-like material and a flexible film. Onion skins have natural antimicrobial properties that could extend the shelf life of packaged goods, which is an aspect the HUID is looking to tap into.

• Mexico-based BioSolutions has a range of bioplastics from agave leaves made by extracting cellulose and converting them to biodegradable plastic bags, straws, and containers.

• Seaweed packaging has become a very popular option. Citizens of Soil partnered with NotPla, for example, to make single-serve olive oil pipettes made from seaweed. The seaweed dissolves naturally, it’s fully compostable and even edible.

But not all these materials are created equal, and they might not be as easy to dispose of unless we have the right infrastructure in place. They are also not ready to play at scale at the moment.

While we wait for these new-age companies to iron these wrinkle outs, let’s take a look at three companies I met at Gulfood working within an existing and functional framework to make their packaging a little more sustainable.

Can-do attitudes

Crafty gravy

UK-based cooking sauces and stocks manufacturer Potts’ sells its products in eye-catching cans rather than the standard cartons or glass jars we’re more familiar with. In fact, Potts’ range looks like they’re a fancy craft brew at first glance. And it turns out, the psychedelic, maximalist designs that have become synonymous with the craft beer segment were the inspiration for the company’s “chaos packaging”. That’s when you take an everyday product and put it in an unexpected, unconventional pack design that captures people’s attention. It’s a great way to stand out on shelves of bog-standard formats.

Perhaps the first company to do this within the cooking sauces category, the beer can format has definitely been a hit, with Potts’ selling around 2.5 million cans of gravy annually.

You’re probably wondering, as I did, how you can pour a chunky sauce through the opening you normally get in cans. The company sorted out this problem by coming up with a customized design where you can use the pull tab to open a wider mouth on top to pour the sauce.

According to the folks at Potts’, a major reason for the can format was the growing demand for sustainable packaging. As we saw last week, aluminum is 100% recyclable, and many countries do have a very respectable recycling rate for aluminum packaging.

In the UK, 68% of aluminum packaging was recycled in 2023, up 13% from the previous year. When it came to beverage cans, this rate went up to 81%. Compare that to plastic packaging waste recycling, which was around 52.5% in 2023.

Haute water

Another UK company taking advantage of aluminum is altwater. What makes this company selling British spring water a little different is that the bottles can be reused, adding a layer of circularity to the product.  

In fact, to encourage people to reuse the bottles, altwater ended up changing their initial fully aluminum design and replacing the cap with a plastic screwtop for their domestic product. One of the co-founders told me that the aluminum caps would get bent out of shape causing leaks, and so the plastic cap turned out to be a better alternative.

Of course, water in aluminum isn’t that novel anymore. Just look at how Liquid Death has made a killing from this proposition in the US. But not so much across the pond, where they failed to dazzle consumers and pulled out in less than two years. 

One of the many theories for this lackluster performance is that Liquid Death comes in half-liter cans with a pull tab, which means that it can’t be sealed once opened. I was told that that people in the UK just don’t drink that much water in one sitting, instead they take smaller sips throughout the day – one of the main reasons for altwater to look at a to-go bottle that can be closed again. 

At Gulfood, altwater was showcasing its product revamped with a more premium look, intended for high-end hotels and restaurants in the GCC region. 

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Metal to munchable

The take-away paper coffee cup is such a common sight and there’s pretty strong consumer perception that it is eco-friendly, more than plastic in any case. But the reality is that paper cups have a thin plastic lining that keeps liquids from seeping through. Without this, the cups would turn to mush pretty quickly, like the much derided paper straws. As with all packaging, the  paper cups are single use and a massive drain on resources, not to mention they are really, really hard to recycle. Apparently, 16 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away every year around the world, and most of it ends up in landfills or in the ocean. This is a big problem.

Have your cup and eat it too

When Viktor Marenski from Bulgarian food company CUPFFEE got in touch with me at Gulfood, I was more than a little intrigued. Edible packaging is not new by any means, but it hasn’t really taken off in a big way. Plus, I’ve never seen such packaging IRL and wanted to know how it worked.

The concept behind edible packaging is pretty straightforward – offering a low-impact, low-waste alternative to single-use packaging that is currently the norm everywhere.  

Think of Cupffee like a coffee cup-shaped dense biscuit, made mainly from oat bran and wheat flour. It is vegan, halal, kosher, GMO-free and FSSC-certified to ensure food safety. It’s even sugar-free. Viktor said that the cup is designed to stay crunchy for up to 40 minutes after a liquid is poured in and leak-proof for up to 8 hours. Once you’re finished with your drink (or while drinking), you can eat the cup like a biscuit. I guess it’s just pre-dunked at this point. If you don’t feel up to eating the whole thing, throw it into the compost bin or process it like other wet waste. 

Watch the full interview with Viktor here:

The cup also offers a lot more utility than just for beverages. Viktor said Cupffee’s customers are also using the product as cups for desserts, turning the vessel itself into part of the culinary experience. I can see this working pretty well for those looking for a low-sugar/sugar-free option to a wafer cone. 

Cupffee currently comes in two sizes, but the company is working on expanding its product line. In Q2 of 2025, the company plans to introduce edible stirrers. Two flavored variants – vanilla and cinnamon – are also on the way, ideal for pairing with seasonal beverages, or just for a flavor kick. The company is even working on savory cup flavors, like bacon and ham, designed to pair with drinks like beer or soup.  

According to Viktor, these edible cups have a lot of potential in the HoReCa and events industries, where large amounts of disposable cutlery gets used and thrown away daily. 

Of course, one challenge remains: cost. Cupffee is more expensive than conventional cups, but as the company scales – it is looking at setting up a new facility in Saudi Arabia – production costs are expected to come down.

Perhaps the time for edible packaging is finally here!

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