Announcing the finalists of Packaging Europe’s Sustainability Awards 2025!

After another year of top-tier entries across the board, the first round of judging has come to a close – now the international, expert jury of the world’s most prestigious sustainable packaging competition reveals the finalists of the Sustainability Awards 2025!  

This has been our most internationally diverse set of finalists to date, with more submissions from outside Europe and North America than ever before. Hailing from Ethiopia, India, China, Brazil, Australia, and beyond, we are pleased to welcome so many global innovators into the fold. 

This year’s cohort covers a lot of ground, from an array of fibre- and biobased materials to right-sizing and degradation technologies; preservative packaging and smart sensors to reforestation efforts; and protective e-commerce designs to sources of green hydrogen.  

As always, we are impressed to see such high ambition and creative ideas from every nominee. It was a challenge to whittle them down to just fifty-one finalists; it will be even harder to select just eleven winners to receive a coveted crystal trophy. 

We’ll be announcing the Sustainability Awards 2025 winners at this year’s even bigger, even better Sustainable Packaging Summit, taking place in Utrecht, Netherlands on 10th – 12th November. 

With no further ado, here are this year’s contenders for the “Nobel Prize” of sustainable packaging innovations, the Sustainability Awards. 

Best Practice

• Coveris – ReCover Paper recycling facility
  
  
• Sonoco – Smart, recyclable food cans for FareShare charity donations
  
  
• Trayak– EcoImpact Sustainability Intelligence platform for data analytics
  
  
• ICIS – ICIS Pyrolysis Oil Pricing Index

Climate

• DS Smith and Krones – Fibre-based Lift Up shrink-wrap alternative and LitePac Top for bottle multipacks
  
  
• Sonoco – Ecopeel three-piece can
  
  
• Ardagh Glass Packaging – Hydrogen electrolyzer for melting glass
  
  
• Ambipar – Sustainable Biocapsules Project, reusing pharma packaging waste for reforestation
  
  
• Flexpenser – Flexpenser one-way valve/pump

Driving the Circular Economy

• Glacier and 100+ Accelerator – Glacier Recycling AI for automated recovery and real-time data
  
  
• DHL Express – Reusable Pallet Wrap
  
  
• Procter & Gamble – VersoVita solvent-based dissolution recycling technology
  
  
• RAWS – RAWS plastic degradation technology

E-commerce

• Henkel – Technomelt E-COM G5 Eco Cool low-temperature hot melt
  
  
• Xampla and Just Eat Takeaway – Plastic-free, Morro-coated food-to-go box
  
  
• Guangzhou Procter & Gamble – Paper pulp spherical packaging box
  
  
• Procter & Gamble – Versafiller paper-based honeycomb structure

Recyclable Packaging

• Sharpak – SharpTek mono-PET tray for berries
  
  
• COPAR Smart Packaging – Flow wrap for sausages, made from wheat straw and HyperBarrier paper
  
  
• Blue Ocean Closures – Fiber-based closure for nutraceutical supplements
  
  
• Koehler Paper – Koehler NexPlus Advanced barrier paper for Wynn Petfood primary packaging
  
  
• Mondelēz International – MonoPaper outer packaging for Veritable Petit Beurre de LU

Renewable Materials

• Zafree Papers and 100+ Accelerator – Tree-free, unbleached pulp and kraft liner
• Graphic Packaging International – PaperSeal Shape paperboard tray for Pilgrim’s Europe and Sainsbury’s
• UPM Specialty Papers, Orkla Suomi, and Walki Group – Paper packaging for Panda Milk chocolate
  
  
• Pack2Earth – Low-CO2, home-compostable biomaterials made from plant matter and minerals
  
  
• Mondi Group – Ad/Vantage StretchWrap for pallet wrapping

Climate (Pre-Commercialized)

• Paramount Planet Product – Biodegradable nano-cellulose straws
  
  
• Paramount Planet Product – Biodegradable nano-cellulose flat sheets
  
  
• Avery Dennison – Vidre+ smart label for fresh produce
  
  
• BioTip – Eye D sensors for real-time food quality monitoring

Driving the Circular Economy (Pre-Commercialized)

• Sonoco – HORIZON lightweight metal overcap
  
  
• BOTTLESS – Airless Pak refillable airless packaging system
  
  
• Beontag – Beontag Carrier eWave industrial-grade UHF label
  
  
• Gemini Corporation – Gemcorp Recycling’s upcycled multi-layered plastic pallets
  
  
• Klingenberg– Nomadbox reusable shipping carton

Recyclable Packaging (Pre-Commercialized)

• Papacks – Moulded fibre, cellulose-based Fiber-Bottle
  
  
• Unilever – High-barrier, recyclable paper pack for Knorr Soups
  
  
• Veritiv – Helicot Paper Tube
  
  
• Solenis – TopScreen TC744 water-based barrier coating for cupstock
  
  
• Coexpan and Emsur – Resealable mono-PET food tray

Renewables (Pre-Commercialized)

• HUID – HUID Pyber, a fibrous packaging material derived from onion waste
  
  
• Shenzhen JF Bio Products – BALK biobased, pressure-sensitive hot melt adhesive
  
  
• Tampere University of Applied Sciences – Coffee-based biopolymer inks
  
  
• Ecohelix – Ecohelix WOODMER Seal biopolymer heat seal coating
  
  
• NantBioRenewables – Compostable protein tray containing ocean calcium

Machinery

• CMC Packaging Automation – CMC Super Vertical 3D Vertical Bagger and Auto-Packer
  
  
• Hotel Emporium – LiquiFill bath liquid refill system
  
  
• Ranpak – Cut’it!™ EVO Multi-Lid automated height reduction and box closing machine
  
  
• SIPA – XFORM RENEW direct flake-to-preform technology
  
  
• Voidless – Voidless P2 automated packaging system for right-sized boxes

Readers’ Award

• GreenCan by Sonoco - a recyclable fibre-based can featuring moisture and oxygen barriers.
• The Petaluma city-wide reuse project by the NextGen Consortium - a groundbreaking cup reuse scheme featuring multiple retailers and brands across a small Californian city, demonstrating positive sustainability impact if reuse is adopted at scale.
• re/cycle CompressWrap by Mondi and Ekornes - recyclable paper wrapping for matresses, vacuum sealable and running on existing lines.
• Biodegradable films by LAM’ON - printable bio-based, biodegradable and home compostable films for lamination, thermal shrink film and protective packaging applications.

As ever, the Sustainability Awards aspire to drive the international adoption of improved packaging technologies and help cross-fertilize ideas. In the same vein, the Sustainable Packaging Summit fosters meaningful dialogue, showcases breakthrough innovations, and creates connections that drive real-world impact – this time on a global scale.  

Having expanded its runtime to two and a half action-packed days, the event offers optimal time to hear from speakers, exhibitors, and visitors from all over the world – and we consider every attendee an active participant in the pursuit of a more sustainable future for packaging.  

To develop a multinational perspective on sustainable packaging progress, forge all-important connections in even more networking breaks (including an international block party), and attend our all-important Sustainability Awards ceremony, get your ticket and join us in Utrecht (just 20 minutes from Amsterdam Schiphol airport)! 

If you can’t attend (or want to revisit any discussions after the Summit), digital recordings will be made available to Packaging Europe members after the event. Click here to become a member today.