Finding ways to reduce packaging waste and improve environmental impact is crucial, especially as consumer demand for sustainable products is rising. According to a recent survey conducted by IBM in February 2022, 51% of global consumers say that environmental sustainability is more important today than it was 12 months ago¹. Blue Farm, a provider of oat drink powder, has already significantly impacted this area with its product. Because the customer mixes the powder with water, this reduces Blue Farm's packaging by 10x compared to regular oat drinks. However, they didn't stop there. Recently, Blue Farm has taken an additional step towards sustainability by switching to a more eco-friendly stand-up bag solution in partnership with Packmatic.

The issue Blue Farm faced was the lack of recyclability of their existing packaging solution. Originally, Blue Farm used a common multi-material composition for its former stand-up pouches. This packaging met all the requirements for product protection and food safety, but it was not recyclable as it consists of multiple materials glued together. Multi-material films can’t be separated from each other and therefore have to be burnt. Thus, a full-paper solution for this product is not possible without the use of additional plastic barriers, which would have strongly limited the recyclability of the material. Thus, Packmatic was tasked to find a sustainable packaging solution and source the right supplier for future production, meeting all constraints regarding regulation, product protection and recyclability.