The Sustainability Award 2025

PAPACKS wins The Sustainability Award 2025 in the Recyclable Packaging category

Award at the Sustainable Packaging Summit in Utrecht for innovative fiber bottle - series production starts with first industrial partners

Cologne/Utrecht, November 12, 2025 - The Cologne-based packaging developer and manufacturer PAPACKS® has been presented with „The Sustainability Award 2025“ at the Sustainable Packaging Summit in Utrecht. The company took first place in the „Pre-Commercialized - Recyclable Packaging“ category with its innovative Fiber Bottle. The award, organized by the trade publication Packaging Europe, is considered one of the world's most important prizes for sustainable packaging innovations.

International recognition for fiber technology The award ceremony took place during the Summit (November 10 to 12, 2025) in the Netherlands. Tahsin Dag, founder and CEO of PAPACKS®, and CMO Manuel Leibrock accepted the award in person. The award-winning „Fiber Bottle“ was developed as an alternative to conventional plastic and glass bottles, especially for use in the food and supplement sector.

With the award in the „Pre-Commercialized“ category, the jury recognized technological solutions that are about to be launched on the market and show significant potential for reducing packaging waste. The Fiber Bottle is based on renewable raw materials and uses specific barrier properties to ensure product protection while at the same time being recyclable in the paper stream.

Market launch and scaling

Alongside the award, the company management used the congress in Utrecht to exchange ideas with international industrial customers. According to the company, final talks were held at the summit with customers who are integrating the Fiber Bottle into their supply chains.

„This award is a confirmation of our intensive research work in the field of barrier technologies for molded fiber parts,“ explains Tahsin Dag, CEO of PAPACKS®. „It was particularly gratifying to meet directly with partners here in Utrecht who are now bringing this technology into series production. The step from the ‚pre-commercialized‘ phase to full market application is complete and our customers are ready to offer their products to consumers in this new generation of packaging.“

Manuel Leibrock, CMO at PAPACKS®, adds: „The response at the summit shows that the market is desperately looking for functioning, scalable alternatives to meet regulatory requirements such as the PPWR. The award underlines the fact that our solution not only makes ecological sense, but is also industrially feasible.“

The Sustainability Award 2025
f.l.t.r.: Manuel Leibrock CMO PAPACKS, Tahsin Dag (Founder & CEO PAPACKS)
Recyclable Packaging Pre Commercialized

Background to the competition

Every year, the Sustainability Awards recognize innovations that reduce the environmental impact of packaging across the entire value chain. The competition evaluates submissions based on sustainability and scalability data and does not use purely aesthetic evaluation criteria.
Further information: packagingeurope.com/sustainability-awards

About PAPACKS®

PAPACKS® productions set standards throughout Europe for recyclable molded fiber packaging made from virgin fiber and industrial hemp. These are particularly suitable for food packaging with barrier properties as well as for non-food packaging and have a capacity of more than one billion units per year. PAPACKS® strategically prioritizes the use of renewable raw materials in research and production. This material strategy is the basis for helping customers meet their PPWR and ESG targets. The company's commitment to innovation is underlined by more than 100 patent families and 50 awards worldwide. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany, PAPACKS® operates production facilities in Germany and the Netherlands. The company is expanding globally with license partners to ensure know-how transfer and local production in the markets (Europe, USA, Australia).
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