Recyclable trays for every end use

Fuelled by changed consumer preferences, the world is experiencing a frenzy for easy dinners, including frozen food and ready-made meals. Walki can serve these on paper-based trays.

The frozen food and ready-made meal industry have seen a steady growth since the beginning of the pandemic. As home-schooled children needed to be fed by busy parents trying to find time to cook between endless Zoom-meetings, consumers got interested in ready-made food on trays that could be quickly tossed in the oven. Ready-made meals increased significantly during 2020.

Even though lockdowns have been lifted with schools opening their doors to pupils, the trend for ready-made meals and frozen food seems to be here to stay. Frozen food is also growing in popularity: according to a Grand View market analysis, the global demand for frozen foods is projected to grow through 2027 as consumers want minimally processed food with no additives that has a long shelf life at home in the freezer.

Recyclable trays

This translates into substantially more food packaging, as the ready-made meals and frozen food is usually served on different kinds of trays, typically made of either plastic or aluminium.

That does not bode well for a world that is trying to reduce the use of plastics.
“If you want to cut down on plastics, a good place to start is with these trays”, explains Manfred Ertle, Sales Manager, Barrier Board at Walki.

That is exactly what Walki is aiming to do. But the challenge is not one the company can solve by itself: it needs to be a joint effort between all parties in the supply chain.

Luckily, all parties seem to agree.

“Everyone is eager to work towards a common goal: finding recyclable packaging for an application that is growing in demand”, he adds.

Collaboration with customers in the packaging industry

Walki is working on expanding its portfolio for tray material solutions for chilled and frozen food in tight collaboration with customers and actors throughout the supply chain.

As is the case for many packaging solutions, the grease in the food is causing some challenges. This problem has usually been tackled with a plastics barrier, but separating the plastics from the fibre content is not always possible due to differing recycling infrastructure.

“That is why we, together with our customers, are implementing trays that can be recycled in paper streams“, explains Ertle.

Walki®Pack Tray PET is a tray material that has a very thin PET-lining which still classifies the material as a monomaterial and is suitable for recycling in paper streams.

The concept has been developed further with Walki’s PET-free Walki®Pack Tray UR.
“When moving away from PET-liners, you need not only to keep good ovenability in mind but also ensure that the food does not stick to the tray, resulting in food residues. Walki´s Walki®Pack Tray UR has good release properties which ensures an easy emptying of the tray”, explains Rau.

Both trays are approved for conventional ovens up to 220 °C and for a maximum time of 60 minutes.

Walki®Pack Food Service Trays have a high fibre-content, provides good grease barriers and is also recyclable in paper stream. It’s intended for applications that do not require reheating.

Ready-made meals and food on the go have been a compromise between two contradictory trends. the quest for convenience and sustainability.

Now we can have both.