Talia Goldman, ESG Director at Colpac, receiving a silver award at the Environmental Packaging Awards 2025.
As the food-to-go sector accelerates toward a more sustainable future, packaging is central to meeting environmental targets set out within net-zero programmes. With increasing pressure from consumers, regulations, and the responsibilities imposed by Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), businesses across the value chain must act quickly.
Choosing the right packaging partner can help foodservice providers, food producers and retailers to proactively reduce their carbon footprint and to prioritise circularity throughout the packaging design process.
Colpac’s Net-Zero Programme Can Elevate Yours
Partnering with packaging companies that have established net-zero programmes is becoming more important as organisations are prioritising their own carbon reduction initiatives. An increasing number of food-to-go brands are completing carbon reporting and, to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, are wanting to work with manufacturers that have a lower environmental impact.
Sustainability has always been at the heart of Colpac’s ethos, having pioneered paperboard food packaging concepts and now punching well above its weight in net-zero planning, reporting and carbon reduction. The company’s net-zero programme was launched in 2023 and has delivered decreased carbon emissions year on year. It’s most recent results, announced in January 2025, achieved an impressive 22% reduction through improvements across transport optimisation and reduced on-site energy use.
“We have empowered our colleagues to make significant contributions to our net-zero goals. I am so proud of our small but determined team and the improvements we continue to make to reduce our carbon emissions, which in turn support our valued customers.” Talia Goldman, ESG Director at Colpac
Colpac received a silver award at this year’s Environmental Packaging Awards within the ‘Sustainable Packaging Initiative of the Year’ category and was highly commended in the ‘Environmental Sustainability’ category at the 2025 Foodservice Packaging Association Awards. This highlights the company’s dedication to reducing its carbon impact and subsequently the impact of its customers’ packaging supply chain.
Reduce the Impact of Your Packaging
Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) has set out to improve recycling rates, triggering key industry players to utilise alternative packaging to reduce the impact of imminent fees. Colpac has supported several customers in mitigating the impact of pEPR by redeveloping packs and bringing technology such as direct food contact inks to the foodservice marketplace. This innovation can help customers to provide highly functional, recyclable packaging for consumers and to reduce costs.
Colpac’s in-house design team continuously improves packaging sustainability for customers by transitioning from plastic to paperboard to reduce reliance on finite resources, encouraging the use of FSC® certified materials, advocating for the use of recycled content where appropriate, lightweighting boards coatings and films to minimise plastic content whilst maintaining pack functionality and performance, the list goes on…
The company takes this even further by optimising case quantities and pallet configurations to make storage and transportation as efficient as possible, which also supports customers in reducing their transport emissions. Colpac also prints recycling instructions on all its packs to educate consumers in how best to dispose of its packaging, encouraging recycling and packaging circularity.
All these decisions, alongside many others, are considered throughout the development of every Colpac product and customer project so that each stage of the packaging supply chain can be optimised in support of customers’ sustainability goals.
“We develop meaningful partnerships with customers that prioritise sustainability and continuously evolve the solutions that we develop together. Working with us brings full-service support and access to industry knowledge and engagement to help customers achieve net-zero targets.” Andrew Grimbaldeston, Managing Director at Colpac
If you’re looking for a packaging partner, contact Colpac to see how the team can support you.