Gualapack, headquartered in Alessandria, Italy, is the global leader in premade spouted pouches. Pursuing a vision of “Growing sustainably, competing with the best” has led the company to develop a ground-breaking solution for sustainable, flexible packaging: recyclable mono-material pouches certified suitable for a vast range of food and non-food products, offering the performance and convenience consumers crave, while also enabling eco-friendly behaviours. Find out how Gualapack leveraged its unique excellence to innovate the market with this ideal packaging solution.
Flexible packaging has witnessed substantial growth in the past years for both food and non-food categories. This clearly ties in with the market’s intensifying preferences for convenient and sustainable solutions: pouches are great for eco-conscious consumers looking for ways to reduce packaging waste, as well as for busy parents who need on-the-go baby food or healthy fruit purees in an easy-to-use format.
Despite this popularity, the conventional multi-layer laminate traditionally posed challenges for recyclability – driving the need for innovation.
Gualapack pioneers mono-material flexible packaging
In 2020, Gualapack launched Pouch5®: the first-ever mono-material pouch made entirely of PP, targeting the baby food segment – and providing a previously unavailable recyclable solution. Initial success led to rapid expansion, with the innovative pouch gaining traction across 15 countries to date. Having tackled the most stringent food contact regulations since the first batch, Gualapack swiftly proved the product is suitable not only for baby food but also for dairy products, spreads, supplements, beverages, detergents, cosmetics, and various other categories.
The process behind a revolutionary product
Gualapack’s achievement stems from its unique combination of in-house expertise, strategic partnerships, and environmental awareness.
1. Vertical integration. By controlling the entire production process – from material formulation to pouch making to the manufacture of filling lines for clients – Gualapack was able to ensure quality and consistency throughout the development of its innovative solution. The company’s team of experts maintained control over every aspect, guaranteeing seamless coordination and optimisation across the value chain.
2. Strong partnerships. Long-standing relationships with forward-thinking suppliers and clients were key to co-develop and thoroughly test a bespoke PP-based material. The shared goal was to achieve recyclability while upholding oxygen, vapour, and light barrier characteristics, ensuring integrity and shelf life to the benefit of end consumers.
3. Sustainability culture. Gualapack’s commitment to recyclability fits into a broader environmental awareness that motivates the company to constantly lower its impact, taking an active role in the evolution of guidelines and regulations in the packaging industry. From this position, it was able to collaborate with major stakeholders like TOMRA and RecyClass to validate the recyclability of mono-material pouches in existing rigid PP streams.
The new standard for sustainability
Pouch5’s client portfolio has quickly grown from 24 brands in 2021, to 41 in 2022, to 63 in 2024 and counting. In addition to its market success, Gualapack’s mono-material solution garnered recognition winning the 2021 Best Packaging award in Italy and “Highly Commended Flexible Plastic Pack” at the UK Packaging Awards in 2022.
But the most outstanding results achieved with this innovation are tangible environmental benefits: Pouch5 reduces the carbon footprint about 30 % compared to traditional pouches in cradle-to-grave assessments, lowering emissions and promoting circularity.
Now, Gualapack continues to invest significant resources in developing other mono-material pouches and laminates designed specifically for recyclability, aligning with circular economy guidelines by CEFLEX and RecyClass and implementing rigorous life-cycle assessments (LCA) within an advanced eco-design process. As the company continues to prioritise recyclability, its mono-material pouches serve as a beacon for sustainable packaging innovation, inspiring positive change across the supply chain and in people’s daily lives – under the brand’s environmental motto, “Less is more”.