Smurfit Westrock is proud to announce that it has been shortlisted at the Packaging News Sustainability & Impact Awards 2026, recognised in the Chilled & Frozen Food Packaging category for their collaboration with meal kit company Mindful Chef.
Sustainable recipe box packaging recognition
The project with Mindful Chef centred around the production of a fully closed loop thermal insulated packaging solution, designed to help keep food fresh, whilst also improving recyclability. Working closely with Mindful Chef, the Smurfit Westrock team created a paper-based, sustainable and insulated recipe box solution. This is an alternative to harder-to-recycle packaging materials and enables Mindful Chef to meet consumer demands and environmental goals. Myles Hopper, Co-Founder at Mindful Chef, said: “By working with Smurfit Westrock, a world leader in sustainable packaging and who shares our passion for protecting our planet, we’ve created a bespoke, 100% recyclable solution for Mindful Chef with no waste and full transparency and traceability throughout the process.”
Eddie Fellows, CEO of Smurfit Westrock UK&I, commented: “Being shortlisted is an acknowledgement of the work our team is doing to showcase what sustainable packaging can really do. Our project with Mindful Chef shows how innovation can deliver performance alongside much-needed environmental improvement. It reflects the business’ focus on helping customers to meet sustainability goals.”
Meeting evolving sustainability demands
As sustainability expectations continue to evolve across the food and packaging sectors - 62% of people say they “always or often” seek products to purchase because they are sustainable (The RoundUp) - Mindful Chef’s sustainable recipe box packaging shows how collaborative thinking and innovation can lead to better packaging solutions.
Developing insulated packaging solutions that meet both performance and sustainability goals requires skill, experience and innovation, and being recognised by the Packaging News Sustainability & Impact Awards is a significant achievement for the team.
Lianne Pemberton, Smurfit Westrock’s UKI Sustainability Lead, explained: “Chilled and frozen packaging can be challenging, so developing a paper-based solution that supports both product protection and recyclability is something to celebrate. It shows how sustainability can be part of the vision from the very beginning, rather than an afterthought.”
Winners will be announced during a ceremony in July.