Bioplastics Gain Ground as Europe Tests New Food Packaging Models

Europe’s food packagers are trialing advanced bioplastics in real settings as new EU rules loom and scale-up risks remain

9 Jan 2026

For years bioplastics sat awkwardly in Europe’s food-packaging debate. They sounded virtuous, but behaved badly. Now that balance is starting to change, as new materials edge out of the laboratory and into factories.

The pressure is mounting. Regulators are tightening rules on waste, retailers are advertising sustainability targets and shoppers expect visible progress. Together they pose an awkward question to packaging makers: can lower-impact materials survive the messiness of real food, real factories and real supply chains?

One answer is emerging from the GRECO project, a European Union-backed effort that corrals researchers, packaging firms and material suppliers. Its ambition is deliberately modest. Rather than chasing perfect samples, the project is testing plant-based plastics on everyday foods, such as cheese, meat, berries and nuts, where failure is costly.

Food packaging is a harsh proving ground. Materials must keep food fresh, meet strict safety rules and run without hiccups on existing production lines. Earlier generations of bioplastics often stumbled, lacking adequate barrier properties or durability, or proving incompatible with standard machinery. GRECO’s work is aimed squarely at those weaknesses, tweaking formulations and formats until they behave more like the plastics they are meant to replace.

Industry involvement suggests guarded optimism. TotalEnergies Corbion is helping develop materials with an eye on eventual scale. Innotech Coexpan Emsur is turning them into familiar packaging formats. European Bioplastics, the sector’s trade body, continues to argue that renewable materials must also fit with workable recycling systems.

The rhetoric is notably restrained. As one project representative put it, food packaging cannot afford failure. Sustainability, in this view, must strengthen safety and reliability, not compete with them.

Regulation looms large. The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is nudging companies to rethink their materials, even if deadlines vary. For many firms, pilot lines and early industrial trials are the only sensible way to prepare.

Plenty of problems remain. Costs are higher than for conventional plastics. Recycling systems differ across countries. Biodegradable materials alone will not solve Europe’s waste problem. Still, something has shifted.

What matters now is evidence. By showing how advanced bioplastics perform under real conditions, projects like GRECO are moving the debate from aspiration to demonstration. Progress will be slow. But it is, at last, measurable.