Pet food packaging is expected to meet a wide range of demanding criteria: it must preserve its contents’ freshness and flavour for as long as possible, provide reliable protection during transport, communicate brand identity effectively – all while complying with legal and sustainability standards and remaining cost-efficient. At Mondi, our MAP2030 sustainability framework empowers teams across the business to develop circular packaging and paper solutions. In the following article, Damien Maisonnial shares practical examples of how sustainable pet food packaging can be realised – from circular design principles to cutting-edge retort stand-up pouches and other solutions developed at Mondi’s FlexStudios innovation hub.
Changing Expectations in the Pet Food Market
Around the world, pets are increasingly regarded not just as animals, but as valued members of the family. This cultural shift is influencing every aspect of how we care for pets– including what we feed them and how that food is packaged.
Despite inflation and rising costs, many pet owners are still willing to invest in high-quality, nutritious foods for their furry companions. And just like their own diets, consumers are now applying similar expectations to their pets’ food: it must be healthy, responsibly sourced, and sustainable across the entire supply chain.
Of course, sustainable sourcing and production are only one part of the equation. Transport, storage, packaging, and shelf life are of equal importance when it comes to ensuring that both wet and dry pet food reaches consumers in optimal condition. Selecting the right packaging material is particularly challenging, as it must strike a careful balance between performance, appearance, sustainability, and compliance with evolving legislation – most notably the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
“As Europe’s leading supplier of pet food packaging, we’ve adopted a material-neutral approach,” explains Damien Maisonnial, Business Development Manager Pet Food at Mondi Consumer Flexibles. “Our extensive portfolio – spanning paper-based, plastic, and hybrid materials – combined with a broad array of formats, allows us to meet virtually every requirement, whether it’s for dry food, wet food or treats.”
What Pet Food Packaging Needs to Deliver
Speaking of requirements: Pet food packaging must deliver on numerous fronts. For example, it often needs high barrier properties, especially when dealing with fatty or moist products such as cat food or dog treats. Without effective barriers, fats may leach through the pack, or moisture and oxygen may degrade the food’s quality and reduce shelf life.
In the case of wet pet food, the packaging must also withstand elevated temperatures during sterilisation or pasteurisation processes. Pasteurisation typically involves exposure to temperatures between 70°C and 100°C, while sterilisation in autoclaves can exceed 120°C. These processes are essential to ensure food safety and long shelf life, but place significant demands on the packaging material.
In addition to thermal resistance, the packaging must also be mechanically robust – capable of withstanding shocks, compression and abrasion during transit, storage, and everyday handling. Durability is especially crucial in e-commerce logistics, where protective shelving and display conditions found in brick-and-mortar shops may be absent.
Visual presentation remains just as important: printed information, branding, and decoration must remain intact and legible, even after repeated handling or contact with other packs. Equally, the packaging must offer excellent machine runnability – a quality that can only be optimised through close collaboration between pet food producers and packaging experts.
Mono-Material Innovation and True Circularity
From a sustainability perspective, one of the most promising developments in flexible plastic packaging is the increasing viability of mono-material structures. These materials are designed for easier, more efficient recycling without compromising performance.
“Thanks to significant advances in materials science and converting technology, we’re now able to achieve excellent barrier properties with mono-material packaging,” says Maisonnial. “This represents a major step forward, as it enables true recyclability and helps keep valuable materials in circulation.”
Recyclability in itself is not enough, however. True circularity requires that the material recovered from the recycling process is of sufficiently high quality to be used in the same type of packaging again – not just downcycled into less demanding applications. “Whenever packaging is downcycled into lower-value products, the material’s potential is effectively lost,” Maisonnial explains. “Our goal is to enable closed-loop recycling, where the material retains its value across multiple lifecycles.”
Large Formats, Larger Challenges
Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to packaging. Multi-kilogram dry food packs – while popular among cost-conscious consumers for their value – introduce a unique set of challenges. These large formats need to be particularly durable to handle rough treatment during transportation, storage, and consumer use. At the same time, they must remain sustainable and resource-efficient.
In e-commerce especially, where individual items are handled more frequently and protective secondary packaging is minimal or non-existent, structural integrity becomes even more critical. However, increasing material usage to improve durability can conflict with sustainability goals – especially if extra materials are required.
That’s why intelligent packaging design is so vital. It allows us to find a balance between material efficiency and protective performance, minimising environmental impact without compromising functionality.
One outstanding example is Mondi’s collaboration with mera, a family-run pet food company based in Germany. For mera’s 10kg packs of vegan dry dog food, Mondi developed the FlexiBag Reinforced – a recyclable, high-strength solution made from mono-PE. The bag incorporates 35% chemically recycled post-consumer content, certified under ISCC Plus, and is fully compatible with mera’s existing filling lines. This means the transition to a more sustainable solution could be made with minimal disruption to operations.
Preparing for the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
The European Union’s PPWR, which came into force on 11 February 2025, has ushered in a new era of environmental responsibility for the packaging industry. The regulation introduces tighter rules for all types of packaging, including pet food formats, with key milestones over the coming years:
“It’s vital that businesses in the pet food sector act now to ensure their packaging is ready to meet the new requirements,” says Maisonnial. “At Mondi, we’re actively supporting our partners to adapt – providing tailored, regulation-compliant solutions that are both practical and sustainable.”
The Power of Retort Pouches
Innovation in retort packaging has been a game changer for the wet pet food sector. Retort pouches offer an excellent combination of long shelf life, product protection, and convenience – and now, thanks to advances in mono-material technology, they can be recyclable too.
Mondi’s RetortPouch range has already seen considerable uptake in the European market. “Every year, approximately 280,000 tonnes of wet pet food are packaged in our mono-material retort pouches across Europe – enough to feed more than seven million cats,” says Maisonnial.
Mondi’s vertically integrated value chain plays a crucial role here. With in-house capabilities for everything from film production and coating to pouch converting, the company ensures quality, consistency, and traceability throughout the process.
“Importantly, our re/cycle RetortPouch is compatible with existing filling equipment, enabling speeds of up to 400 pouches per minute,” Maisonnial adds. “That means our customers don’t need to invest in new machinery to benefit from more sustainable packaging.”
These pouches also offer strong protection against light, oxygen, and moisture – key factors in maintaining flavour and quality. Their optimised shape reduces material use without sacrificing functionality or shelf appeal. Additionally, versions made with ISCC Plus-certified chemically recycled content are already available for customers looking to further boost circularity.
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