Patented Stand-up Pouch: The ecological all-rounder
Within the scope of the Recyclate Initiative, Werner & Mertz has reached another milestone in 2019 on the way to a genuine circular economy. The first flexible packaging in the world to achieve Gold in all categories of the Cradle to Cradle Certified® Product Scorecard. The completely recyclable pouch is made of a monomaterial (polyethylene) with removable wrap-around label and is the result of a five-year joint project by Werner & Mertz and the global packaging and paper firm Mondi. The innovative, patented pouch design solves the problem of recycling printed plastic. Eighty-five percent of all the packaging material is not printed and can therefore be recycled without any loss of quality. Because the remaining 15 percent, the printed label, is free of adhesives and bonding agents, it too can flow back into new uses.
A Lighthouse project
The complete recyclability of the pouch was confirmed by the independent Institute Interseroch and HTP Cyclos. Interseroh certified that the stand-up pouch has “very good recyclability that cannot be optimized any further.”
Albin Kaelin, Chief Executive Officer of the organization EPEA Switzerland, which is an accredited assessment body for Cradle to Cradle Certified®, called the stand-up pouch a real ‘lighthouse project’.
Reduce-Reuse-Recycle
The patented stand-up pouch is the first packaging that complies with the three Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle – in 2019. The pouch can be recycled completely, so the plastic remains in the closed material loop (recycle). Compared to a bottle, the pouch saves 70 percent on packaging material for the same amount of product (reduce). Finally, thanks to the refill packaging, a product bottle can be refilled repeatedly. It’s like having a refilling station at home (reuse). Still another special feature: the original bottle for Werner & Mertz Frosch consumer brand consists of 100 percent used plastic from post-consumer household waste collections.
Pouch concept revolutionizes the recycling industry
The technical concept and design for the pouch were based on reverse engineering, which starts at the end of the product life cycle. The involvement of all stakeholders in the supply chain made it possible to design packaging perfectly suited to recycling and the circular economy. The development of the stand-up pouch even influenced the design of sorting facilities. Because sorting and recycling equipment could not handle plastic sheeting smaller than letter-sized paper, the material was thermally recycled, i.e., incinerated. “Plastic sheeting makes up about 40 percent of the waste in the Yellow Bag and represents enormous but untapped potential! In the sense of Design for Recycling, it was important to us to develop a stand-up pouch that was not just theoretically recyclable. We had to ensure practical implementation in the recycling process too,” said Packaging Developer Alexander Schlau. During the years of development work, designers consulted with manufacturers of sorting systems.
During 2020 Werner & Mertz converted all its pouches for the Frosch brand to the novel concept and then expanded the conversion to green care PROFESSIONAL, its brand for professional cleaners.
Award-winning Innovation
The first monomaterial refill pouches for Frosch brand products have been on retail shelves since November 2019. The innovation has already received highly respected awards.
In 2019 the pouch concept convinced the German Packaging Award jury. “The great challenges of our time are packaging developments perfectly adapted to the recycling economy,” the experts on the jury said about the innovative packaging which won in the Sustainability category. “This bag impressively demonstrates what can be achieved today with a consistent recycling approach to design.”
At the Interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf, the stand-up pouch will receive the international WorldStar Packaging Award. “The highly innovative 100 percent recyclable pouch has cleared sorting and recycling hurdles on its way to genuine recyclability. […] That is Cradle-to-Cradle!” said the competition’s jury of the World Packaging Organization (WPO) about its decision.
The recyclable stand-up pouch from the Frosch brand has won the German Design Awards 2021 in the category “Excellent Communications Design – Eco Design”! The manufacturer Werner & Mertz of Mainz has received the award for “outstanding design quality” in the words of the international jury of experts.
Circularity Champion Award
This was followed in 2024 by the Circularity Champion Award. In the category “Innovative Solutions”, the jury honored Werner & Mertz as Circular Solution Leader for the stand-up pouch. The Award, initiated by Cradle to Cradle NGO and F.A.Z.-Institut, honors companies for innovative approaches and outstanding achievements in the circular economy.
Innovative further development
For the first time in 2025, the pouch contains a share of recyclate–40% in the plastic sheeting for a total of 27% in the entire packaging (one pouch). For this achievement, Werner & Mertz won the German Packaging Award 2025 and the WorldStar Packaging Award 2026. It was the first time that post-consumer recyclate from the household waste collection (Yellow Bag) could be used in a stand-up pouch for liquid contents without compromising on the pouch‘s stability and processability in extrusion, assembly and sealing. The reduction of plastic achieved by refilling the original container is now augmented by the reduction of virgin plastic.
We have summarized the most important information about the stand-up pouch in a factsheet.
