Sustainable Stand-up Pouch wins German Packaging Award 2025!

Delighted in Mainz: The family company Werner & Mertz and its cooperation partner Mondi have received the German Packaging Award 2025! The jointly developed, fully recyclable stand-up pouch, which for the first time contains Post-Consumer Recyclate from the Yellow Bag, prevailed in the category Sustainability with Use of Recycled Material. The award ceremony was held during the trade fair FachPack in Nuremberg on 23 September.

“This award not only focussed on the use of recyclate as an innovation for a stand-up pouch for liquid products, but also on the fact that a specially developed recyclate was not used. An existing material from the plastics recycling bin, which is obtained via the already known sorting and processing infrastructure, shows that secondary materials are already available for flexible packaging from household collection. The film structure is matched to the recyclate. The jury recognised this development with an award,” according to the evaluation by jury members from business, research and education.

The cooperative effort reached another milestone with the advanced development of the stand-up pouch. Some years ago Werner & Mertz and Mondi brought to market the first fully recyclable stand-up pouch of a monomaterial. Compared to a bottle with the same fill volume, the pouch is made with up to 70% less plastic. For that achievement, the partners won the German Packaging Award 2019.

Now for the first time, the pouch contains recyclate–a total of 27% of the packaging–and thus closes a cycle. It was the first time PCR 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.

It was previously impossible to manufacture the pouch from recyclate because, among other things, there wasn’t enough packaging film that satisfied the Design for Recycling guidelines. With strong commitment and innovative spirit, packaging experts from both companies worked on the further development of the pouch.

“The recyclate pouch satisfies the same requirements for quality and product protection as a counterpart made of primary plastic. Once again the Recyclate Initiative proves that ecology and quality are not mutally exclusive. On the contrary, they complement each other perfectly,“ says Alexander Schau, Head of Packaging Development at Werner & Mertz.

“The joint development of the StripPouch impressively shows that the circular economy and recyclability can be reality today. We have proven that sustainable packaging demands no compromises in quality and functionality. This project is more than a technical success—it is a signal for the entire sector. If we want to, together we can push the paradigm shift toward genuine, sustainable packaging solutions,” says Jens Kösters, Manager Technical Service, R&D & Innovation at Mondi Halle & Steinfeld.

From the more than 200 submissions from 15 countries, 37 innovations received the German Packaging Award. The winners were from Germany, Iran, Austria, Switzerland and the USA.

“We are pleased about the progressive solutions and new standards for closed-loop systems, reuse and refilling, drawing on innovative sources and applications for recyclate (…),” says dvi Managing Director Dr. Natalie Brandenburg.

All winners of the German Packaging Award are automatically nominated for the WorldStar Packaging Award from the World Packaging Organisation (WPO).