When mono-material packaging is discussed in the fresh food sector, attention tends to focus on the main structure of the pack: the tray, the container, the film.

But packaging design also includes less visible elements, each with a specific function within the pack. The absorbent pad is one of them.

Its contribution to the overall structure may seem limited. Yet when material composition and end-of-life management are taken into account, the pad also becomes part of the assessment.

The whole pack matters 

The PPWR, the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, entered into force on 11 February 2025 and has applied generally since 12 August 2026.

Among the areas addressed by the Regulation is the design of packaging for recyclability, including criteria that will also concern the relationship between the main body of the packaging and its components.

For those developing packaging for fresh foods, this means looking carefully not only at the main structure, but also at the elements placed inside it. The absorbent pad is part of that consideration.

Simplifying without compromising function 

In fresh food packaging, the absorbent pad is used to manage the liquids the product released by the food while it remains in the pack. Any development involving materials therefore has to start from this function.

Working towards simpler material structures means dealing with a very practical constraint: changing the materials without losing the performance required by the application.

For an absorbent pad, this is exactly where research into mono-material structures begins.

Mono-material: a term to use precisely

The term mono-material is becoming increasingly common in packaging, but it should describe an actual characteristic of the product, supported by third-party assessment.

It is not enough for a solution to have been designed with the aim of simplifying its material composition, or for research to be moving in that direction.
Until that result has been achieved and verified, it is important to keep development work distinct from a characteristic of a product already available on the market.

The same applies when the term mono-material is associated with recyclability claims. The two aspects are related, but they are not equivalent, and each statement needs to be supported by evidence that specifically relates to it.

A direction for R&D at Magic

At Magic, this topic has also become part of our R&D work on absorbent pads for food packaging.Research, however, does not stop here. Work continues on other products, with the same attention to function and to the consistency of the packaging system as a whole.

The aim is to study configurations that can move closer to mono-material structures while maintaining the absorbent performance required by the application. This work is still ongoing.

For this reason, we prefer to describe it today as a research direction, rather than attribute to our products characteristics that still need to be achieved and verified through development.

In fresh food packaging, the pad remains a small component compared with the pack as a whole. But when material composition is part of the design process, that component also becomes part of the project.