You will be speaking at the Specialty Papers Europe conference in Prague and you will be presenting your talk 'Revolutionising Foodservice Packaging: A Case Study on Xampla and Just Eat Takeaway.com's Plastic-Free Breakthrough'. Can you tell us a bit more about the focus of the talk and how your collaboration with Just Eat Takeaway.com came about?

Our collaboration with Just Eat Takeaway.com originated from a shared mission to eliminate the most polluting plastics in foodservice packaging. With packaging accounting for 40% of Europe's plastic waste, we recognised that meaningful change required the right partners across the value chain. Xampla brought the breakthrough Morro™ Coating technology, Just Eat Takeaway.com provided the scale and market reach, and together with leading packaging supplier, Huhtamaki, and our license partner, 2M Group of Companies, we united to address this critical challenge.

The session will cover the purpose behind our partnership, the challenge we overcame, the real-world results and impact of our world-first plastic-free solution, and how this collaborative innovation transforms bold visions into scalable market reality.

You mention that the Morro™ Coated Food to Go Box is free from PE, PLA and PFAS and won't disrupt standard recycling processes, can you elaborate on this?

The Just Eat Takeaway.com Food to Go Box, manufactured by Huhtamaki using Xampla's plastic-free Morro™ Coating, represents a true breakthrough because it eliminates the world's most polluting plastics while maintaining the high-performance barriers that foodservice requires. Morro™ Coating provides excellent grease, oxygen and water barrier properties that match plastic performance, but it's made from natural plant polymers rather than conventional plastics like PE (polyethylene) or PLA (polylactic acid). It's also PFAS-free, avoiding those persistent "forever chemicals", that exist in takeaway packaging that people might not even be aware of.

Morro™ Coating is designed to be fully biodegradable and home compostable and integrates seamlessly with existing recycling infrastructure without contaminating or disrupting standard recycling processes. The suitability of Morro coating to not disrupt recycling process has been validated following the CEPI 4evergreen Recyclability Evaluation Protocol in the UK DS Smith labs were samples obtained an overall score of 80 on a scale from -100 to 100. In particular, it features a "Best in Class" Yield (92%), minor visual impurities that are acceptable in the recycling, furthermore, no issues regarding sheet adhesion has been observed.

How will your partnership with Just East influence the supply chain and how will it allow industry to scale up it's plastic free packaging offering?

This partnership is designed to enable restaurants to easily adopt plastic-free packaging at scale. By working with established manufacturers like Huhtamaki, who is already working closely with Just Eat Takeaway.com, we're showing that plastic-free solutions can be integrated into existing production systems and supply networks, and when major players like Just Eat Takeaways.com make the switch, it sends a powerful message to the industry: plastic-free packaging isn't a future aspiration, it's a viable solution available today that meets all the practical requirements businesses need. Today, more than 41,000 German restaurant partners have access to the world’s first corrugated takeaway box coated with Morro™ Coating.

We’re looking forward to your presentation at Specialty Papers Europe, what are you looking forward to the most?

I'm particularly excited about this presentation because it represents such a significant milestone in our journey. Last year at Specialty Papers Europe, we introduced Morro™ Coating as an innovative technology with enormous potential. Now, one year later, we're returning not just with progress updates, but with a success story that demonstrates how Xampla’s breakthrough natural polymer technology is already translating into real-world applications and market impact in the takeaway and foodservice industry. By 2029 Morro™ Coating has the potential to replace up to 25,000 tonnes of plastic.