interpack 2026 Buyer’s Guide: 8 Food Packaging Innovations Worth Your Time in Düsseldorf
interpack 2026 runs May 7–13 at Messe Düsseldorf, Germany. ~2,800 exhibitors. 140,000+ expected visitors.
interpack is the world’s largest packaging trade show, held every three years. The 2026 edition arrives at the most disruptive moment in food packaging history — the EU PPWR takes effect 90 days after the show closes, PFAS bans are spreading across the US, and material science is delivering alternatives that didn’t exist at the last interpack in 2023. For restaurant owners, food brand buyers, and packaging procurement teams, this show is where you meet the suppliers and sample the materials that will define your packaging for the next three years.
This guide cuts through 2,800 exhibitors to highlight the eight innovations most relevant to food service packaging buyers.
1. PulPac Dry Molded Fiber Bottle Caps
PulPac, the Swedish company behind Dry Molded Fiber technology, is launching fiber-based bottle caps at interpack — the first closures made entirely from plant fiber with plastic-like thread engagement and sealing performance. Caps account for roughly 30% of the plastic in a bottle system, so this closes the last major gap in all-fiber beverage packaging. Developed with machinery partner Optima under the “Bottle Collective” initiative. If you sell bottled beverages, smoothies, or juices, this is the booth to visit.
2. BASF Ultramid and ecovio Biopolymers
BASF is showcasing at Hall 10/A44 with three launches for food packaging: Ultramid Ccycled (chemically recycled polyamide for food-contact flexible packaging), Ultramid H (the first thermoplastic polyamide with high water permeability — useful for fresh produce packaging that needs to breathe), and home-compostable ecovio biopolymer for ultra-thin films. The ecovio platform is particularly relevant for café and bakery buyers looking for compostable wrapping films.
3. Hugo Beck + Mondi Paper Sleeve Wrapper
Hugo Beck and Mondi are demonstrating a plastic-free secondary packaging solution using Mondi’s Advantage StretchWrap 70 gsm uncoated kraft paper. This replaces shrink film on multipacks and cases with an industrially compostable, curbside-recyclable paper sleeve. For meal kit companies, catering operations, and any business shipping packaged food in multipacks, this eliminates plastic stretch film from the supply chain.
4. UPM + Felix Schoeller Fiber-Based Snack Packs
UPM Specialty Materials and Felix Schoeller are presenting Solide Lucent — a fiber-based flexible packaging material designed as a drop-in replacement for plastic snack and confectionery flow-wrap. If you sell grab-and-go snacks, energy bars, or individually packaged bakery items, this is one of the first commercially viable paper-based alternatives to pillow-pack plastic film.
5. ACTEGA PFAS-Free Barrier Coatings
ACTEGA is launching ACTGreen barrier coatings and WESSCO FCM UV (approved under Germany’s Ink Ordinance for direct food contact). These water-based coatings replace fluorinated grease-resistance treatments on paperboard — directly addressing PFAS ban compliance for pizza boxes, burger wraps, bakery bags, and food boats. For any buyer whose current paper packaging uses fluorinated coatings, this is the PFAS-free replacement technology.
6. Syntegon Smart Packaging Lines
Syntegon (formerly Bosch Packaging) is presenting its neXt modular system architecture at Hall 6, A31-B31. The HFX, TRX, and SVX modules are designed for rapid changeover between packaging formats — critical for ghost kitchens and co-packers running multiple brands on the same line. The system targets the labor shortage problem with AI-assisted format changes that reduce operator skill requirements.
7. Boxon Food-Contact rPET Big Bags
Boxon is launching the first food-contact-approved rPET FIBC (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container) bags for the European market. These bulk bags use recycled PET and are certified for direct food ingredient contact — relevant to flour mills, sugar producers, spice importers, and any bulk-ingredient supplier feeding the restaurant industry. This is a supply-chain upstream innovation that helps food brands meet recycled content mandates.
8. Krones LitePac Top Strap System
Krones is demonstrating the Variopac Pro with LitePac Top Strap — a system that replaces plastic shrink film on beverage multipacks with a thin paper or recycled-PET strap. For bottled water brands, juice manufacturers, and beverage distributors, this eliminates one of the last visible plastic elements in retail-ready beverage packaging.
Show Logistics for Buyers
The three “Hot Topics” anchoring the show are Smart Manufacturing, Innovative Materials, and Future Skills. The Spotlight Forum runs dedicated day-themes: Circular Economy (May 11), Innovative Materials (May 12), and Young Talents (May 13). EU PPWR implementation sessions run throughout the week. Online tickets are €65 for a one-day pass, €120 for a full-week pass. Pre-registration is strongly recommended — the 2023 edition had multi-hour entry queues on opening day.
Can’t attend interpack? GQ TH Pack stays current with global packaging innovations and brings the best materials to our clients. Contact us to discuss any of the innovations above — we can source samples and provide pricing for PFAS-free coatings, fiber-based packaging, and rPET solutions.