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Food packaging has to do a lot at once. It needs a reliable barrier against moisture, grease and external factors, while staying strong in use. Yet many conventional solutions still rely on plastic coatings or multilayer structures, which complicate recycling and face growing regulatory pressure under EU packaging legislation.
That is why Kroonpak has developed a pilot burger box with a fibre-on-fibre approach. Using a Woodcell™ crystalline cellulose coating, it creates a paper-based, monomaterial structure that avoids conventional fossil-based plastic layers, delivers the barrier properties food service needs and supports paper recycling pathways.
An innovative, cellulose-based coating
Woodcell™ crystalline cellulose is a wood-derived barrier material developed by Fibenol. Applied as a functional coating on paperboard, it enables a monomaterial fibre-on-fibre structure. Unlike conventional polymer coatings, it integrates into the fibre matrix rather than forming a surface film. The pilot burger box concept is developed with Kroonpak as the packaging partner, with high-demand food-service use in mind.
- The WoodCell project, led by Fibenol and funded by the European Union, aims to build Europe’s first industrial-scale production line for WoodCell™ crystalline cellulose, enabling renewable value chains, with one key output being microcrystalline cellulose.
Barrier performance
In essence, it is paper-on-paper approach, refreshingly simple in structure, yet powered by high-purity crystalline cellulose chemistry, offering the following barrier properties:
- Grease & oil resistance
- Light moisture protection
- Oxygen & air barrier
- Mineral oil barrier
This material is well suited to high-demand food-service takeaway formats and a broad range of food packaging applications.
Fast forward from fossils to biobased. Just good chemistry.
WoodCell™ Crystalline Cellulose by Fibenol
Why this packaging matters?
To meet real-world demands, it is designed for performance in daily food-service handling, for circularity by reducing material complexity and for compliance with evolving packaging requirements.
- Monomaterial
- Repulpable in existing paper recycling systems
- Plastic-free barrier coating
- Bio-based
- Food-contact safe
Availability & development roadmap
From January 2026, a pilot batch of burger boxes is available for customer testing. In spring 2026, the programme expands to buckets and salad bowl formats. Later in 2026, cups and other liquid-resistant packaging follow. By 2027, commercial production is planned, alongside the scale-up of additional approved formats.
Contact us to learn more and request samples!
A more in-depth article about this project and the developments that follow is coming soon, so keep an eye out for updates.
In the meantime, we are happy to send pilot burger box samples for you to test in your own operations. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Contact us to learn more and get your pilot batch.
