Plastic or cellulose? EVEA launches a comparative LCA on food packaging

Some projects are agreed around a table. Others come to life in a laboratory. On 10 and 11 March 2026, EVEA's Packaging and R&D teams (Insaf Mekni and Robin Sales) travelled to Grenoble to visit LGP2, one of France's foremost research centres in pulp and paper science. The purpose of the visit was to formally launch a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) study examining plastic food packaging against cellulose-based alternatives, with scientific rigour built in from day one.

From left to right: Robin Sales (EVEA), Julien Bras, Insaf Mekni (EVEA), Jérémie Viguié, Mathilde Bernard-Catinat, Candice Rey, Alexis Suchet

Why this study, and why now?

Regulatory and public pressure on plastic is mounting. Against this backdrop, bio-based materials, cellulose in particular, are increasingly put forward as credible alternatives. But credible on what basis, exactly? That is precisely where LCA becomes essential, and where easy assumptions start to unravel.

LCA is the established tool for assessing the environmental impact of products across their full life cycle, yet it still has genuine blind spots. Plastic leakage into natural environments, microplastic pollution, and uncertain end-of-life scenarios all remain difficult to quantify with any real confidence. EVEA's aim here is not simply to swap one material for another on ideological grounds, but to set out clearly what science can robustly tell us today, and to identify the areas of uncertainty that still call for new methodological approaches.

Two manufacturing processes, one fundamental question

LGP2 was chosen as an academic partner for good reason. The laboratory has deep expertise in two distinct manufacturing processes for cellulose-based packaging, each with its own environmental profile.
 

Wet moulding delivers superior dimensional accuracy and geometric flexibility, but at the cost of higher energy and water consumption. Dry moulding is faster and substantially more resource-efficient, though it comes with certain shaping constraints.
 

Comparing these two approaches with one another, and then with conventional plastic packaging, allows the study to move beyond the usual generalisations. The focus falls specifically on takeaway food containers, a segment where volumes are significant and visibility is high.
 

Research with solid academic foundations

The project sits within the framework of the Cellulose Valley Chair, supported by the Fondation Grenoble INP, which brings together academic and industrial partners from across the cellulose value chain. It is also directly tied to the doctoral research of Mathilde Bernard-Catinat, whose work provides the scientific backbone of the study and contributes directly to its methodological robustness. Our sincere thanks go to her and to Julien Bras for making this collaboration possible.

What comes next?

The study is now formally under way. Results and publication are expected in late July or early August 2026, a timeline that is ambitious, and deliberately so.