The role of packaging is to protect the content that is present inside it. And right now, the very same packaging is going through the biggest rethink the seafood industry has seen in decades.
For years, exporters leaned on a familiar toolkit which includes foam boxes, wax-coated cartons, plastic films laced with fluorinated coatings to keep out moisture and grease. It worked but now it is no longer good enough as regulators, retailers, and shoppers are all asking the same uncomfortable question i.e. what will happen to this box after use?
That single question is quietly rewriting the global market packaging trend.
The Regulation Wave
Under EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), along with tightening rules on PFAS, exporters shipping into the EU face a hard deadline. They have to prove their packaging is safe, documented and increasingly recyclable, or risk losing shelf access altogether. Companies now have to line up cold-chain logistics.
The UK is building its own post-Brexit packaging standards that echo the EU’s but aren’t identical, which means exporters serving both markets are effectively managing two rulebooks at once. For a mid-sized exporter shipping frozen fillets to a dozen countries, that’s not a footnote but it’s a whole new department’s worth of work.
What Makes Seafood Packaging Difficult
Nothing about fresh seafood cooperates with packaging. Ice melts into liquid water, natural oils migrate through porous paper, and constant freezing and thawing strain every adhesive seam. Because these containers must endure weeks of brutal supply-chain logistics, the industry defaulted to plastic laminates and synthetic coatings. Not out of choice, but because they offered a quick, reliable defense against grease and water.
Swapping those materials out isn’t as simple as switching a supplier’s order form. A recyclable tray or a plant-based coating has to match the old performance almost exactly, or else the fish would arrive discolored or spoiled and no sustainability certificate makes up for a ruined shipment. So, packaging engineers are now testing different combinations like cellulose-based trays, mono-material plastics that are easier to recycle than mixed laminates, and coatings built without fluorinated chemicals.
What’s Replacing Old Materials
- Mono-material plastics: packaging built from a single type of plastic instead of several layers fused together, because mixed-material laminates are notoriously difficult to recycle.
- Cellulose and paper-based trays: increasingly used in Europe as an alternative to foam and multilayer plastic, especially for chilled retail packs.
- Recyclable HDPE trays: several major packaging manufacturers have introduced fully recyclable trays designed specifically for seafood and other proteins.
- High-recyclability flexible films: some producers now report flexible packaging that is over 90 percent recycle-ready, a sharp jump from where the category stood just a few years ago.
- Moisture-resistant corrugated boxes: a large share of seafood exporters have already shifted to sturdier, compression-rated corrugated boxes that hold up better without relying on plastic coatings.
There is no single magic bullet here. Core technologies like vacuum sealing and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) still do the heavy lifting, preventing oxidation so a salmon fillet stays appetizingly pink rather than dull gray. The industry shift isn’t about tossing out these critical food-safety tools but it’s about replacing the outer barrier materials with alternatives that actually break down after disposal.
Market research points to the biodegradable and sustainable seafood packaging segment growing faster than almost any other category in the sector over the next decade. There’s a clear operational advantage to moving first. Exporters avoid costly port holdups when regulations tighten. At the same time, modernizing packaging doubles as a marketing asset, tapping into growing demand for verifiable provenance and responsible sourcing.
The Regional Difference
The priorities in seafood packaging change depending on who you ask.
In Qingdao, the focus is on cold-chain expansion, MAP formats, and smart labeling. In India and Southeast Asia, managers are racing to adopt leak-proof bio-films that meet tough export standards. In Oslo, strict European environmental laws dictate everything, driving adoption of cellulose trays and recyclable films.
Asia-Pacific still drives global volume as the world’s processing hub, but the mandate to modernize materials knows no borders. Whether packing shrimp in Vietnam or salmon in Chile, every processor is fighting the same fundamental battle.
Where TerraPHA Fits
TerraPHA Biotech is the World’s first non-GMO biopolymer company. It produces PHA by fermentation using naturally occurring microbial system and its process is designed to run on a wide range of renewable carbon sources.
The packaging line covers food packaging, food wrap sheet, primary packaging material, carry and grocery bags, compostable bags and single-use cutlery.
Frequently Asked Questions
If EPS is recyclable. Why is it being banned?
Technical recyclability means nothing without economic viability. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is over 90% air, meaning a full transport truck carries negligible material value, especially when fish boxes arrive soaked with meltwater, ice, and protein residue. Because collecting and compacting these boxes almost always costs more than the recovered resin is worth, regulators increasingly view outright bans as far more practical than trying to build a recycling infrastructure.
Can biodegradable packaging keep the seafood cold?
Insulation is a structural property and not a polymer property. Biopolymer are generally replacing films, liners, bags and pads rather than the insulating shell itself. The thermal job is usually solved with reusable crates, fibreboard systems or vacuum panels. The polymer choice matters most for the layers touching the product and the water.
Isn’t switching materials simply more expensive?
Focusing purely on resin cost misses the true financial picture. At the shipping level, total expenditure depends on destination disposal fees, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) penalties, the risk of a rejected shipment, and retailer mandates banning foam. The metric that actually matters isn’t price per kilogram—it’s total compliance cost per landed shipment.
References
Business Standard. (2026, June 2). India’s seafood exports hit record high in 2025-26. https://www.business-standard.com/markets/capital-market-news/india-s-seafood-exports-hit-record-high-in-2025-26-126060200217_1.html
European Commission. (2026). The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation: When will it come into effect and what does it cover? https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/node/9786
Kuroda, M., Isobe, A., Uchida, K., Tokai, T., Kitakado, T., Yoshitake, M., Miyamoto, Y., Mukai, T., Imai, K., Shimizu, K., Yagi, M., Mituhasi, T., & Habano, A. (2024). Abundance and potential sources of floating polystyrene foam macro- and microplastics around Japan. Science of the Total Environment, 925, 171421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171421
Washington State Department of Ecology. (n.d.). Expanded polystyrene (EPS) ban. https://ecology.wa.gov/waste-toxics/reducing-recycling-waste/plastics/2021-plastic-pollution-laws/expanded-polystyrene-ban
Zhao, S., Liu, R., Lv, S., Zhang, B., Wang, J., & Shao, Z. (2024). Polystyrene-degrading bacteria in the gut microbiome of marine benthic polychaetes support enhanced digestion of plastic fragments. Communications Earth & Environment, 5, 162. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01318-6
