Recognized with the 2026 H.B. Fuller Customer Innovation Award, ProDairy shows how close collaboration and technical expertise can turn customer needs into commercially scalable packaging solutions.
Packaging for dairy brands must meet several requirements at once: it needs to protect the product, comply with legislation and support circularity, while minimizing the need for additional filling-line investments. To address these needs, Huhtamaki developed ProDairy, a recyclable paper-based cup with less than 10% plastic content.
Partnering with customers to find new solutions
“Creating a new packaging solution for chilled dairy products required balancing multiple requirements simultaneously. The cup needed to deliver product protection and performance while being recyclable. It also had to fit seamlessly into customers' existing production processes and be suitable for commercial-scale production,” says Daniel Frey, Head of Innovation and Technology, Foodservice Packaging.
Bringing expertise together
ProDairy was developed through close collaboration across the value chain, combining expertise in materials, packaging design and application requirements.
The resulting solution eliminates the need for an external polyethylene (PE) layer, reducing the cup structure from a double PE coating to a single PE coating while maintaining a high moisture barrier for products stored in chilled conditions.
Sealing performance was another key focus of the development. Huhtamaki created a unique flat rim design and rim-forming process for ProDairy to provide excellent top-rim sealing, complemented by a proprietary sealing varnish technology that delivers strong side-seam sealing.
Recognition for customer-driven innovation
The work behind ProDairy was recognized with the 2026 H.B. Fuller Customer Innovation Award, which celebrates innovations enabled through collaboration across the value chain.
For Huhtamaki, the award reflects the expertise, dedication and partnership that helped bring ProDairy from an idea to a commercially scalable packaging solution.