Bel transition to recyclable paper marks major sustainability leap

The Bel Group has announced a significant acceleration in its packaging transformation strategy, committing to a global rollout of new recyclable paper packaging for its iconic Mini Babybel cheese portions.

The move sees Bel gradually replacing Babybel’s current cellophane wrap — a bio-based, home-compostable material since late 2020 — with a responsibly sourced paper alternative, underscoring the Group’s ambitious environmental agenda.

This transition is a major structural shift, propelling Bel closer to its goal of achieving 100% packaging ready for recycling or home compostable by 2030. By 2027, all Babybel products, produced across five industrial sites and distributed in 50 countries, will feature the certified paper packaging.

Béatrice de Noray, executive vice president in charge of Growth at the Bel Group, commented on the scope: “Transforming our production and consumption models is one of the greatest challenges of our time. At Bel, we choose to put innovation at the service of more responsible and accessible food for all. … Babybel’s packaging enters a new chapter, one that strengthens what makes Mini Babybel iconic: a practical, convivial, and instantly recognisable portion. By advancing its packaging, we are taking a structural step in our journey, embodying the combination of responsibility and performance that defines Bel’s DNA.”

Switching the primary packaging material represents a formidable technical and industrial challenge, resulting from several years of intensive R&D and a robust test-and-learn methodology. Packaging is critical for preserving product quality, ensuring microbiological safety, and resisting temperature variations across the supply chain.

Delphine Chatelin, director of R&D at the Bel Group, highlighted the complexity: “Transitioning Babybel to paper packaging is a true technical and industrial challenge. It is not simply about replacing one material with another; it requires rethinking the entire protection system to ensure product quality and safety from production to consumption.”

Crucially, Babybel’s iconic red wax shell remains unchanged, retaining its essential role in product protection, integrity, and taste profile. The new paper packaging has successfully met the rigorous industrial performance requirements necessary for large-scale, global production.

The commercial deployment of the new recyclable paper packaging has already commenced in the United Kingdom.

• 2026: rollout expands to the United States, Canada, and Northern Europe.
• 2027: full global expansion begins across all 50 markets.

By 2027, 100% of Mini Babybel will utilise certified paper, ensuring sustainable forest management and complete traceability, accelerating Bel’s roadmap to reduce plastic use at the source.

Linda Neu, Babybel’s global director, emphasised the collective impact: “With more than two billion portions sold every year worldwide, this evolution has a concrete global impact. Moving to recyclable paper packaging is a decisive milestone in Babybel’s sustainable transformation.”

This development is part of a wider, group-level strategy focused on reducing the environmental footprint from ingredient sourcing and logistics to industrial processes and packaging:

• Kiri: advancing its own paper-based packaging tests with an ambition for industrial scaling.
• The Laughing Cow & Materne Compotes: exploring bulk solutions through the DéfiVrac Coalition, utilising a newly developed dispensing machine for spreadable cheese and fruit purées, currently being tested in retail environments.