Evaluation of the In-House Production of Insulation Material for Meal Kits - A Case Study at HelloFresh

Sammanfattning: Meal-kit boxes are considered a solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the food waste in the supply chain and households. Nevertheless, the consumers are concerned about the amount of packaging that comes with such a box, which is connected to higher carbon emissions than a grocery store meal. Thus, HelloFresh, a global market-leader in meal-kit boxes is driven to find more sustainable packaging solutions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a cooling pouch produced in-house on the production process of a meal-kit producer and its environmental and economical impact. Two different in-house production methods were evaluated and compared against the pouch production from two different suppliers. The prototyping process and feasibility assessment showed that the first method, resulting in the same pouch type currently used at HelloFresh, shows a high grade of feasibility as it is an already existing concept on the market. Regarding the implementation of the second production alternative, a pouch made of compartments with paper-based insulation filling is complex, the results are inconclusive. The environmental and economical impact of the in-house production of insulation material for the meal-kit industry cannot be generalized and needs to be examined case by case. The greenhouse gas emissions caused by an insulation pouch depend on the origins of the raw material, transport modalities, the place of production and the local- and market-based emission factors. But the emissions might be lowered by the second production alternative that uses wastepaper for the insulation filling in compartments. Both production alternatives would result in a cost reduction. The study gives an indication that the in-house production of insulation pouches might generate lower emissions and create savings.