Babybel has come up with a new recyclable paper wrap for its iconic mini cheese snack, and apparently it is the UK that is the first market for the roll-out.
For the last five years, Babybel, due to its red wax coating, has been wrapped in bio cellophane that’s home-compostable.
Bel Group, the French brand owner, said that the switch to new recyclable paper wrap went on to involve several years of R&D work. It goes on to form an integral part of the drive by the group in order to attain 100% recycling-ready packaging by the end of this decade.
Delphine Chatelin, the research, innovation, and development director, said that transitioning Babybel towards paper packaging is a true technical and also an industrial challenge. It is not simply replacing one material with another, as it needs rethinking the overall protection system to ensure product quality as well as safety right from production to consumption.
The objective is to provide consumers the same iconic as well as an enjoyable experience while at the same time meeting their anticipations when it comes to sustainability along with convenience, with packaging that’s environmentally responsible and also perfectly adapted to the lifecycle of the product.
Interestingly, there are around two billion Babybel portions that are consumed every year.
One of the Bel spokespersons told Printweek that the paper that was being used was FSC-certified and sourced exclusively from forests that are sustainably managed with stringent traceability.
Apparently, the printed wrappers are dispensed from a very narrow reel at the manufacturing sites of Babybel.
The point here to delve into is that the commercial rollout of the new paper packaging has already started in the United Kingdom. The United States and Canada, as well as Northern Europe, are going to follow in 2026, whereas a global expansion throughout all 50 markets where the product is distributed is going to start in 2027.
At that time, there would be 100% of Mini Babybel, which will use certified paper, making sure of sustainable forest management and also complete traceability.
Notably, Babybel gets manufactured across five Bel facilities throughout the world.
In addition to this, Bel Group also has more initiatives underway when it comes to its other brands. Kiri, which is the creamy cheese snack, is making steady progress on paper-based packaging tests and has an ambition to scale the industrial deployment.
Interestingly, the Laughing Cow and Materne compotes are now getting offered in bulk by way of the DéfiVrac Coalition, which is an alliance between Bel, Famille Michaud Apiculteurs, Danone, and Lesieur that is focused on bulk products as well as packaging.
It is worth noting that the Bel Group had sales of €3.7bn, which is equivalent to £3.24bn, in 2025 and has 11,000 workers across the world.