With over 100 years of history and a strong Nordic heritage Huhtamaki operates in 35 countries and over 100 locations around the world including 5 manufacturing locations across Middle East and Africa: UAE, Egypt and South Africa supporting affordability and accessibility to food and everyday necessities.
Moving flexible packaging towards recyclable mono-material structures is not simply a matter of replacing one material with another. Any new structure must still protect the product, run efficiently on packing lines and provide the convenience and shelf presence consumers expect.
Huhtamaki is seeking to close that gap between material development and commercial application through its Pouching Hub in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
The operation brings printing, lamination, slitting and pouch conversion together at one site, giving customers in the region a route from packaging concept to a finished pouch. The 14-line hub is part of Huhtamaki Flexibles UAE and is supported by blown-film, laser micro-perforation and specialist converting capabilities. Its role is to help translate developments from Huhtamaki’s blueloop™ flexible packaging portfolio into scalable formats for food and non-food applications.
From material structure to finished pack
Mono-material packaging must balance several interdependent requirements. Barrier performance, seal integrity, shelf life, openability and reclosability all affect whether a pack works in practice. The structure must also perform reliably during filling and distribution.
At Ras Al Khaimah, these structures can be converted into established formats including stand-up, three-side-seal, centre-seal and flat-bottom pouches. The platform serves applications such as coffee, snacks, powders, culinary products and pet food, where packaging performance and product protection are critical.
Features such as zippers, tear notches, laser scoring, handles and perforation can be added where the product and consumer use case require them. Visual and tactile finishes are also available, but these are treated as part of the overall pack design rather than as separate additions. The aim is to select the combination that supports the product, packing process and brand proposition.
A regional platform for commercialisation
Development is supported by testing for oxygen and moisture barrier performance, heat-seal and hot-tack strength, leaks, puncture resistance, delamination, print quality and surface properties. Bringing these checks together with converting capability helps identify potential issues before a solution reaches full commercial scale. For brand owners in the Middle East and Africa, the hub provides regional manufacturing capacity as well as a development platform.
Pouches can be configured for different packing systems, including automated filling lines, while the range of converting and testing capabilities supports the move from trials to repeatable production.
By connecting material science with pouch design and local conversion, Huhtamaki is positioning the Ras Al Khaimah operation as the practical link between mono-material innovation and market-ready packaging. The focus is not on a single pouch feature, but on making packaging designed for recycling work at commercial scale.
