Lahti Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model: Public Procurement Criteria and Replication Package for Institutional Catering

Knowledge Graph

Result: Lahti Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model
Project: Change(K)now!
Programme: Interreg Baltic Sea Region
Pilot area: Lahti, Finland
Sector: Public food services and institutional catering
Result type: Tested transition model and replication package
Core mechanism: Circular economy objectives → sustainable food packaging procurement criteria → supplier dialogue and tender preparation → production kitchen feasibility assessment → monitoring and replication.

Problem addressed

Public institutional catering uses large quantities of food packaging in daily food production, logistics and service operations. Packaging is necessary for food safety, hygiene and logistics, but it also creates material flows and packaging waste.

The Lahti pilot addressed the question of how municipalities and professional kitchens can use public procurement to reduce food packaging waste, support more sustainable packaging solutions and prepare for circular economy requirements, Green Public Procurement and the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.

Target users

The model is intended for municipalities, public food service organisations, procurement units, professional kitchens, institutional catering operators, food service companies, suppliers, wholesalers, circular economy practitioners and public authorities preparing sustainable procurement practices.

Main components

The result package consists of:

• 21 sustainable food packaging procurement criteria

• criteria groups covering environmental friendliness, food safety, practicality and waste management, cost-effectiveness and logistics, labelling and scalability

• an interactive Power BI-based criteria tool

• implementation checklist and roadmap

• training and workshop materials

• production kitchen feasibility testing

• supporting evidence reports

• monitoring logic for packaging waste and procurement progress

Implementation workflow

The implementation workflow follows a structured transition pathway:

1. Map the institutional catering value chain and identify where food packaging enters the system.

2. Identify packaging hotspots, waste flows and procurement leverage points.

3. Review relevant policy and regulatory drivers.

4. Adapt the sustainable food packaging criteria to the local procurement context.

5. Engage procurement experts, kitchen staff, suppliers, wholesalers and relevant public authorities.

6. Use market dialogue and feasibility assessment before tendering.

7. Test selected criteria against real packaging examples and operational kitchen requirements.

8. Integrate feasible criteria into procurement planning.

9. Monitor packaging waste, supplier readiness and implementation progress.

10. Use lessons learned to improve future procurement and support replication.

Required resources

Implementation requires:

• access to procurement and purchasing data

• involvement of municipal procurement experts

• involvement of public kitchen or food service professionals

• dialogue with suppliers and wholesalers

• knowledge of packaging types, food safety and logistics requirements

• time for stakeholder consultation and feasibility testing

• a basic monitoring system for packaging waste and indicators

• training or capacity-building material for procurement and catering stakeholders

Outputs

The Lahti pilot produced:

• a tested municipal transition model for sustainable food packaging procurement

• 21 food packaging procurement criteria

• practical criteria documentation and verification logic

• Power BI-based criteria tool

• training materials on institutional catering, food packaging and circularity

• evidence from multi-stakeholder assessment

• evidence from production kitchen feasibility testing

• implementation lessons for municipalities and public food service organisations

• a replication-oriented result package for wider reuse

Evidence generated

Evidence was generated through two main pilot phases.

First, a multi-stakeholder pre-assessment was carried out with 28 organisations, including national-level stakeholders, public procurement professionals, institutional kitchens, food producers, wholesalers and local stakeholders.

Second, a production kitchen feasibility test was carried out in the Lahti public food service context. The testing focused on the Apilakatu production kitchen environment, which is connected to approximately 2.5 million meals annually and more than 40 school and kindergarten service kitchens.

The evidence shows that sustainable food packaging criteria are relevant and timely, but implementation requires supplier readiness, cost awareness, food safety consideration, compatibility with kitchen operations and clear monitoring practices.

No full tender was completed during the pilot; evidence concerns procurement readiness, feasibility and transferability.

Transferability conditions

The model is transferable to municipalities and public food service organisations that procure food products, catering services or professional kitchen supplies.

Transferability is strongest when:

• the organisation has a public food service or institutional catering function

• procurement has influence over food packaging requirements

• suppliers and wholesalers can be engaged before tendering

• criteria are adapted to the local procurement and kitchen context

• food safety, logistics and cost implications are assessed before implementation

• packaging waste or procurement progress can be monitored

The model does not prescribe one packaging solution. Instead, it provides a structured method for assessing packaging sustainability, functionality, supplier readiness and circular economy potential.

Applicable regulations and policy frameworks

The model is relevant to:

• Green Public Procurement

• EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation

• EU Circular Economy Action Plan

• EU Green Deal

• food contact material requirements

• national sustainable public procurement objectives

• municipal circular economy strategies

• regional circular economy roadmaps

Related results

The Lahti Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model is connected to broader Change(K)now! project results on circular food delivery systems, institutional catering, sustainable procurement, reusable packaging, municipal circular economy implementation and transition from single-use to circular or multiple-use food delivery systems.

The result package can be used together with the full pilot report, executive summary, procurement criteria tool, training materials and supporting evidence reports.