IN Brief:
- deSter reports a 58% reduction in manufacturing greenhouse gas emissions against 2019.
- All four production sites now operate under ISO 14001 environmental management certification.
- Reusable, recyclable, or compostable formats generated 95% of packaging revenue during 2025.
deSter cut greenhouse gas emissions from its manufacturing operations by 58% against a 2019 baseline during 2025, while extending ISO 14001 certification across all four production sites.
The Belgian foodservice and aviation packaging manufacturer disclosed the figures in its fourth annual sustainability report. It also said 95% of packaging revenue came from products classed as reusable, recyclable, or compostable, bringing product design and factory performance into the same operating programme.
deSter manufactures in Hoogstraten, Belgium; Barcelona, Spain; Lima, Ohio, in the United States; and Prachinburi, Thailand. Applying a common environmental management standard across those sites provides a consistent framework for objectives, monitoring, corrective action, and audit, despite differences in equipment, energy supply, and local waste infrastructure.
The company reported further ISO 45001 health and safety certification during the year. Environmental work covered energy, waste, water, chemicals, and production efficiency, with solar generation operating at Prachinburi and a larger solar project approved for Hoogstraten.
Stef Van de Perre, President and Managing Director of deSter, said: “More than ever before, sustainability is shaping the decisions we make, the way we operate and how we create value for our customers.”
ISO 14001 does not prescribe a fixed emissions threshold. Its industrial value lies in requiring an organisation to maintain an environmental management system, define responsibilities, measure performance, and address failures through documented controls rather than isolated improvement projects.
The 58% reduction should be read within the boundary used by deSter for manufacturing emissions. The company’s wider climate programme also covers value chain emissions, where materials, freight, customer use, washing systems, and end-of-life treatment can outweigh the energy consumed inside its own factories.
Packaging creates an awkward accounting problem because reusable, recyclable, and compostable formats follow different operating models. Reuse depends on collection, washing, redistribution, and sufficient cycles; recycling depends on material compatibility, sorting, and available reprocessing; compostability requires an appropriate collection and treatment route.
Combining those formats into a single revenue measure shows the direction of deSter’s portfolio, but it does not establish the end-of-life performance of every product in every market. A technically recyclable item can still be discarded where collection systems are absent, while a reusable product may perform poorly if it completes too few cycles.
Material choice also affects manufacturing and logistics. A lighter single-use pack may reduce transport mass but create more waste, whereas a durable reusable item requires more material and energy before its impact can be spread across repeated service. Product claims increasingly depend on the complete operating system rather than the label attached to the material.
deSter’s PeoplePlanetProduct framework links those product decisions with workforce and environmental measures. During 2025, the company expanded reusable and fibre-based ranges for aviation and foodservice customers while continuing work on employee development, safety, well-being, and diversity.
The company has also introduced regional Business Risk and Compliance Committees, intended to place environmental, regulatory, and supply risks within operating governance. That structure gives regional management a formal route for assessing customer requirements and local regulation instead of leaving sustainability as a separate reporting function.
A reusable economy-class tableware range developed for Etihad Airways received a Red Dot product design award during the reporting period. The programme provides a commercial example of material and service-system decisions being integrated with presentation, handling, washing, storage, and repeated use.
The manufacturing figures are the easier part of the programme to compare annually because energy consumption, certification, and site controls can be measured within defined boundaries. Product circularity is more dependent on customer behaviour and infrastructure beyond deSter’s direct control, making verified use-cycle and recovery data increasingly important.
Site-level comparison will also need to account for production volume and product mix. A factory making more durable serviceware may consume more energy per item than one producing lightweight disposables, while still supporting a lower impact over repeated use. Absolute emissions, emissions intensity, and output therefore need to be read together rather than reduced to a single percentage.
deSter plans further work on renewable energy, responsible sourcing, circular products, and value chain emissions. With environmental management systems now established across the production network, subsequent reports will show whether the company can extend measurable reductions beyond its factory gates while retaining the operational performance required by aviation and foodservice customers.
