Is cold foil stamping recyclable in standard paper mills?

Yes. Independent ISEGA and PTS Munich test reports confirm that packaging printed with CFS cold foil meets CEPI category I (high-quality fibre) recyclability when the metal layer represents less than 5% of finished weight — typically the case at the 35 nm vacuum-deposited layer we use. Brand owners can request the full reports for any product code.

How does cold foil compare with hot foil stamping on carbon footprint?

Our ISO 14040/14044 LCA shows cold foil at 0.42 kg CO₂e per square metre versus 1.8 kg CO₂e for equivalent hot foil stamping. The gap comes from three places: no heated die means zero process heat, no make-ready waste means 4–8% lower substrate consumption, and inline operation removes a full transport leg between print and decoration.

Do you publish a sustainability report?

Yes. Our annual ESG report is published every March, follows the GRI Standards, and includes Intertek-audited LCA data, scope 1–3 emissions, water and waste KPIs, and progress against SBTi-validated targets. It is shared with brand owners, converters and investors on request.

What recycled content is used in your carrier films?

Our 2025 standard carrier contains 30% post-industrial recycled PET, rising to 50% on dedicated mono-material lines and up to 70% on selected pilot orders. All recycled content is mass-balance certified under ISCC PLUS.

Environment

Brilliance, with a lighter footprint.

Cold foil is already the most resource-efficient way to put metal on a package — no heat, no dies, no waste. We've built our entire operation around making it lighter still, and we publish the LCA data so brand owners, designers and converters can verify every claim against ISO 14040/14044 methodology and independent third-party audits.

TL;DR

CFS cold foil ships at 0.42 kg CO₂e per m² — about one quarter of hot foil's footprint. Plants run on 100% renewable electricity, water use is under 1.2 L per 1,000 m², and the metal layer is light enough to keep cartonboard fully recyclable in CEPI mills. We hold EcoVadis Gold, ISO 14001/50001 and FSC chain-of-custody.

Carbon-neutral manufacturing

All three European plants — Como, Lyon and Düsseldorf — run on 100% certified renewable electricity backed by GO and REGO guarantees of origin. Residual scope-1 emissions from on-site adhesive curing and logistics are offset through Gold Standard reforestation projects in the Italian Apennines and verified blue-carbon mangrove restoration in Senegal. Scope-2 emissions reached net-zero in 2024 and our scope-3 roadmap targets net-zero by 2027 in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) 1.5°C pathway.

Net-zero by 2027

Recyclable foil systems

Our metallised PET carrier film is recovered from converters and re-pelletised in a closed loop with our French recycling partner Veolia Polymers, which means more than 98% of every carrier roll re-enters the polymer stream as r-PET. The aluminium layer transferred onto the printed package is less than 0.05% of finished package weight — well below the 5% threshold that triggers a non-paper classification under the EN 643 paper-for-recycling specification — so cartonboard and label substrates carrying CFS foil remain fully recyclable in standard paper mills.

98% carrier recovery

Water-light coating

Solvent-free UV-curable adhesives combined with dry vacuum metallisation hold process water consumption under 1.2 litres per thousand square metres of finished foil — roughly 40× lower than conventional water-based metallised laminates and 12× lower than vacuum-deposited PVD board. Cooling-tower water is recirculated through closed-loop chillers with a top-up rate under 3% per month, audited annually by Bureau Veritas under the Alliance for Water Stewardship standard.

<1.2 L / 1000 m²

Designed for circularity

Every CFS cold foil product ships with a recyclability technical sheet aligned with CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) and 4evergreen guidelines, plus independent deinkability and repulpability test reports issued by ISEGA (Aschaffenburg) and PTS Munich. Brand owners can submit those reports directly to extended-producer-responsibility (EPR) schemes such as CITEO in France, the German VerpackG and the UK pEPR programme.

CEPI A-grade

LCA snapshot

Independently audited per-square-metre impact.

The figures below come from our 2024 Life Cycle Assessment, conducted to ISO 14040 and 14044 methodology and verified by Intertek. The functional unit is one square metre of finished decorated packaging at the factory gate, including raw materials, energy, transport to converters within Europe and end-of-life treatment under the average EU recycling mix.

Indicator	Value (per m²)	Reference / context
Global warming potential	0.42 kg CO₂e / m²	vs 1.8 kg CO₂e for hot foil stamping
Cumulative energy demand	6.1 MJ / m²	ISO 14040/14044 LCA, Intertek 2024
Process water use	1.2 L / 1,000 m²	Closed-loop chillers, AWS audited
VOC emissions	0 g / m²	100% UV-cured, solvent-free chemistry
Aluminium intensity	0.18 g / m²	Vacuum metallisation, 35 nm layer
Waste-to-landfill	<0.4%	Como plant, 2024 environmental report

Certifications

Audited annually. Renewed publicly.

ISO 14001

Environmental management system, certified by DNV across all three plants since 2009.

ISO 50001

Energy management, certified at Como (2016) and Lyon (2019); Düsseldorf in progress for 2026.

FSC C012345

Chain-of-custody certification for paper-backed and laminated product lines.

EcoVadis Gold

Top 5% of suppliers assessed worldwide on environment, labour, ethics and procurement.

Sedex SMETA 4-pillar

Audited every two years on labour rights, health & safety, business ethics and environment.

Carbon Trust Standard

Independent verification of year-on-year carbon-intensity reduction across scopes 1 and 2.

Roadmap

Seven years of measurable progress.

2018
First 100% renewable electricity contract at Como; scope-2 emissions cut 71%.
2020
EcoVadis Silver achieved; Sustainability function moved into operations leadership.
2022
Launched recyclable mono-material PET carrier; LCA published with Intertek.
2023
EcoVadis Gold; joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and 4evergreen alliance.
2024
Net-zero scope-2 across all plants; first SBTi-validated scope-3 reduction roadmap.
2025
Mono-material foil range expanded; 30%+ recycled PET carrier shipped at scale.

Partner ecosystem

We don't reduce impact alone.

Circularity is a value-chain problem. CFS contributes recyclable foil systems, but converters, brand owners and recyclers all hold pieces of the loop. We work with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the 4evergreen alliance, CITEO in France, and with Veolia Polymers on carrier-film take-back. On the substrate side, we co-test with Stora Enso, Sappi and Metsä Board so brand owners can specify our foils on their FSC-certified cartonboard without surprises in recyclability testing.

FAQ

What brand owners and converters ask most.

Reporting

Annual ESG and Life Cycle Assessment data is published every March.

Our reports follow GRI Standards and include third-party LCA data audited by Intertek. Available on request to brand owners, converters and investors.

Request the ESG report Process technology About CFS