Earlier this year, the European EPS industry published a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report prepared by the consulting firm RDC. CIRCbox – the newly developed crate from CIRCMAR – was not included in that analysis.
An independent assessment conducted by Asplan Viak is now available – and the findings are clear. The report documents how CIRCMAR’s circular reuse system establishes a new benchmark for environmental and climate performance across the seafood value chain, delivering significant and measurable reductions.
CIRCMAR’s circular reuse system exceeds the requirements set out in the EU’s new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR*) by a substantial margin.
The key findings of the Asplan Viak report (see the “Download Report” button) show that CIRCMAR’s reuse system dramatically reduces the carbon footprint compared with traditional single-use EPS packaging – widely known as Styrofoam.
When looking at the differences between the distribution systems, CIRCbox achieves more than 70% lower climate impact than EPS – even across the longest transport distances. The shorter the transport distance, the greater the environmental advantage in favor of CIRCMAR.
The chart shows that CIRCbox has 55%* and 73%** lower impact on global warming compared with EPS. For further details, see pages 37-39 of the report.
The RDC-report applied the Environmental Footprint (EF) methodology. The Asplan Viak report is more comprehensive. In addition to EF, it incorporates the ReCiPe methodology, providing a clearer basis for comparing linear and circular systems. The report uses the same underlying data and analyzes the same environmental indicators as the RDC study.
As a result, the Asplan Viak report provides a more accurate and holistic picture of the overall environmental burden across human health, ecosystem quality, and resource use than reliance on the simpler EF method alone.
The results calculated using the EF methodology are included as an appendix to the main report.
CIRCbox clearly outperforms EPS packaging across four of the five environmental indicators. EPS performs marginally better on indicator 3, mineral resource use*. However, this indicator is not considered significant to the overall conclusion.
The chart shows that CIRCbox achieves 51%* and 74%** reduction in impact on human health, respectively, compared with EPS. For further details, see pages 47-48 of the report.
The chart shows that CIRCbox achieves a 54%* and 78%** reduction in impact on ecosystem quality, respectively, compared with EPS. For further details, see pages 48–49 of the report.
The chart shows that CIRCbox achieves a 57%* and 73%** reduction in impact on resource availability, respectively, compared with EPS. For further details, see pages 49–50 of the report.
The analysis directly compares CIRCbox with EPS crates for transporting fish from Norway to Europe – a total distance of 2,800 km.
The full life cycle is included: production of new crates, transport of empty crates to the exporter, ice production, distribution of fish from exporter to receiver, and, critically, reuse and end-of-life management. The functional unit assessed is 1 kg of fish transported from exporter to receiver.
The results clearly show that the CIRCMAR system delivers a lower climate and environmental footprint. In addition, the CIRCMAR system provides significantly greater operational control and represents a future-ready solution.
As of February 2025, new binding EU rules for more sustainable packaging have entered into force. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR*) establishes specific reuse targets, including a requirement that 40% of transport packaging must be reusable by 2030, increasing to 70% by 2040.
This regulation directly impacts Norway’s largest mainland export industry – the seafood sector. CIRCMAR’s circular reuse system already meets these requirements today – with a substantial margin.
In 2024 alone, Norway exported 1.329 million tonnes of farmed salmon and trout.
Example: Over a five-year period, transporting just 100,000 tonnes of fish could replace more than 4 million single-use EPS boxes with approximately 36,000 CIRCbox units – while substantially reducing the associated carbon footprint. The potential for reducing environmental impact is considerable. Moreover, the reduction increases further as the transport sector becomes more energy efficient.
For EPS packaging, the most significant climate impacts arise from the continuous production of new single-use boxes and from end-of-life waste management.
For CIRCbox, the primary impact is associated with return transport. After the fish has been delivered to the receiver, the crates are flat-packed, loaded onto reuse pallets, and transported back to CIRCMAR for washing, inspection, and redistribution.
As the transport sector continues to decarbonize, CIRCMAR’s technological and environmental advantage will become even greater.
Robust packaging and an unbroken cold chain are critical to reducing food waste and ensuring that fish maintains its freshness and premium quality – even several days after harvest.
CIRCbox is designed and engineered for reuse, built to withstand demanding and rigorous handling throughout the entire value chain for a minimum of 100 rotations. This ensures that the crates do not crack, break, or deteriorate during use.
CIRCbox meets regulatory requirements for thermal performance across the full distribution chain.
In addition, each CIRCbox is equipped with integrated sensor technology to ensure full visibility and control of the cold chain from sender to receiver. The sensors provide near real-time monitoring and immediately flag any deviations, enabling prompt corrective action. Unexpected events such as transport delays, damage, or temperature fluctuations are recorded and flagged – safeguarding product quality all the way to the final recipient.
CIRCbox delivers significantly lower impact than EPS across the following areas:
74%
78%
73%
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