Soft-served sustainability: Oatly opens ice cream pop-up in Amsterdam

07 Aug 2023 --- Oatly has opened a pop-up store in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to showcase its oat-based soft serve ice cream. The store supplies the dairy-free treat in a “100% eco-friendly” cup produced from paper board without a traditional plastic coating layer.

The Swedish-based food company specializes in plant-based dairy products, focusing on oats as the solution. The pop-up will be open until August 31. 

Food Ingredients First speaks to an employee at the location, commenting: “Oatly tries to recycle whenever possible. All the packaging used at the store is made from paper which is more environmentally friendly and fits with Oatly as a brand.”

Plant-based ice cream and cups
The pop-up sells vanilla, coffee and matcha flavors. The oat-based soft serve can be paired with various toppings, which Oatly has dubbed “over-the-top toppings.”

The toppings are introduced as a rotating menu featuring ingredients such as berries, stroopwafels and chili flakes. Oatly partnered with spice platform Spice First and chili oil brand La Lia to provide the spicy topping to its customers. 

Food Ingredients First visits the Amsterdam Oatly pop-up.Paper2Paper supplies Oatly with its paper ice cream cups to contain the vegan soft serve. Paper2Paper offers the cups in 4 oz (approximately 110 mL), 6 oz (approximately 180 mL) and 8 oz (approximately 230 mL).

The spoons for the ice cream are also paper-based. The paper packaging is made from paper board with a water-based coating. The cups are made from paper, making them recyclable with paper.

“It’s better for the environment, and so it is nice to see Oatly using things that are more [environmentally] sustainable,” says the Oatly employee. 

“Truly” recyclable
Paper2Paper explains that most paper cups are produced from paper boards with PE coating. It continues that some paper cups are made from paper boards with bio-plastic coating and are presented as eco-friendly products. In both cases, such cups are not “truly” paper cups, as they are qualified as disposables from combined materials. 

“These disposable paper cups are quite unfriendly regarding [environmental] sustainability and ecology,” asserts the packager. 

Paper2Paper highlights that it eliminates all the plastic from its packaging. The stacks of paper cups or ice cream bowls are packed into paper sleeves. The cardboard box for shipping is sealed with paper adhesive tape.

Alongside the Amsterdam pop-up, Oatly has taken to the streets this summer with vegan soft-serve food trucks across Sweden, Denmark and the UK. Additionally, it will have 15 pop-up locations in German subway stations until September 10.

By Sabine Waldeck