Focus on renewable, compostable and recyclable food packaging

At "Packaging Innovations London 2011" on 6-7 October, Stora Enso will present its versatile selection of food service and food packaging boards, which include the Cupforma, Trayforma and Primeforma brands. The Cupforma range offers materials for drinking cups, while Trayforma is used for ready-meal trays. Primeforma is a new kind of food packaging board suitable for thermoforming on existing packaging lines.

The hectic pace of everyday life has created a growing market for foods and drinks consumed on the go. In addition, today's consumers are keen to save the planet and therefore favour cups and trays made of renewable and recyclable materials. The Cupforma Bio boards for drinking cups have been developed to meet these demands.

 

All our products can be recycled together with other fibre-based packages assuming the proper infrastructure is in place. Biopolymer-coated boards are also compostable and can be composted together with food waste.

Cupforma Natura Bio is again one step ahead in sustainable drinking cup material. It can be used as package material for many kinds of foods. Cupforma Natura as base board is lighter in weight but has exactly same properties as the earlier Cupforma Classic, which it is replacing. So you will get more cups with less material.

 

 

The biopolymer coating used by Stora Enso consists mainly of renewable resources with some non-renewable resources to optimize the functionality of the product. The thickness of the biopolymer coating is only 20 microns. Together with board, the percentage of renewable raw materials of Cupforma Natura Bio is a respectable 98%.

Cupforma Dairy board is a highly suitable material for cup-type consumer packages of dairy products, such as ice cream and yoghurt, and is available with different coating options.

 

 

Trayforma Performance is Stora Enso's renewable option to replace plastic and aluminium in food trays. Board-based trays are user-friendly and have a low carbon footprint compared with other materials. Trayforma Performance is available with a PET coating, which allows for cooking in an oven, or with a biodegradable, non-ovenable coating suitable for salads and other fresh foods.

 

 

Stora Enso Primeforma is a new paperboard grade to replace traditional plastic food packaging. "A challenge for food packers wanting to switch to paperboard has been the fact that their existing packaging lines were originally designed for plastic packages. Our new Primeforma board solves the problem as it can be thermoformed on existing packaging lines," says Marcus Weise, Product Manager, Stora Enso Food Service Board. "Currently, the board is used by one of our customers for 100 g cold cuts packaging. The new packaging size of 100 g is welcomed by smaller households, and it brings variety and greater choice to larger families as well. The packaging is environmentally friendly as the board tray can be recycled."

 

 

Using right-sized packages helps reduce food waste

Both common sense and recently conducted research on the environmental impact of packaging alternatives for food products confirm that many consumers tend not to consume the entire contents of a larger food package.

 

A life cycle analysis (LCA) study^[1] recently published in Finland indicates that the "least environmental impact was produced by such packaging solutions and packaging shapes that result in the smallest possible consumer waste. The smallest package sizes could therefore be less burdensome to the environment than large ones, if they also lead to reduced consumer waste."

 

Source:  www.storaenso.com