Metsä Board presents sustainable paperboard solutions and mill modernisation
Metsä Board presents sustainable paperboard solutions at FACHPACK 2025 and informs about investments in the Simpele mill.
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Metsä Board has introduced a new, lightweight packaging solution with strength properties similar to those of current rigid tray solutions. It is therefore particularly suitable for cosmetics, confectionery, beverages and other premium products and saves up to 50 per cent in weight compared to conventional solutions.
When it comes to packaging, branded goods manufacturers and processors have to fulfil ever higher standards in the face of stricter legal requirements and increasingly well-informed customers. The choice of the right material plays a major role here. It can have a positive effect on the environmental compatibility of packaging and thus contribute to it, fulfil the requirements of the law and the customer.
Metsä Board's Excellence Centre provides the functional framework for this. The packaging design team works on this in co-creation workshops, improve current packaging or develop new solutions, based on the needs of the customer. The result of one of these co-creation workshops is a lightweight gift packaging with strength properties that come close to those of current hard-shell solutions.
Innovative e-shaft solution
The new packaging solution is based on an E-flute corrugated board, i.e. a particularly finely corrugated cardboard. The packaging consists of three layers - two cover layers and a corrugated layer in between. Either an uncoated or alternatively a coated white kraftliner is used as the top layer. In the latter case, the packaging also has particularly outstanding printing properties. The new packaging solution was specifically with a view to production efficiency and suitability for mass production developed on today's production lines.
The new gift packaging is particularly suitable for cosmetics, confectionery, drinks and other premium products.
„Conventional gift packaging in the form of a rigid box is largely manufactured in Asia, but with our new E-flute solution we can offer the European market locally produced, high-quality packaging. Thanks to its light weight, our customers can reduce the carbon footprint of their products with this packaging solution. As no harmful adhesives or other plastic laminates are used, the packaging can also be recycled even more efficiently.“
Ilkka Harju, Packaging Services Director at Metsä Board
Less material, smaller CO2 footprint
Both the reduction of plastic content and lightweighting - as Metsä Board calls the minimisation of material usage - are core activities of the packaging design team. In addition Metsä Board employs a whole team of sustainability experts. They help customers to compare packaging materials and structures, calculate the emissions caused by packaging and develop more environmentally friendly solutions.
The Sustainability Services team also tested the new E-flute solution for sustainability and compared the new solution with the rigid boxes made from recycled fibres that are traditionally used as gift packaging. The result: Up to 50 per cent weight is saved. The team also calculated the CO2 footprint of the new solution (cradle-to-gate) and determined a 59 per cent reduction compared to conventional solutions.
In the Excellence Centre Metsä Board also uses hi-tech simulation techniques to test various environmentally friendly alternatives. The aim is to introduce more lightweight packaging solutions. Iiro Numminen, Structural Packaging Designer, is convinced that the co-creation workshops held in the presence of Metsä Board are a are a target-orientated approach to promote different forms of cooperation. „The workshops give us important insights into the future development of packaging. When large quantities are processed, even a small change to the packaging design can have a big impact,“ he summarises.
Source: Metsä Board
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