Sappi and HP Indigo have jointly developed a flexible food packaging made of paper that requires no special coatings or laminations and is printed in high quality.
The demand for recyclable, paper-based packaging is increasing. In order to fulfil the new requirements of food manufacturers, the Sappi and HP Indigo have joined forces. The challenge: Sealable paper-based soup bags. Each of the bags was to be personalised and also printed with silver and invisible yellow to protect the brand. The company was looking for a material that could withstand the various steps from printing to further processing through varnishing to sealing - and was sustainable.
Paper soup bags
For the soup bags, the decision was made in favour of Guard Gloss 4-OHG from Sappi in a grammage of 91 g/m².
„Over 80 per cent of the materials in the high-barrier paper come from renewable sources. The paper-based packaging solution eliminates the need for additional special coatings or laminations and the materials can be recycled in the waste paper stream.“ Kathrin Böhmüller, Sales Support Manager Consumer Goods and Self Adhesives at Sappi
HP Indigo was responsible for the elaborate design of the bags. At its Graphic Experience Centre in Barcelona, the 3-sided sealed soup bag (130 mm x 86 mm) their customised design. The team developed the artwork for the pouches and created six different designs using HP Indigo's proprietary variable data printing (VDP) capabilities to reflect the different vegetable flavours of the soups.
Utilising the advantages of digital printing
For the printing process, a narrow web HP Indigo 6K Digital Press which uses the full range of HP Indigo colours as well as silver and special invisible yellow inks. In combination with Sappi's material, the colours give the soup pouches their high-quality appearance. The results demonstrate the unique possibilities of digital printing, which range from different inks to variable data and a Personalisation with six different SKUs.
Following the printing process, a further finishing process was carried out: In order to avoid the additional lamination process a water-based gloss varnish with high heat and scratch resistance. This ensures that the brilliant print results and excellent colour design are protected during the pouch manufacturing process through processing, filling and transport to the consumer's point of sale.
The varnish, ACTDigi Protective Coating AQ440125 from Actega, was specially developed for the flexible packaging market and offers high abrasion resistance and fast drying. The amount of coating required is very low, and the absence of solvents and VOCs means that water-based coatings are environmentally friendly and have no negative impact on the subsequent recycling process.
The bags were then Bossar Packaging refined. The company specialises in the design and production of horizontal form-fill-seal lines for the manufacture of flexible packaging, such as spouted pouches, zip pouches and sachets. The 3-side seal bottom gusseted pouches were produced using Bossar's fully servo-controlled BMS series machines.
Source: Sappi
