Circular economy with multi-purpose and recycling

At the Metsä Board Excellence Center, Ilkka Harju (r.) and his colleagues are continuously working on new packaging solutions.
At the Metsä Board Excellence Center, Ilkka Harju (r.) and his colleagues are continuously working on new packaging solutions. (Image: Mets Board)

19. Februar 2023

High quality with low material use – this is the criteria of Metsä Board’s “Better with Less” Design Challenge. The company calls on young designers to develop sustainable and recyclable packaging solutions. We spoke with the judge and Packaging Services Director of EMEA & APAC, Ilkka Harju, about the competition and the challenges facing the industry.

Metsä Board has again called for a Design Challenge in 2022 and is dedicated to the topic of circular economy. What does the circular economy mean to Metsä Board and why is it important?

Of course, sustainability and the circular economy are now more important than ever before. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation provides a kind of benchmark and principle here. The basic principles are reduce, reuse and recycle. These are the principles we follow when designing packaging solutions. And this already applies when it comes to the raw materials from forests. Even here, it is important to know exactly which raw materials you are using and where they come from. In our case, we use certified forest-based materials, which we use for the production of pulp and therefore, cardboard. Today, we are able to produce our folding boxboards in an energy-efficient way. Because there is also a discussion about the footprint and CO2 emissions in the production of materials, our goal is to stop using fossil fuels by 2030. When designing and developing packaging, we can create solutions that are fit for purpose and meet the circularity concept, so that a minimum of raw materials and energy are used. We work with a lightweight material that still has to support and protect the products. Packaging should be designed to be ecological and material efficient. When we have designed solutions to be efficient throughout the value chain, loops can be closed. In the end, the product should always be recyclable.
The sushi packaging combines two materials that can be put into the respective recycling streams separately.
The sushi packaging combines two materials that can be put into the respective recycling streams separately. (Image: Metsä Board)

You also mentioned energy savings, renewable energies and material reduction. Are there other aspects that go into sustainability when developing paper or board packaging?

The problem is often that in addition to sustainability aspects such as material reduction, we also need to address the problems that the packaging is meant to solve. So we have lightweight and smart solutions that can have multiple purposes which are also able to have a second life. Of course, there always comes a point in the end when it is time to recycle. But how can you delay that point? There have been many discussions pitting plastic against paperboard, but it is not so black and white. From the consumer's point of view, for example, there are some requirements that are easier to meet with plastic packaging such as whether or not the packaging needs to be transparent or particularly rigid. With sushi packaging, there is the possibility of combining two materials. The sushi tray can be made of paperboard and is extended by a plastic lid. Both materials can be recycled in different recycling streams. In addition, the plastic lid serves as a cup holder for the sauces and when consumers eat the sushi, they’re able to use the lid to fill the sauces and dip the sushi. We can get more out of the packaging and use it for multiple purposes.
Ilkka Harju sits on the Design Challenge jury as an expert and looks for innovative packaging solutions that save material and perform strongly in terms of quality.
Ilkka Harju sits on the Design Challenge jury as an expert and looks for innovative packaging solutions that save material and perform strongly in terms of quality. (Image: Metsä Board)

Let's move on to the Design Challenge. What is the focus of the Challenge? Is it design, convenience for consumers, sustainability or do the topics go hand in hand?

They pretty much went hand in hand. And this year, the theme "Better with Less" was about finding innovative solutions with paperboard as a material. There were different packaging solutions for very different purposes. In the meantime, the solutions can be seen on the shortlist on our website. There are very good examples where the packaging has been given a second life before being recycled.

Where would you say the big challenges lie in the circular economy?

I would say that the biggest challenge is the recycling system. For example, in the Nordic countries, we have well-developed recycling systems for paper and paperboard. But we also see that there are many countries where this is not the case. Consumer awareness is also important here. We should inform consumers about different materials and how they can recycle them and what impact they have on the environment. Another challenge is that it takes innovative start-ups and companies to develop technologies to produce our solutions and designs. There are good ideas, but we often lack the right technologies to implement them. Therefore, it's about how we combine materials and technologies and create something new.

To create a cycle, many parts have to fit together. What innovations do you see when you look ahead to 2023?

I am sure that there will be new solutions for transport packaging and new manufacturing processes. Where plastic is still used, we will see fibre-based packaging, then 3-D fibres. This is not a new technology, but moulded pulp-based packaging will be an important segment. How big it will be will depend on its cost and efficiency compared to paperboard, and on new solutions in paperboard. Barriers are another issue. We are already seeing ecological alternatives that have the same barrier properties as plastic barriers. This is the case for bakery products, for example, but when it comes to meat, etc., we are not there yet.

www.metsagroup.com

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