Stora Enso, a paper manufacturer company based in Sweden is building innovative solutions for packaging materials. A leading global provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, and wooden constructions, the company is creating effective alternative solutions to plastic products.
The company displays its wrapping skills with a new portfolio of bio-based foams made from Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood, a label that guarantees products are made from well-managed woodlands. Goods made by the company are fully recyclable and can be used for protective and thermal packaging. Its offering consists of Fibrease and Papira, foams that offer technical and sustainability properties. These come with adaptable properties and can be used for protecting fragile temperature-sensitive cargoes.
While Fibrease is made up of 98% renewable materials and designed to limit the use of polyurethane and polystyrene, Papira is a fully bio-based and biodegradable foam. Fibrease is a soft and resilient material, which has a high insulating capacity. The most common applications for packaging include medicine and grocery shipments. Papira is the rigid kind, although somewhat flexible, it makes for an efficient plastic-free alternative. Fully recyclable in any paper stream, Papira is designed for optimal protection of fragile and high-value consumer goods, like industrial appliances and electronics. It can be fabricated by using different types of foam cutting techniques and lamination.
The company says that fossil-based packaging is a major contribution to pollution, almost accounting for 40% of the world’s plastic. Plastic wraps or polystyrene foams used for cushioning are completely fossil-based. With Fibrease and Papira, Stora Enso brings fully innovative climate-friendly alternatives to fossil-based packaging.
Markus Mannström, EVP Biomaterials at Stora Enso emphasised that consumers are pushing towards minimal use of plastic products. With an increasing demand in e-commerce and supply chain management, the need for packaging protection has only grown more since last year. “With our bio-based foams we help customers create eco-friendly and circular packaging solutions, while also meeting material performance needs to protect and insulate the goods,” he further added.
Stora Enso’s pilot project is aiming to evaluate and validate the performance of these foams via consumer testing. Stora Enso’s site, where the Papira pilot facility is located, is aimed at producing lightweight paperboards for consumer packaging. It is currently based in Fors, Sweden.