UPM Specialty Papers, in partnership with Lantmännen Unibake Finland and Adara Pakkaus, has just won a top 3 award in the Sustainable Innovation Competition (Kestävät innovaatiot) at PacTec, FoodTec & PlastExpo Nordic 2024.
UPM Specialty Papers teams up with Lantmännen Unibake Finland, a specialist in bakery packaging, and Adara Pakkaus, to design a new kind of recyclable, fibre-based packaging that eliminates the need for plastic bags inside corrugated cardboard box.
Riikka Salokannel, Lantmännen Unibake Finland (left), Maarit Relander, UPM Specialty Papers, and Matti Sappinen, Adara Pakkaus at the competition final.
Frozen baked goods typically require packaging that can withstand grease and moisture to maintain their freshness. Until now, cardboard boxes with plastic bags inside have ensured food safety and maintained quality standards. Two years in the making, the new co-created innovation features a UPM Asendo™ barrier paper inner liner to eliminate the need for fossil-based materials.
The packaging went into production in October 2023, while the lessons learned can be applied to minimise the use of fossil-based materials across a wide range of other packaging in the future.