UPM Specialty Papers continues to work with partners across the food packaging value network, co-creating innovative products that help to shape the future of sustainable packaging. A recent project undertaken with Unipaco S.A., a Polish converter in flexible packaging materials, has now resulted in a recyclable, heat sealable salad and herb pot wrapper that guarantees product safety. The structure also meets strict German 95/5 mono-material requirements, with single-component materials accounting for 95% of the packaging mass.
Growing demand
Brands worldwide are setting increasingly ambitious sustainability targets, especially in terms of recyclability. At the same time, global regulations are becoming ever more stringent. No surprise, therefore, that the industry has seen an exponential growth in the demand for alternatives to flexible plastic packaging. UPM Specialty Papers and Unipaco teamed up to find an answer to the challenge in one specific area: wrapper for salad and herb pots.
UPM Solide™ Lucent 78 g/m2 + 4 g/m2 PE coating
The partnership has resulted in two versions of packaging that combine UPM papers and Unipaco coatings. The first is based on innovative barrier base paper UPM Solide™ Lucent 78 g/m2 with a 4 g/m2 PE coating. This strong and extremely versatile barrier base paper offers a unique natural look and feel. Proven to be particularly well suited to coating and lamination, UPM Solide™ Lucent provides a superior surface for further converting and printing, including rotogravure. The exceptionally thin 4 g/m2 PE layer delivers required moisture resistance and heat sealable properties.
“By combining our papers with an extremely thin PE coating, we set out to create a packaging that helped our customers both to meet their recyclability goals and also comply with all relevant regulations,” explained Kirsi Lahtela, Senior Manager, Product Portfolio Management, UPM Specialty Papers. “The project provided Unipaco with their first opportunity to test our barrier base papers in addition to more familiar coated one side papers. We were delighted to see that UPM Solide Lucent performed perfectly on the coating equipment.”
UPM FlexPack™ 80 g/m2 + 4 g/m2 PE coating
The second version pairs UPM FlexPack™ 80 g/m2 with a 4 g/m2 PE coating. UPM’s coated one side UPM FlexPack™ papers are designed for a wide range of lamination processes and offer an unrivalled combination of strength and high-quality print results - especially on flexo printing. Again, the exceptionally thin and heat sealable 4 g/m2 PE layer guarantees heat-sealability and the correct level of moisture resistance.
“With growing demand for recyclable materials, we decided to focus on lowering the grammage of our coating to develop a unique product. Our goal was to create as thin a coating as possible while also maintaining quality, barrier properties, and heat sealability. By combining this coating with UPM’s papers, we achieved astonishing results that can be easily transferred to a full-scale production. This solution is available on many other papers and for a numerous end-uses such as meat and cheese wrapping, flexible packaging and even sack production,” said Aleksander Borysow, CEO and Chairmen of the Board, Unipaco S.A.
Safe for food contact and compliant with recyclability requirements, this innovative fibre-based salad and herb pot wrapper will be on display at UPM Specialty Papers’ on stand 241, Hall 3A at Fachpack, Nuremburg, Germany, September 24th-26th and at PACK EXPO, Chicago, USA, stand W-21110 — Containers and Materials Pavilion, November 3rd-6th.
For further information please contact:
Maarit Relander, Senior Manager, Stakeholder Relations, UPM Specialty Papers, +358 204 15 0223
UPM, Media Relations
Mon-Fri 9:00–16:00 EEST
tel. +358 40 588 3284
media@upm.com
Link to images: https://materialhub.upm.com/l/W56sn559vpMD
UPM Specialty Papers
UPM Specialty Papers answers the world’s need for sustainable products with high-performance, transformative papers for packaging and labelling, and sustainable office and graphic papers in APAC. Our approximately 2,000 dedicated experts help customers co-create solutions to their business challenges. UPM Specialty Papers’ global team and mills in China, Finland and Germany serve customers consistently and reliably around the world.
Find out how our products are special by nature at upmspecialtypapers.com
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UPM
We deliver renewable and responsible solutions and innovate for a future beyond fossils across six business areas: UPM Fibres, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Communication Papers and UPM Plywood. As the industry leader in responsibility, we are committed to the UN Business Ambition for 1.5°C and the science-based targets to mitigate climate change. We employ 16,600 people worldwide and our annual sales are approximately EUR 10.5 billion. Our shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. UPM Biofore – Beyond fossils. www.upm.com
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Unipaco
Our multi-layer packaging materials combine tradition, experience and modern technology. They are distinguished by professional workmanship, the highest possible quality and safety. By combining many years of experience with the most modern machinery park we’re able to achieve the highest quality of materials with a focus on low grammage coatings. www.unipaco.com
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