UPM Specialty Papers partners with Unipaco for sustainable salad pot wrapper

POLAND – UPM Specialty Papers has teamed up with Unipaco S.A., a Polish converter of flexible packaging materials, to develop an eco-friendly, recyclable wrapper for salad and herb pots that ensures product safety and meets strict sustainability standards.

The packaging adheres to Germany’s 95/5 mono-material requirements, where 95% of the packaging mass consists of a single-component material.

As global brands set ambitious sustainability goals, particularly regarding recyclability, and regulations become increasingly stringent, demand for alternatives to flexible plastic packaging has surged.

In response, UPM Specialty Papers and Unipaco collaborated on two packaging solutions combining UPM’s papers with Unipaco’s coatings.

The first solution uses UPM Solide Lucent 78 g/m² barrier base paper with a 4 g/m² PE coating. This paper offers a natural look and feel, excellent for lamination and printing processes, including rotogravure.

The thin PE layer provides essential moisture resistance and heat-sealability, ensuring product protection.

“Our goal was to create packaging that helps customers meet recyclability targets while complying with regulations,” said Kirsi Lahtela, Senior Manager of Product Portfolio Management at UPM Specialty Papers.

“This project allowed Unipaco to test our barrier base papers, and UPM Solide Lucent performed perfectly on their coating equipment.”

The second version features UPM FlexPack 80 g/m² paper, also with a 4 g/m² PE coating. UPM FlexPack is designed for various lamination processes and offers durability, heat-sealability, and moisture resistance, making it ideal for flexo printing.

Innovations in confectionery packaging

In another development, UPM Specialty Papers has collaborated with Henkel and Koenig & Bauer to develop a recyclable pouch, known as ‘doypack’, for confectionery, frozen food, and bakery products.

This pouch eliminates the need for barrier properties, allowing it to be digitally printed and recycled through existing fibre streams. It is ideal for small-batch production for events or localized marketing.

The project utilized UPM Asendo barrier paper, which was tested and optimized on a Koenig & Bauer RotaJET digital press.

Coated with Henkel’s Aquence Epix BC 6134 FL, the pouch resists moisture and grease while maintaining excellent sealing properties.

“The smooth collaboration between UPM, Koenig & Bauer, and Henkel has enabled us to showcase the latest advancements in digital printing and sustainable packaging,” said Aleksi Pekkanen, Senior Researcher at UPM R&D.

UPM’s range of barrier and barrier base papers, such as UPM Asendo, UPM Solide Lucent, and UPM Prego, can be further coated to enhance protective properties, providing medium to high barrier solutions for a variety of packaging applications.

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