Resource conservation and environmental protection are top priorities for Finnish paperboard manufacturer Metsä Board. CO2 emissions and waste can be reduced with the use of recyclable lightweight paperboards made from origin-traceable fresh fibres.
By Dr. Bernhard Reichenbach
The Metsä Board product range comprises folding box boards, food-service boards and white kraftliners. Weight-optimized paperboard grades have been developed in order to create better, safer, more sustainable solutions for consumer goods, POS and food-service applications. The products are supplied to brand articles and to companies active in retail, processing and sales. In 2018, the company, which is part of Finland’s Metsä Group, employed 2,400 people and achieved revenues of EUR 1.9 bn.
Metsä Board uses fresh fibres for its products, a renewable raw material that can be traced to its origins in sustainable Nordic forestry operations. In the spring of 2019, the company introduced a new, improved folding box board product portfolio aimed at supporting brand article suppliers and processing companies with the signi-ficant challenges facing the packaging sector such as resource conservation, reducing CO2 emissions and packaging product safety. On the occasion of a press conference at the company location in Frankfurt/Germany, Metsä Board Account Director Bernd Gohlke noted: “We have achieved this with the implementation of our new very high-yield cellulose fibres and a focus on the development of the paperboard”.
Along with the ecological benefits of weight-optimization, the improved product grades are also designed to further benefit customers with more attractive brand presentation via optimized, balanced optical properties. Mr Gohlke emphasized: “With our renewed, simplified product port-folio, which has been reduced from seven grades down to five, we are now increasing our already market-leading quality consistency in folding box board grades, as well as our supply reliability”.
This past March, Metsä Board intro-duced a new “Common Stock Service” for white kraftliners from Lubeck/Germany designed to optimize the processes associated with kraftliner ordering and delivery in continental Europe. Sales Director Joachim Berthel explained: “Our reduction of delivery times from five weeks down to three to four days makes corrugated cardboard processors more competitive by enabling them to react more quickly to urgent orders. The optimized local storage availability makes genuine just-in-time delivery service possible”.
To encourage designers to create packaging solutions that generate better brand experiences and leave a smaller environmental footprint, in 2017/2018 Metsä Board organized its first ever “Better with Less – Design Challenge” competition. The debut event was a resounding success featuring over 300 submissions from a total of 38 countries and a wide range of sustainable packaging concepts. The kick-off for the 2018/2019 follow-up competition is set to come this September.
September will also welcome Metsä Board and its product portfolio to FachPack packaging trade show in Nuremberg/Germany (Hall 7A, Stand 136).
