Bio-based packaging

Ahlstrom-Munksjö has expanded its offering of sustainable tape backing solutions by launching a complete product range for pressure-sensitive packaging tape applications.

MasterTape Pack is a sustainable fiber-based alternative to plastic packaging tapes with high bio-based contents. It offers excellent internal cohesion and mechanical properties for shock-resistant tapes, making it ideal for light/medium or even heavy-duty packaging.

Stora Enso’s offering consists of Fibrease and Papira. Both foams come with versatile technical and sustainability properties, and customers can select a suitable foam based on their specific packaging requirements. The foams can be used for protecting fragile goods and are optimal for thermal packaging of temperature sensitive products.

Fibrease is commercially available now, while the pilot plant for producing Papira has started operations at the Fors site in Sweden, following the investment announced in August 2020.

A new kind of compostable carrier bag that is made from the same material as egg shells and has a much lower carbon footprint than plastic, paper and other “biodegradable” bags has been launched in the UK.

Known as the Happy Dolphin, the bag is the result of a £4m EU commission to invent a new kind of plastic substitute to help solve the waste crisis.

Its developers are in discussions with UK supermarkets about using their bag and have signed a deal in Vietnam to supply four billion of them to Seven-11 outlets in the country.

Built for the conscious consumer, luxury fragrance subscription service, Scentbird, has debuted Sanctuary, a new fragrance line designed for “those who care about the fate of our planet.” Sanctuary’s clean, community-driven fragrances are inspired by endangered species and their habitats, each aimed at raising money and awareness for the preservation of their namesake.
 

While the technology to use edible biopolymers and biodegradable films and sachets from macroalgae or seaweed in the food industry isn’t new — it was famously used for the first time in the 2019 London Marathon, when runners going past Mile 23 were handed out edible sachets containing a Lucozade energy drink which they could either swallow or discard — this is arguably the first time this revolutionary technology has been developed in India.