In a pilot-scale trial to find alternative raw materials for rigid plastic packages, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has discovered the unprecedented maximum limits of its highly extensible formable cellulose-based webs used for rigid packaging applications.
The results enable the manufacturing of a wide range of sustainable 3D packaging solutions that were previously unattainable.
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The development work was conducted as part of a research programme in which VTT, in co-operation with 54 other companies and the Regional Council of Central Finland, up-scaled alternatives to plastic products.
Typical commercial boards have between 3% to 6% extensibility, and the best commercial formable boards have 10% to 18% extensibility. But by utilising foam forming technology, VTT has now obtained up to 30% extensibility. This enables brand owners to use rigid, cardboard-like packaging to serve consumers looking to buy more sustainable products.
According to VTT, this material improvement could enable food brands producing cold cuts to increase cardboard-like package sizes from 75 grams up to 200 to 250 grams. By adjusting the tray forming process and tray dimensions, even larger cardboard-like packages could be produced.
The non-profit research company highlights the need for alternative materials following the Single-use Plastics Directive and the European Commission’s proposal for Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
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By GlobalDataThis material development could also have ramifications for the global plastics market, which is valued at more than 300 mtpa in 2023 and is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of more than 2% between 2023 and 2030.
VTT research team leader Jarmo Kouko commented: “In industries that use huge amounts of plastic, like the food packaging sector, we can find plenty of opportunities to reduce the use of fossil fuel-based materials and replace them with sustainable ones that take us closer to the carbon-neutral societies of the future and allow us to be more frugal with natural resources.”
