Stora Enso introduces bio-based packaging foam

Stora Enso, a paper manufacturer based in Helsinki, is extending its packaging products with a new portfolio of bio-based foams made from Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. The company says the products are fully recyclable and can be used for protective and thermal packaging. 

Its offering consists of Fibrease and Papira, foams that offer technical and sustainability properties.

Stora Enso says Papira is a fiber-based monomaterial designed to be biodegradable and compostable. Papira can be recycled with paper or cardboard, that way the material can be used to make new paper products and ensure optimal use of resources. Fibrease can be recycled in any paper or board streams. The company says it has tested the packaging at real recycling facilities.

The packaging can been collected through existing  recycling programs.

Fibrease is commercially available now, while the pilot plant producing Papira has started operations at the Fors site in Sweden, following the investment announced in August 2020. The pilot plant aims to evaluate and validate Papira as a packaging foam in customer tests. The foams can be used for protecting fragile goods and are optimal for thermal packaging of temperature sensitive products.

According to a news release from Stora Enso, fossil-fuel-based packaging is a major contributor to pollution, accounting for 40 percent of the world’s plastics. With Fibrease and Papira, Stora Enso says it is introducing renewable and climate-friendly alternatives to fossil-fuel-based protective packaging.

“Consumers of today are pushing to minimize the use of plastic and maximize recyclability,” says Markus Mannström, executive vice president of biomaterials at Stora Enso. “At the same time, the need for packaging protection is increasing due to growing demands in e-commerce and cold-chain logistics. With our bio-based foams, we help customers create eco-friendly and circular packaging solutions while also meeting material performance needs to protect and insulate the goods.”