Stora Enso is extending its packaging offering with a new portfolio of bio-based foams from wood. The products are fully recyclable and can be used for protective and thermal packaging. Lightweight wood foams address the need for climate-friendly, renewable and circular cushioning materials in inner packaging.
Stora Enso’s offering consists of Fibrease™ by Stora Enso and Papira® by Stora Enso. 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.
Fossil-based packaging is a major contributor to pollution, accounting for 40% of the world’s plastics. Today fossil-based materials, such as plastic wrap or polystyrene foams, are widely used as cushioning and insulating materials in packaging. With Fibrease and Papira, Stora Enso now introduces renewable and climate-friendly alternatives to fossil-based packaging protection. The bio-based foams come from certified wood and are recyclable in paper recycling streams.
“Consumers of today are pushing to minimise the use of plastic and maximise recyclability. 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,” says Markus Mannström, EVP Biomaterials at Stora Enso.
Stora Enso’s new pilot plant aims to evaluate and validate Papira as a packaging foam in customer tests. Stora Enso’s Fors site in Sweden, where the Papira pilot facility is located, produces lightweight paperboards for consumer packaging.
About Stora Enso’s wood foam products
Fibrease™ by Stora Enso is made with up to 98% renewable materials and designed to replace polyurethane (PU) foams and polystyrene (EPS) as well as formed in-place fossil-based solutions. Fibrease is a soft yet resilient material with a memory foam-like behaviour and can be fabricated by using different foam cutting techniques and thermoforming. It comes with a high insulating capacity and is suitable for thermal packaging, for example in online grocery sales and medicine shipments. The foam is recyclable in the paper and board stream and optimal for recycling in closed loops to new material and products.
Papira® by Stora Enso is a fully bio-based and biodegradable foam that is fully recyclable in any paper stream. It is a rigid yet flexible foam that provides high protection against shock and offers a plastic-free alternative to polymeric foams such polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PU). Papira is designed for optimal protection of fragile, sensitive and high-value consumer goods such as electronics as well as industrial appliances. It can be fabricated by using different foam cutting techniques and lamination.
