Flextrus PaperLite® is a paper based product with unique built in stretching opportunities. Flextrus buys the FibreForm® paper from Billerud and combines it into a multilayer material with resin or plastic film from fossil or renewable feedstock. The characteristics are dependent of the added layers. Every PaperLite® product is tailor made. The result can be deepdrawn up to 25 mm. Immediately after the deepdrawing in the client’s production line, the tray or cup is filled with a product and then sealed with a suitable lidding film. Flextrus supply PaperLite® on tailormade reels. “If customers want to buy trays instead of forming them on their own lines, we have partners to do that for them”, says Nyström.
The PaperLite® product shows good stability. Which it needs in packaging. But what about recyclability and biodegradability? Fibreform® is a 100% virgin fibre product, biodegradable and recyclable. It is also offered certified in accordance with FSC, like the PaperLite® from Flextrus. Do clients ask for this? Normally larger brand owners ask for FSC. Smaller ones don’t, yet. “The recyclability depends on where you are in Europe”, Nyström indicates. In Sweden the infrastructure for recycling is well developed so at end of life the PaperLite® tray can go into the cardboard and paper recycling stream. Elsewhere in Europe the package
is most likely to end up in energy recovery through incineration. Dependent on choice of barrier and sealing polymers the PaperLite® is biodegradable.
PaperLite® can replace for example an APET-reel on the line. “Our PaperLite® can be processed at the same speeds as plastics”, says Nyström. Customers were adamantly clear on that requirement. The material offers excellent runnability. But it is not plastic and behaves differently. It requires minor modifications, training and some focus points. “Fine tuning things like temperatures, humidity in production halls… Bits and pieces. Salt and pepper”. Nystrom does not give away more.
Nyström, who worked for Amcor (packaging), Strålfors (printing), Nestlé (food), Findus (food) and Perstorp (laminates and flooring) in the past, has a keen understanding of product requirements, applications and customer needs. Flextrus also invests heavily in its customer relations offer it calls ‘Total Customer Performance’ (TCP). Based on dedicated development it understands its product, knows how to handle it, to make it fit for the application and to run it on the production line. “We also understand our customer’s needs and can apply our knowledge in consulting and advising them in moving towards more sustainable directions.”
Fresh foods, the fastest moving consumer goods, the segment that thrives on innovation, was the first to go for PaperLite®. Marks & Spencer uses it for high quality processed meat such as ham, sausages and salamis.
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