Pulp

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 30, 2020 (Press Release) -Industrialization of the disruptive Dry Molded Fiber technology is taking off as PulPac reveals its very first pilot line. To speed up the replacement of single-use plastics globally, the company licenses the technology to manufacturers and brands setting up their own production. The pilot line is a sequential step towards the goal to help licensees produce billions of completely plastic-free and degradable fiber products within a few years.

“We have invented the first industrial method that can convert cellulose fibers into packaging that is price competitive enough to replace single-use plastics at scale. And it is possible to utilize all types of cellulose fibers, virgin, residue or recycled”, says Linus Larsson, CEO of PulPac.

Watch the Dry Molded Fiber pilot line at PulPac’s tech center in Sweden: https://youtu.be/UsHiZCnIrJ4

The new pilot line is fully automated. Raw paper pulp is fed through a mill to break it up into fibers. These are then formed into a web that is fed into a standard plate press. The press is equipped with unique tooling that compacts the fibers into a mold.

“Any offcuts and excess web can be fed back into the system to minimize waste. Barriers and surface decorations are easy to add in-line, rolling all manufacturing processes into one. So, there is no need for additional steps”, Larsson explains.

The industry’s interest in PulPac’s method is significant. A handful of clients and partners are already implementing the technology. The dry forming enables high-speed manufacturing of fiber products of almost any shape or use. It saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions. It also presents many design and tech advantages that traditional fiber molding methods cannot meet.

“Our clients will be able to deliver what a whole world demands, a sustainable replacement to single-use plastics – and they can do so with maintained or even increased margins in several categories. The pilot line lets us showcase the advantages of the technology and fast track industrialization for clients”, Larsson continues.

“Our vision is to be a world leader in innovative packaging that is both sustainable and commercially successful. We help clients to disrupt the industry and set a new and sustainable standard for packaging and single-use products”, Larsson concludes.

PulPac provides the packaging industry with a groundbreaking manufacturing technology for low-cost, high-performance fiber-based packaging and single-use products. By pioneering the technology of cellulose molding PulPac enables their customers to replace single-use plastics with a sustainable and cost competitive alternative globally.

HELSINKI, July 7, 2020 (Press Release) -Food packaging is incredibly important to our day-to-day lives but pressing sustainability issues mean that alternative materials are becoming a requirement rather than an option.

The next time you’re in a grocery store imagine that food packaging didn’t exist. Your bananas and oranges don’t need packages, but buying milk or flour is suddenly a whole lot more complicated. Many foods wouldn’t be available at all, because they wouldn’t remain fresh. Food packaging is extremely important to our modern lives and plays a critical role in both the safety and sustainability of our food supply.

“Good packaging always supports the product in its best way,” says Michael Stephan, partner at Valencia-based consultancy PackCo Brand & Packaging. “Packaging plays an important role in the attractiveness of the product to consumers.”

Food packaging must be a good marketer so that people want to buy the product. It must also be cost-effective. Increasingly, people demand sustainable packaging. Perhaps most importantly, packaging must be a protector, so the food remains safe.

Safety first

“Food packaging must remain innocuous so that it doesn’t harm the food. It can’t leach chemicals to the product,” explains Natalia Torrens, Manager, Business Development at UPM Pulp. “Packaging must also protect the food from outside contamination, such as particles or microbes.”

Plastic is a good material to keep food safe because it makes an effective barrier. It is also popular in food packaging for other reasons. Plastic is light, versatile and cheap, making it a common choice for ready-to-eat products. Yet, some plastics are made from fossil fuels and put a strain on the environment. Sustainability is also becoming a key factor in food packaging, which has necessitated the search for new alternatives.

“In some sectors, regulations are becoming more and more important, such as banning single-use plastic straws or plates,” says José Navarro, partner at PackCo Brand & Packaging. “But consumers and the media are the main drivers demanding a change in packaging and using less plastic. We are now aware of polluted seas, rubbish on beaches and microplastic contamination. There are many factors asking for a change.”

Wood pulp’s versatility

One change is a return to our food packaging roots. Hundreds of years ago our ancestors stored their mushrooms in baskets made of tree bark. More recently, but still long ago, fishmongers wrapped their products in newspaper. In the modern era, the role of wood is being re-examined because wood pulp remains an attractive material for food packaging. It can be used to make a huge variety of food packaging materials, from milk and juice cartons to pasta boxes, bread bags and various kinds of wrapping.

Fibre-based material can be affordable and safe. UPM’s pulp is certified according to the ISO 22000 food contact management system. UPM publishes a declaration of compliance for product safety, including food contact, and their pulp is tested by a third party. Pulp is also versatile and can work in harmony with other materials to build a good food package.

“A package might contain paper, coatings, labels and ink,” says Torrens. “Plain pulp is very safe, but we need to do a risk assessment of how everything works together. Can the ink on a package migrate to the food inside? Do we need a functional barrier? Many packages are more than just pulp and are built in layers.”

Sustainability grows in importance

Wood is a renewable and sustainable resource when sourced from sustainably managed forests. Packages created from wood fibre can also be recycled, so they are used repeatedly as part of the circular economy.

Pulp might play an even larger role in food packaging in the future. For example, bioplastic can be created from the residues of the pulp making process. UPM’s BioVerno naphtha can be used to make renewable bioplastic which can take the place of fossil-based plastics in food packaging.

“I’m very interested in fibre development research,” says Torrens. “We are continually working on new products based on pulp and new uses of pulp. Bioplastic is one of the most exciting developments we will see in the future.”

BRUSSELS, July 9, 2020 (Press Release) -Last week, the scientific journal «the Nature» published an article “Abrupt increase in harvested forest area over Europe after 2015” based on a study by the European Commission Joint Research Centre bioeconomy unit based in Ispra, Italy.

The study claims that there was a significant increase in the harvested forest area in Europe over the recent years and speculates about the reasons and impacts behind such “dramatic increase”.

The conclusion of the researchers is that the increasing demand for forest services and products, driven by the bioeconomy, poses a challenge for sustainable forest management in particular and, more generally, for the EU’s ambition to fight the climate crisis.

Representing an industry based on circular and sustainable forest raw materials, Cepi would like to highlight some important flaws in the study’s methodology and assumptions.

Our intention is to support the development of an EU Forest Observatory that can fast and reliably be used to inform policy and the general public.

1. Increased cleared forest area doesn’t necessarily mean that there is any increased wood demand

Why? Satellite imaging can be misleading if not combined with traditional forest inventory on the ground. The “dramatic increase” in forest harvesting as reported by the study is not supported by national statistics in Sweden and Finland where detailed forest inventories have been made for over a hundred years and already combined with digital methods such as satellite images since many years.

Also, satellite imaging can’t accurately establish the reasons for observing a cleared forest area. This could have been caused by the increased calamities such as fires (e.g. in Portugal and Sweden), pests (in the Eastern and Central Europe and South of Sweden) and storms, which have been affecting Europe’s forests over the last years. These calamities often require sanitary fellings which the study is not able to distinguish from normal commercial harvesting.

1. Satellite images cannot be used to establish the end use of commercial fellings

Why? The study speculates about the reasons for increased harvesting assuming them to be commercial fellings. If it is already challenging to distinguish with certainty between natural calamities and commercial fellings, it is absolutely impossible to know for what purposes any harvested wood was later used.

As far as our sector is concerned, overall the demand for wood pulp is stable and can’t be a driver for increased harvesting. Pulp and paper volumes have peaked in Europe in 2006 and are not expected to reach those levels any time soon. More than half of fibres for paper in Europe are recycled fibre and recycling continues to increase in paper making.

1. Satellite images are not granular enough to establish the state of forest biodiversity, forest carbon sink or ecosystem services

Why? The methodology used doesn’t allow the researchers for such drastic conclusions on the impact of harvesting on carbon absorption, ecosystem services, conservation of biodiversity, soils and water resources. Moreover, the study uses satellite images originally developed for the monitoring of large forest fires, and this technology simply isn’t meant for the purpose of the JRC research.

The Pulp and paper industry has been pioneering in certification and chain of custody systems for three decades now, supporting third party systems such as FSC and PEFC. Meanwhile also best practice in forest management has kept improving and new digital tools are actively used in preserving biodiversity, forest carbon sink and other ecosystem services in forest.

1. The study misleads readers by putting forward incorrect, very large numbers

Why? It is telling that not only many mainstream media but even the Nature editorial seem to have misunderstood the study results; the numbers put forward by the study create the wrong understanding that the harvesting rate in Europe is now higher than the growth rate and that our forests are at risk.

In the EU, forest area and the growing stock has been steadily increasing since the middle of the last century when increased planting of forest started and in particular since 1990. These planted forests are now becoming mature. Harvesting in the EU is still less than the annual growth. Harvesting can increase, but as forest is growing more than it is harvested, the growing stock continues to increase. In the EU, harvesting rates are and will be kept sustainable.  

1. Increased harvesting can go hand in hand with sustainability and climate benefits

Why? The carbon stock in European forests is huge: according to the European Commission, the annual emissions of all motor vehicles in the EU are equal to only 0.03% of the stock. And the stock keeps growing with the sink that is currently equal to 10% of all EU fossil emissions.

This significant accumulation of carbon stock can be maintained for 2050 with active, climate smart forest management. Also the European Green Deal is based on the idea that it needs to preserve forests CO2 sequestration and sink as well as biodiversity but still with the possibility of harvesting wood for economic uses.

There is an untapped potential to sustainably increase raw material provision from sustainably managed European forests. Active, sustainable forest management brings benefits for the future forest resources: forests will be more resilient to changing climate conditions in a context where natural disturbances (e.g. pests, storms, forest fires) are likely to increase.

1. Forests can enable achievement of EU Green Deal – but not with passive protection measures

Why? The assumption of the study that forests should be used as passive resources to compensate for fossil emissions in other sectors is questionable, and it falls flat in front of the huge climate challenge. It also leads to the misperception that forests should be turned into fully protected areas, while active sustainable forestry proves to bring greater climate benefits than passive protection. 

Our recently published climate effect study explains why fossil CO2 should stay in the ground and not be released to be later compensated by forest sink. Any forest-based low carbon product that can now replace fossil-intensive products has an immediate - and significant - impact in avoided emissions whilst optimising sink in the long term. This has been the recommendation of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since their first scientific reports.

About Cepi:

Cepi is the European association representing the paper industry. We offer a wide range of renewable and recyclable wood-based fibre solutions to EU citizens: from packaging to textile, hygiene and tissue products, printing and graphic papers as well as speciality papers, but also bio-chemicals for food and pharmaceuticals, bio-composites and bioenergy.

We are a responsible industry: 92% of our raw materials are sourced in Europe and certified as sustainable, 91% of the water we use is returned to the environment, in good condition. We are the world champion in recycling at the rate of 71,6%. At the forefront of the decarbonisation and industrial transformation of our economy, we embrace digitalisation and bring 20 billion value addition to the European economy and €5.5 billion investments annually. 

Through its 18 national associations, Cepi gathers 500 companies operating 895 mills across Europe and directly employing more than 180,000 people.