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It’s time to pay attention to the unseen

See the invisible

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report

Future of food packaging – Four scenarios for 2030

How will food consumption and food packaging look like in 2030? Our future scenario survey provides four plausible alternatives for the future and paints pictures of consumer attitudes and behavior, packaging trends, recycling, and regulation in ten years’ time.

A person smiling and holding a brown food package.
webinar

Food packaging 2030 – Opportunities in the value chain

The food industry and the food packaging value chain are rapidly changing, challenged by the need to be more sustainable and resource-efficient and to meet the demands of urban consumers. What does the future of food and food packaging look like?

webinars

Webinars for Pulp & Paper

See our webinar collection focusing on the hot topics for paper and board producers. Gain insight into the future trends of food packaging, learn about sustainability, compliance and hygiene, and discover how chemistry enables functional fiber-based packaging.

Enabling recyclable, functional, and safe food packaging

Chemistry is the invisible enabler for recyclable, functional, and safe fiber-based food packaging. With our expertise, application know-how, and chemicals, we are an essential part of the value chain that is working together to find future-proof solutions to global sustainability and resource efficiency challenges that impact packaging. 

Without chemistry, paper or board could not be turned into fit-for-purpose packaging. The packaging material would not have the required stiffness, strength, convertibility, or hydrophobicity; it would neither protect the product nor be hygienic and safe to use; it would not withstand being shipped or carried around.  

It’s time to pay attention to the unseen. 

Insights

The global sustainability and resource efficiency challenges present great opportunities for us to come up with practical solutions. Our end-to-end chemistry solutions and expertise help achieve resource-efficient production processes and allow for safe and efficient use of recycled fiber raw materials while meeting end-use demands for functionality, convertibility, and safety.

ArticleFiber-based materialsPackaging

Ensuring success with dispersion barriers, from pulping to wastewater treatment

For the paper and board manufacturers, reaching success with barrier technology requires more than just adding the right coating chemistry to the process.
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A person eating fries from a brown cardboard box.
ArticleFiber-based materialsPackaging

3 reasons why dispersion barrier coatings are the future of recyclable food packaging

Dispersion barrier coatings enable sustainable and safe paper and board packaging – our expert shares 3 ways how.
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Persons holding pastries in paper and board packages, featuring Kemira's barrier chemistry.
WebinarFiber-based materialsPackaging

Dispersion barriers for recyclable packaging

In this webinar, we’ll introduce our new dispersion barrier that helps reduce and replace plastic in food service paper and board and enables renewable, recyclable, and repulpable fiber-based food packaging.
Watch on-demand
ArticleFiber-based materialsPackaging

Barrier coatings, tailored to fit your process

A one-size-fits-all solution can be a poor fit for most. That’s why Kemira’s dispersion barrier coatings for recyclable and fluorine-free paper and board packaging are based on an open formula.
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fiber take-away packages lined up in rows
WebinarFiber-based materialsPackaging

How barrier coated boards repulp?

Join our webinar to learn how dispersion barrier coated boards behave in the repulping process and how the repulped material can be effectively reused in board making.
Watch on-demand
Three persons sitting in a harbour and eating takeway food.
ArticleFiber-based materialsPackaging

Barrier coating for food packaging – 10 questions answered

Here you can find answers to 10 commonly asked questions about FennoGuard GO, the sustainable and safe barrier solution for fiber-based food packaging.
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Fries in a brown food packages.
Meet our expertFiber-based materialsPackaging

Barrier coating expertise for sustainable food packaging

Our expert Gordon Bugg helps paper and board manufacturers in North America meet demand for recyclable, fiber-based packaging thanks to his deep understanding of barrier coatings.
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Paper shopping bags hanging on a bicycle rail.
WebinarFiber-based materialsPackaging

Compliance in food packaging

Watch our webinar to learn about the existing regulation for food contact materials, how safety and compliance of the food service board is ensured and what are the solutions to impurities like non-intentionally added substances.
Watch on-demand
Paper grocery shopping bags on a bicycle rail.
ArticlePackaging

Tackling food waste with packaging

With roughly one third of the food we produce every year ending up on the trash pile instead of in our stomachs, cutting down food waste is becoming an urgent global priority. High-quality food-grade packaging is part of the solution to this problem.
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Board & Packaging

Recyclable by nature, fiber-based packaging materials are essential in the transition toward carbon-neutral, circular economy. Our end-to-end chemistry solutions and expertise help achieve resource-efficient production processes and allow for safe and efficient use of recycled fiber raw materials while meeting end-use demands for functionality, convertibility, and safety.

Hygiene and product safety

Hygiene is the top priority for food service board suppliers. At the same time, paper machines are known to be prone to problems related to uncontrolled microbiological (MB) growth. The combination of potential troublesome MB growth and the need for a very high level of hygiene makes MB control a subject no paperboard producer can ignore.

Biofilm or slime growth on board machine surfaces can have drastic negative effects on both machine runnability and end-product quality. Uncontrolled bacterial growth causes unstable wet-end chemistry, taste or odor issues, spoilage of papermaking additives, and harmful bacterial sporulation. For example, a two-day outbreak of bacterial spores on a board machine can lead to the loss of thousands of tons of finished food packaging board, at a cost approaching millions of euros. With Kemira’s chemistry and application expertise, you can cure and protect your board machine from troubles caused by microbes.

A person eating fries from a brown cardboard box.

Liquid resistance, printability and convertibility

Fiber based food packaging materials are more sustainable than plastic, but they set high demands for qualities such as hydrophobation and liquid resistance. Liquid resistance is one of the most important packaging board characteristics that is needed for all take-away food packages such as noodle cups, coffee mugs or hamburger boxes. Thanks to liquid resistance, consumers are able to keep their fingers clean and liquids and grease inside the food packages.

In addition, board should be easily printed on and converted into highly appealing packages with brilliant color reproduction. High-quality packages should not only protect the enclosed products, but also help promote brands in highly competitive markets – where every little detail counts. All this requires expertise in chemistry.

Kemira is a world-leader in sizing chemistries that provide liquid resistance to your packaging board. We also have a broad expertise in applications and analysis methods for improved printability and convertibility.

Persons holding pastries in paper and board packages, featuring Kemira's barrier chemistry.

Lightweighting and strength

Today’s consumers do a lot of shopping online which has driven changes in packaging materials. Product packages have to look appealing, be strong enough to survive being shipped around the world, and still look good when they are finally delivered. At the same time, consumers are expecting more sustainable packaging materials. Lighter weight packaging is one way to improve sustainability: lighter packages mean lighter load and reduced fuel consumption as well as reduced transportation costs.

Kemira chemistries enable reducing basis weights in board-making with no decrease in strength, stiffness or performance. We offer a portfolio of strength chemistries that enable the lightweighting of your sheet while increasing the strength and quality of your finished products. We can also improve your machine runnability and reduce sheet breaks and downtime. Overall profitability can be improved through fiber savings, lower energy consumption in the drying phase, less tonnage to transport, and reduced volume of the finished products.

Storage worker and a pile of brown cardboard boxes.
Paper roll in a factory.

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