The world does not need more food packaging. It needs better, renewable ones. Chemistry plays a key role in increasing sustainability and reducing food waste by enabling safe and functional fiber-based packaging. But the features that make a food package more sustainable, more durable or smarter are almost always invisible. Equally invisible are the many solutions that can reduce and prevent food and plastic waste throughout the supply chain. It’s time to pay attention to the unseen.
We researched over 4,000 consumers in China, USA, Germany and Finland about food packaging materials, food shopping and food waste. See what people think.
The global challenges of food loss and plastic waste present great opportunities for us to come up with practical solutions.
ArticleFood packagingPulp & Paper
As you would expect, any packaging material that comes into contact with your food has to comply with much stricter hygiene regulations than the box your new shoes come in. The chemicals used to give food packaging its strength and stop it from leaking should stay in the packaging and not migrate into your food. But how do we help packaging manufactures ensure their products are safe?
ArticleFood packagingPulp & Paper
What could be better on a hot summer’s day than cooling down with a cone or tub of your favorite ice cream? But when picking the package out of the store freezer, have you ever thought about the invisible chemical magic that makes sure your tasty treat stays safe to eat, in one piece, and looking irresistible?
ArticleFood packagingPulp & Paper
Today, everyone talks about the importance of recycling and the need for circular-economy thinking – and many of us faithfully sort our garbage into paper, plastic, metals, and so on. But how green is recycling in reality?
ArticleFood packagingPulp & Paper
Food packaging plays an often overlooked role in the total environmental footprint of food items, affecting both product shelf-life and waste recyclability. We investigated consumers' views on food packaging materials, food shopping and food waste. More than 4,000 respondents participated in the survey conducted by our third-party research partner Taloustutkimus.
ArticleFood packagingPulp & Paper
With global demand for food and beverage packaging continuing to rise, producing hygienic board is a good business for many mills. But it’s not as simple as just maintaining the machinery and adding some biocide to keep microbial activity in check. Kemira experts discuss what it takes to ensure high hygiene of board and productivity of machine.
High quality packaging board both protects a wide variety of products and promotes brands in the best possible way. This requires properties such as strength and stiffness, lightest possible weight as well as superb printing and converting of the package. With liquid packaging and food service grades, strict standards for hygiene and cleanliness must be met. We offer industry-leading chemistry expertise to help board manufacturers reach all desired qualities.
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.
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.
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.
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