Brand owners can now reduce the percentage of non-renewable materials required for packaging

InnoMould: New innovation in paper from Stora Enso makes plastic containers lighter and eco-friendlier

Stora Enso, with some 26 000 employees and 85 production units worldwide, is the global rethinker of the packaging, paper and wood products industry. The Group initiated a change process called Rethink that calls for a paradigm shift: To rethink the old and expand to the new to offer customers innovative solutions based on renewable materials.

Stora Enso succeeded in developing a speciality paper that will enable the industry to reduce the share of non-renewable material required for packaging produced in injection-moulding processes. Every day, literally millions of packages – for the most part made of polypropylene – are produced using this technology. In the past, this process involved placing a printed film label – as the carrier of information, brand and advertising – in the mould before injecting plastic melt to create a finished pot.

With the new “InnoMould” paper produced at Uetersen mill, the film label can now be replaced by a paper label, reducing the amount of material of fossil origin. The special properties of InnoMould also result in additional benefits. The paper combines with the plastic melt to an integral unit that is much stiffer than packaging made using a conventional film label. The higher bearing pressure of the pot permits higher stacking and the walls of the pots can be produced with up to 50% less material. That means brand owners can easily achieve a significant reduction in the percentage of non-renewable materials in their packaging.

Outstanding printing results are a further important benefit. InnoMould supports the use of high-resolution visuals and any desired number of different colours, including gold and silver. That makes it possible to achieve the kind of realistic aesthetics that are important for maximum advertising impact at the POS, especially when it comes to foodstuffs and luxury items.

InnoMould has also successfully undergone extensive testing under real-life conditions. InnoMould is ideal for injection-moulding processes used to produce everything from pots for yoghurt and dairy products, containers for processed fish and butter and even paint buckets. This makes it an innovative labelling solution based on renewable raw materials.