HERMA: Finnish take-away operator opts for compostable label material

The Nordic countries have ranked among the pioneers of recycling and waste avoidance for a long time. Thanks to biodegradable label stock supplied by HERMA, Finland’s leading label printer Nordic Label has now acquired a valuable new customer – Picnic is one of the country’s most widely known take-away and fast-food restaurant operators. In 38 own branches at present, from Helsinki in the south to Rovaniemi in Lapland in the north, alongside numerous other sales outlets, Picnic offers a wide assortment of food, including filled baguettes and bread, salads and hot meals. It has a long-standing commitment to using packaging materials responsibly. In spring 2021, for example, it replaced its single-use lunch boxes with a deposit-based return scheme. The company’s strategy also includes the use of biodegradable packaging as far as possible for items that can be used only once. This was the challenge that Picnic presented to the label printer Nordic Label as well. “We had the task of developing the first compostable labels for Picnic,” says Nordic Label sales manager Heidi Lausea.

Making packaging fully compostable
The new solution serves the dual purpose of labelling the individual baguettes and bread rolls that are wrapped in paper and presented for sale in self-service counters, and sealing the paper wrapper at the same time. Nordic Label won over Picnic by producing labels based on a special self-adhesive material produced by HERMA. The label stock consists of the material HERMAextracoat (grade 242) and the special adhesive 62N. HERMA has been authorised to use the seedling logo denoting compostability for this material combination. In other words, it has been certified according to the standard EN 13432, which is the internationally recognised benchmark for the industrial compostability of biodegradable products. In consequence, packaging is becoming fully compostable, including any labels. HERMAextracoat is a white adhesive label paper that is semi-gloss coated on one side and made from FSC® Mix Credit material. It is suitable for producing sophisticated labels that are compatible with multicolour printing with all the classic methods. For Picnic, Nordic Label is using a Xeikon digital printing press. In an initial step, two oval colour label variants were created. “Even though it’s compostable, this material can be printed to the same high standard, and is just as easy to cut, as conventional label stock,” insists Heidi Lausea. This capability is a further quality aspect that pays dividends – Nordic Label is now receiving inquiries from other customers who are likewise looking for compostable labels.