Thursday 27 August 2020

Stora Enso to build pilot plant for bio-based protective plastic packaging in Sweden

Stora Enso has unveiled plans to build a pilot plant to develop bio-based plastic for protective packaging and cushioning in Sweden.

Cellufoam is a lightweight, fibre-based sustainable foam material which is renewable and recyclable and can be used to replace oil-based polymer foams that are widely used today.

The company is initially targeting the use of Cellufoam for the protection of fragile products such as computer electronics.

Stora Enso says the bio-based foams also have the potential to replace polymeric foams in a range of markets and applications where demand for sustainable materials is increasing, such as sports equipment, thermal insulation in shipments and as a growth medium in soil-free farming.

The pilot project aims to evaluate and validate the foam material through customer tests and to further develop the production process.

The plant, which will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021, will be located at Fors Mill, which currently produces lightweight paperboards for consumer packaging.

Markus Mannström, Executive Vice President of Stora Enso’s Biomaterials division said: “The interest in sustainable packaging solutions is already large and continuously growing. Companies are looking for bio-based materials in order to achieve their own environmental goals for recycling, reducing plastic waste and using fossil-free materials, while maintaining high-quality packaging performance.

“Our bio-based foam offers a renewable, recyclable and biodegradable alternative to traditional oil-based packaging foams such as expanded polyethylene (EPE) and expanded polystyrene (EPS). With this pilot, we continue to build on our long term R&D work while introducing innovative materials to replace fossil-based ones.”