Stora Enso minimises plastic in paper cups to help meet sustainability targets

Packaging Solutions

UltraThinPE Tec is a new innovation from Stora Enso that significantly reduces the share of plastic coating in foodservice board (FSB) and applications such as single use paper cups. With the help of UltraThinPE Tec, the company has developed the thinnest polymer coating for FSB products on the market. This achievement allows for paper cup designs with less than 5% plastic – an important step in helping packaging converters, brand owners, and retailers meet their plastics reduction targets. The technology is presently used in the production of UltraThinPE coatings for the Cupforma product range for paper cups.

Paperboard material used for producing paper cups requires a barrier – commonly made from plastic – that offers both protection against liquid and functionality in converting. UltraThinPE Tec greatly improves the sustainability of paper cups by yielding the lowest plastic coating weight and reducing the overall carbon footprint of the finished product.

UltraThinPE Tec reduces plastic coating weight by up to 40% when compared to Cupforma Natura products with 15 g/m2 PE (polyethylene) or renewable PE green coatings (bio based polyethylene), therefore enabling a share of greater than 95% paperboard.

FSB products with UltraThinPE Tec coatings can be recycled with paper or board depending on local regulations, collection, and sorting infrastructure. As one sided, minimal plastic coatings, they can also ease the recycling of FSB in standard recycling mills when combined with other paper and board packaging.

‘By knowing the intended end use of the product, like paper cups that will hold liquid for a short time, we can design coatings that use the absolute minimum material necessary. We do this by testing and verifying the exact amount needed for the end use. UltraThinPE Tec enables brand owners to further meet their sustainability targets, especially concerning plastics reduction, while maintaining the highest product hygiene and safety standards as in the case of paper cups,’ said Tuomas Puonti, vice oresident, head of business line LPB Fresh & FSB.

For converters, Cupforma products with UltraThinPE Tec coatings perform similarly to materials with traditional polymer coatings. It offers excellent barrier performance, heat sealability, and fast implementation time.

The coatings are produced at Stora Enso’s Imatra site in Finland and Forshaga site in Sweden.

Cupforma is a renewable, low carbon material for paper cups and is optimised for recycling. It includes Cupforma Natura for foodservice end uses, like hot cups, and Cupforma Special for end uses like ice cream cups and ice cream packaging.