FreeForm Packaging develops one-sided stretchable paper laminate for a touch of nature

17 Feb 2021 --- FreeForm Packaging is launching a one-sided stretchable laminate based on 85 percent paper called Standard Paper Out. 

The new laminate swaps the traditional polythene (PE) layer on the outside with paper. It provides an appealing paper tactile touch, while reducing plastic use and improving recyclability.

Although replacing the plastic layer with paper is “not a problem,” creating a stretchable laminate with durable sealing qualities proved an R&D headache.

“If you blow up a balloon, you stress that balloon quite a lot. And that’s what we do. This has been so tricky to make a [packaging shape] that can handle that kind of stress,” FreeForm CEO Danevert Åsbrink tells PackagingInsights.

“Not normal” stretchable films
Standard Paper Out is suitable for various dry food and non-food packaging, ranging from candy to soap and powders.

The paper laminate – consisting of 85 percent paper, 13 percent PE and 2 percent adhesive – has been several years in the making. 

Until now, FreeForm had only been able to offer laminates with PE on both sides to ensure good sealing properties.Its stretchable quality is “not normal” to the packaging market, allowing for bespoke shapes and sizes – outside of the standard can or bottle.

“Imagine a cylindrical can: We blow five to eight bars of air [compared to a standard of two bars] into that can to form it,” explains Åsbrink.

The Midas touch of paper
Besides the customizable shapes, paper’s natural look and feel are also steadily attractive to consumers, leading FreeForm to explore a more paper-heavy laminate.

According to a 2018 European consumer packaging perception study by ProCarton, four out of five (81 percent) surveyed said they would choose cartonboard or cardboard packaging over plastic, given the choice.

“That tells you quite a lot actually,” Åsbrink muses. He points out how brands are increasingly banking on consumers’ attraction to paper packaging and its visual appeal. 

“Consumers are extremely interested in paper packaging. They are so interested that [a company] would take plastic and put a paper-looking label onto plastic packs to fool the consumer,” he explains.

The new laminate creates formable paper packaging that is “pleasant to the touch,” which consumers have been “wanting for a very long time.”Another example is printing white paperboard brown. “The brand owner wouldn’t do it if they didn’t know it would affect the consumer. Unfortunately, it works.”

Bumping up recyclability
The other side of this packaging argument is that increased paper use can improve recyclability rates. “One-sided” paper laminates have been highly requested by brand owners who have two-sided laminates on their “red lists,” Åsbrink explains.

“The two-sided laminates are seen as not recyclable, not ‘something for the future.’ A one-sided laminate moves you from the red list to at least a yellow,” he illustrates.

Paper fibers embedded into a double-sided laminate can still be recycled, but one-sided laminates enable the total amount of packaging fibers to be retrieved. 

Using mono-materials can bump brand owners up to the “green list,” but still there is a huge market for multi-material and companies active in this space looking to improve their environmental packaging credentials. 

FreeForm’s next step will be to reduce the PE inside layer, entertaining the idea of full elimination in the future.

FreeForm Packaging is a Swedish company owned by Italy-based Curti and Sweden-based BillerudKorsnäs.Customer feedback
The initial feedback on the Standard Paper Out launch from FreeForm’s existing clients has been “really good,” shares Åsbrink.

“We’ve been trialing it quite a lot and they appreciate now that we can supply it commercially.” In terms of new customers, the FreeForm CEO expects packaging R&D centers to approach him in the next two to three weeks when the news has circulated more.

“I’m quite positive we will gain good attention and good commercial possibilities, especially knowing clients are expecting this kind of innovation.”

By Anni Schleicher