Mondi and Taurus Packaging overcome South African humidity with wet strength paper bag

04 Oct 2021 --- Mondi and Taurus Packaging have developed a wet strength paper shopping bag for the South African retail market. The partners say the bag can prevent up to 2 million plastic bags from entering the waste stream in the country every month. 

The paper bags support Spar South Africa and Food Lover’s Market’s environmental sustainability commitments to reduce plastic waste.

The fit-for-purpose reusable shopping bag for groceries is made from Mondi’s Advantage Kraft Plus with wet strength, making the paper bag a viable alternative in a market traditionally dominated by plastic bags.

Weathering the weather
Mondi’s kraft paper for shopping bags is strong enough for South Africa’s demanding weather conditions, including humidity. The bag’s wet strength meets the 16 kg standard requirement of the South African market and resists tearing even when cold products and liquids condense quickly. It also withstands long customer journeys on public transport.

Partnering with Taurus Packaging, two million paper shopping bags will be produced per month using Mondi’s paper, providing a recyclable, renewable, and PEFC certified, sustainably sourced alternative to plastic.

The global packaging and paper company’s Advantage Kraft Plus with wet strength and other water-repellent paper grades are available globally, focusing on markets where humidity and rain can limit paper packaging options, such as shopping bags or cement sacks.The paper bag can be used on average seven times, carrying a weight of approximately 10 kg.

Plastic reduction pledges
National chains Spar South Africa and Food Lover’s Market have adopted this solution as part of their plastic reduction commitments.

Food Lover’s Market has banned plastic bags from their stores, and the new paper shopping bags have been “well-received” by customers as a more environmentally sustainable alternative.

“These paper bags are a part of our commitment to embracing our responsibility to the environment and climate change. As such, it was a natural step to replace plastic with paper bags,” says Angela van der Merwe, packaging coordinator at the Food Lover’s Market Group.

“The response from consumers has been overwhelmingly positive as the paper bag itself is very strong and on average can be used seven times and carry a weight of about 10 kg.”

“These robust shopping bags make it possible for us to provide a sustainable yet practical alternative for our customers. Where paper bags used to tear easily, this paper repels water so makes it possible for us to provide a practical, reusable and recyclable alternative that reduces the use of plastic bags,” adds Devin Galtrey at Spar South Africa.

EcoSolutions
Mondi’s fit-for-purpose product development strategy – known as EcoSolutions – is centered around “using paper where possible and plastic when useful.”

The packaging and paper supplier has also teamed up with machinery manufacturer Rovema on a new food-grade pillow bag, recently showcased at FachPack 2021.

Speaking from the show floor with PackagingInsights, Dr. Silvia Hanzelova, industry group manager functional papers at Mondi and, and Ingo Hamel, head of innovation and R&D at Rovema, discuss some of the challenges of switching from plastic bags to paper alternatives.

Edited by Joshua Poole