Smurfit Kappa joins Two Sides to promote paper’s high recycling rate

06 Aug 2018 --- Two Sides, a global organization that promotes the attractiveness and sustainability of paper, has welcomed Smurfit Kappa, one of the world’s leading packaging companies, as a new member. With increasing consumer concern and media scrutiny on packaging and, in particular, single-use plastics, the market for material alternatives is expanding.

A recent nationally representative survey of UK adults conducted by Two Sides found paper and cardboard to be the most preferred packaging material for environmental-friendliness, recyclability and practicality. However, this research also shows that consumers perceive paper and cardboard to cause forest loss and fail to understand the industry’s high recycling rates.

“There is increasing pressure on companies to be more sustainable and this is having a transformative effect on the packaging industry,” says Steven Stoffer, Group Vice President Development of Smurfit Kappa. “Paper-based packaging provides many benefits from protecting the products and preventing waste, to optimizing logistics in the supply chain. Most importantly, it’s 100 percent recyclable and has the least impact on the environment.”

Two Sides provides fact-based information to reassure consumers that paper and cardboard is the sustainable choice. With a recycling rate of 83 percent, paper and cardboard are amongst the most recycled materials in the world – the highest of any packaging material. Furthermore, between 2005 and 2015 forests in Europe, which provide wood for making paper and packaging materials, grew by 44,000 square kilometers – that’s an area bigger than the size of Switzerland and amounts to over 1,500 football pitches every day.

Jonathan Tame, Managing Director of Two Sides, says: “We are delighted Smurfit Kappa recognizes and values the information Two Sides has created. Together, we can inform consumers and businesses of the great sustainable attributes of paper and cardboard, the natural and renewable choice.”

Two Sides has a wealth of resources to explain the sustainability and attractiveness of paper and cardboard packaging. These include the website, newsletters, videos, infographics and the new facts booklet which explores seven powerful facts about paper packaging’s positive impact on the environment.

Smurfit Kappa recently completed a US$536 million purchase of Reparenco, a paper and recycling business in the Netherlands. The move aims to increase Smurfit Kappa’s capacity of recycled containerboard in Europe.

In other recent news, the company has developed a new range of multi-purpose paper for both digital and flexographic printers.