Sustainability is a major priority at Metsä Board, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of premium fresh fibre paperboard. The company’s product portfolio encompasses folding and food service paperboard, as well as white kraftliner. These lightweight paperboard grades have been developed to create better, safer and more sustainable solutions for consumer goods, POS and food service applications.

By Dr. Bernhard Reichenbach

For our products we use pure fresh fibres, a renewable raw material which can be traced back to its origins in sustainably managed Nordic forests”, emphasised Pasi Piiparinen, Vice President of New Business Sales at Metsä Board during a recent press conference. By means of its global distribution network, this Finnish company supports a worldwide clientele of brand article companies like retailers or processing and distribution companies. With its about 2,350 employees, Metsä achieved 2017 revenues of EUR 1.8 bn.

Metsä Board is a subsidiary of Finland’s Metsä Group, which conducts pioneering work in the biotech industry and processes renewable wood from sustainably managed Scandinavian forests. Conducting business in 30 countries, this conglomerate’s focus is on wood acquisition and forestry services, wood products, cellulose fibres and fresh fibre paperboard, along with hygiene and baking paper. In 2017, the group and its approximately 9,100 employees achieved revenues of EUR 5 bn. The group’s parent company is the Metsäliitto Cooperative, which is owned by some 104,000 Finnish forest owners.

At the beginning of this year, Metsä Board introduced MetsäBoard Pro FSB EB1, a food service paperboard grade with an eco-barrier. Mikko Mannola, Vice President of Food Service Board Sales at Metsä Board, explains: “This innovative material featuring a special barrier treatment is organically-based, recyclable and biodegradable. In addition to its sustainability advantages, this new product also makes increased efficiency possible in printing and additional processing”. This newest member of the company’s product portfolio will be introduced at the upcoming FachPack trade fair in Nuremberg/Germany.

There, as part of its “PackageLab” campaign, Metsä Board also provides information on innovative impulses and ideas in the fields of material and design. Visitors to FachPack can look forward to seeing how the physical world can now be transformed into a virtual experience with the very latest AR (Augmented Reality) technology integrated into the Arylin app.

Metsä Board is also presenting another highlight with the pioneering “Stretching Inner Part” concept, which is a clever alternative to bubble wrap and the winner of the “Better with Less – Design Challenge” design competition. The concepts from the other finalist competitors will also be on display at the FachPack fair. The aim of the competition was to develop new, more environmentally friendly functional concepts for the most widely used packaging varieties with the highest growth rates. Designers from all over the world were inspired by the competition, which was announced in November of 2017. A total of 302 design concepts were submitted from 38 different countries.

In addition to its leading position as a paperboard manufacturer, Metsä Board is also a leader in sustainability management. In 2018, the company once again received Gold Status for the second year in a row in the EcoVadis rating for sustainability and corporate social responsibility. EcoVadis operates a platform providing an insight for companies around the world into the social and environmental responsibility of their suppliers. The rating is based on four cri-teria: the environment, working conditions, a sustainable supply chain and fair business practice.

FachPack, Halle 7A, Stand 136