One image reveals an astounding difference: package insert printed on Bible paper saves tens of percents of pulp
Less and less material is being used to make lighter packagings and to reduce the use of raw material.
Finnish manufacturers of packaging materials are racing to develop ever more eco-friendly packaging solutions. One of the elements to be pared down are the lengthy package inserts required for medications. In Mikkeli, Eastern Finland, the St. Michel Print is a company specialising in printing Bibles, and they promise to reduce the weight of the paper inserts by over 40 percent.
’Typically, the Bible papers we use have a thickness of 33 to 34 micrometres, while that conventionally used for inserts is about 65 micrometres,’ says Ossi Riekkinen, Head of BD and Sales at St. Michel Print.
Micrometre is a unit of length used in science and technology, equal to one millionth of a metre (0.000001 m).
Recognition from USA
Package inserts printed on Bible paper recently received recognition in the USA: the world’s largest packaging event, the Pack Expo International, selected them as a finalist for the 2024 Technology Excellence Awards. St. Michel Print are convinced about the great commercial potential of their inserts.
According to Riekkinen, detailed information about the market for package inserts is not available, though he points out that in addition to medications, a wide range of items sold to consumers, from furniture to wristwatches, are accompanied by printed leaflets, such as instructions for use or assembly.
’The medications market alone is vast. The annual sales of a high-volume medication can be anything from tens of millions to a hundred million units, and this is just for one single product. If we add to that products classified as dietary supplements, such as vitamin D, the size of the market is obvious. You can only say it’s vast,’ Riekkinen says.
St. Michel Print is one of the leading European printers specializing in the use of Bible paper. The company has a history of over 130 years. For the past 40 years, it has focused on using Bible paper. The Bibles produced for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were printed in Mikkeli.
In recent years, developing more eco-friendly materials has been an important trend in the packaging industry.
Last October, Metsä Board announced a new microfluted packaging solution requiring less material than before. The fluting size of microfluted paperboard is considerably smaller than in conventional fluted paperboard. The new packaging is up to 50 percent lighter in weight than other comparable products.
The Trayforma BarrPeel material by Stora Enso is an ecologically more sustainable solution for vacuum packaging. The material is made of renewable paperboard with a thin, easily peelable polymer coating. Over 90 percent of the material consists of renewable wood fibre.
Eco-friendliness is also the driver for UPM and its collaboration partners: they have developed a fibre-based packaging requiring no plastic liner bags in frozen bread packaging. The innovation, made of renewable and recyclable material reduces the use of fossil-based packaging materials, since the separate plastic liner is no longer needed.
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