Packaging

Ahlstrom wins the American Forest & Paper Association Innovation in Sustainability Award

Wednesday 06. December 2023 - Ahlstrom PawPrint Pet Food Packaging, a sustainable alternative for plastic pet food packaging, has been granted the Innovation in Sustainability Award by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) on November 10, 2023.

AF&PA’s annual awards are designed to recognize exemplary sustainability programs and initiatives in the paper and wood products manufacturing industry.
“Being acknowledged by AF&PA and receiving this award for PawPrint Pet Food Packaging is a great achievement. It demonstrates how we are living up to our purpose to purify and protect with every fiber for a sustainable world by innovating more sustainable solutions,” says Mark Ushpol, Executive Vice President for Ahlstrom’s Food and Consumer Packaging division.
Ahlstrom’s PawPrint papers provide pet food brand owners functional and visually appealing pet food packaging, eliminating plastic and using fiber-based materials, while helping pet food manufactures achieve their sustainability metrics. They are made from renewable materials and are recyclable and compostable. What makes the product truly unique is that it is produced with Ahlstrom’s FluoroFree proprietary technology, making it fully grease-resistant without the use of PFAS compounds. Ahlstrom’s next generation of PawPrint packaging solutions additionally ensure pet food shelf-life requirements are met while achieving pet-palatability test results for the most distinguished of pet consumers.
“Pet food brands and consumers are continuing to move to more sustainable and recyclable options for their packaging needs,” says Travis Dahlke, Vice President, Food Packaging Americas who accepted the award on behalf of the North American Food team and everyone involved in ensuring this success. “Pet food is one of the most demanding applications for packaging in terms of grease resistance, and traditionally it has been difficult to provide plastic free and PFAS free solutions in this category. Ahlstrom’s pet food packaging offering is an excellent showcase of the innovation power of our teams.”
Ahlstrom’s PawPrint manufacturing platforms are located at Rhinelander and Nicolet plants in Wisconsin, USA as well as in Europe.