Packaging
New tray helps ready meal manufacturers significantly reduce their plastic consumption
Monday 07. August 2023 - Holmen Iggesund is launching Inverform PET 30, a 30 gm2 version of its popular ready meal trays. This unique product helps customers to significantly reduce their carbon footprint - by more than 25 per cent compared to the 40 gm version.
Holmen Iggesund’s PET-coated carton products are ideally suited for the production of trays for ready meals. They offer all the advantages of trays made entirely of plastic.
The trays are made from fresh wood fibres of known and traceable origin from sustainably managed forests, providing a far more sustainable alternative with a significantly lower carbon footprint.
Food trays made from a combination of cardboard and PET coatings are more recyclable than those made solely from fossil materials. The PET coating is not only grease and moisture repellent, but also extremely temperature resistant. This makes it ideal for trays that are used with chilled and frozen ready meals in the microwave or oven.
Until now, Holmen Iggesund has offered PET-coated board in a 40 g/m² version. But thanks to product innovations at Holmen Iggesund’s R&D centre and numerous suggestions from customers, they are now launching a unique 30 g/m² version. The new version is made of 25 per cent less plastic than the 40 g/m² version, but offers the same high quality and functionality.
“Our new PET product with a basis weight of 30 g/m² enables food packaging that has the required temperature resistance and grease and moisture barrier, but has a very low plastic content,” says Malin Ekroos, Product Manager Added Value at Holmen Iggesund. “We have developed this product as part of our efforts to reduce the amount of plastic in packaging. This is what consumers:inside and businesses alike want, and we can contribute to this change.”
“Our new product has the lowest plastic content of any comparable extrusion-coated PET product currently on the market,” adds Ekroos. “The launch of the new product Holmen Iggesund PET 30 is part of our product development process. It is a good step forward in our journey to offer our customers ever more sustainable alternatives – a journey we will continue through more and more product innovations.”
The new PET product with a basis weight of 30 g/m² can be used in combination with Holmen Iggesund’s Inverform cartonboard products. Thanks to the lower plastic content, Holmen Iggesund can now offer its customers some of its combined board and PET products with a ratio of 90 per cent wood fibre to 10 per cent plastic.
The PET coating is available in black, white or transparent versions. In addition to its high temperature resistance, PET seals very well and provides an excellent oxygen and grease barrier. The PET-coated reverse side has a glossy finish for even better surface properties.