​Papstar is a company specializing in party and catering supplies with a range of renewable raw-material based and biodegradable products. To showcase how used cups, plates and other compostable remains turn into humus within a few hours or days, the company has installed an industrial composting machine at its own premises.

Food leftovers and the disposable crockery are taken from the canteen to the compost plant as soon as the lunch hour is over. Once a week the freshly made compost is removed from the machine and distributed to the plantings around the building. The renewable raw-material is released back to the earth, where it improves the growing conditions of the plants. The solution is not just ecological but also economical as there is less waste to be handled.

“Industrial composting is a truly functional end-of-life option for the compostable board materials that we offer for food service. The interest in these products is growing but many people still don’t understand the process very well and how good and pure material compost is. Papstar’s compost plant provides a good example,” says Jaana Keskitalo, Product Manager for food service and barrier products at Stora Enso. Stora Enso produces Cupforma and Trayforma boards with the biodegradable coating option. Typically these boards are used for drinking cups, plates and trays for fresh foods, salads, sandwiches and dairy products.

Most of the Papstar paperboard articles are produced by the CL. Rick paperboard packaging company, originated from the former manufacturing plant Oswald Matheis which had been also the mother company for Papstar. Nearly all disposable products produced by CL. Rick are distributed through Papstar. See composting on a video at www.papstar-pure.com.

The Belfast-based printed folding carton packaging manufacturer Delta Packaging has been granted a KFC supplier award after switching to Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) certified packaging board from Stora Enso.

"Sustainability is an important issue for KFC, so we were keen to support their sustainability goals by suggesting certified packaging to provide their customers with assurances of responsible sourcing," says Anna Coleman, Account Manager for KFC at Delta. "Stora Enso was able to source and supply full certified board within a relatively short time frame and is now the main raw material supplier for the KFC product range."

Stora Enso supplies mainly Tamfold for clamshell packaging of hamburgers and for snack and meal boxes. Another board used for KFC products is Stora Enso CKB. Using certified materials has enabled KFC to print the PEFC logo onto their packaging since the turn of the year. The PEFC team played a key part in the transition process, regarding guidance and assistance, helping to switch KFC material to sustainably sourced packaging board. A recent PEFC global survey showed that more than 80% of consumers globally want companies sourcing certified material from sustainably managed forests to use certification labels.

Delta has been a key strategic supplier of packaging to KFC in the UK and Ireland for the past 10 years. "We are the main folding carton supplier for the UK market and this sector has been the first to implement PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The Global Connectivity award was granted in recognition of our swift and effective transfer of KFC raw material to the PEFC process and because this is something that the rest of the global markets would like to roll out," says Anna Coleman.

KFC requires its packaging suppliers to source wood fibre that is certified as responsibly sourced by a third party, to be sure it meets the most rigorous forest management standards. Suppliers are also expected to demonstrate full chain of custody throughout their supply chain. The third-party certifications KFC accepts are the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and national certification systems endorsed by the Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

"It's not only environmental groups but also our customers who want to know that all our products are responsibly sourced. Increasingly, customers are looking for credible assurances, such as independent certifications on packaging as well as open information about our supply chain and our suppliers. Our supplier Delta and their partner Stora Enso helps us deliver on both these fronts," says Julie Buffandeau from KFC UKI.

​Fishing opportunities have long been improved by supplementary releases of hatchery-reared fish such as trout and salmon. The success of the stockings has declined over time creating a need to develop more sustainable methods to replenish declined or even extinct fish populations. The most natural method to re-create a self-sustaining population is to introduce fish eggs to natural reproduction habitats in rivers. Typically this has been done using plastic boxes, which are expensive and difficult to recover from the fast-flowing rapids in rivers.

Now there is a revolutionary new solution for introducing fish eggs to rivers in renewable paperboard boxes that decompose naturally without a need to recover them. The idea was created in 2012 by Manu Vihtonen, an ichthyologist and fish farmer from Finland, who has developed and tested the new boxes during the last two years in cooperation with the packaging manufacturer Pyroll Tampere. The boxes are made from Stora Enso’s CKB multilayer kraft back board, which is durable enough to protect the developing eggs until hatching but decomposes naturally, eliminating the need for the laborious egg box recovery.

Compared with the traditional plastic egg boxes, paperboard is more environmentally friendly, cost-effective and handy to use. The new solution has a significant potential to replace the plastic boxes and increase the use of fertilized fish eggs as a management action to strengthen the declined or even re-introduce the extinct fish stocks.

A 2 dl box can carry 1000-2000 salmon or trout eggs and 95-98% of them will hatch as was confirmed in the trials. Not any box will do but the structure with numerous small holes has to be tailored to various fish species such as trout or salmon. Such a structure is demanding to make as the board has to have a very good stability and any die cutting waste has to be carefully removed, says Pyroll who has protected the design.

Stora Enso Consumer Board is expanding its selection of EU Ecolabel certified boards for graphical end uses. Now also Ensocoat 2S, Aurocard and Performa Alto have been certified, in addition to Ensocoat, Chromocard, Performa White, Performa Bright and Performa Cream.

The EU Ecolabel Certificate confirms that the boards fulfil the European Commission’s ecological criteria for copying and graphic paper. It is thus used in graphical end use areas, not in packaging business. The EU Ecolabel requires the use of certified fibre in board production, limitations of harmful substances and emissions, restrictions on energy use, and implementation of waste management systems.

“A growing number of our graphical board customers want the board with the EU Ecolabel, so we are expanding the board selection to serve our customers’ various demands and preferences. We were the world’s first company to offer board products with the EU Ecolabel and now we are coming up with even stronger portfolio of products for our customers to choose from. This will have a positive impact on the competitive edge of our brands in the tough graphical market,” says Eva Lundqvist, Graphical Boards Segment Development Manager at Stora Enso.