Mondi, a global business in packaging and paper, has partnered with SILBO, a Polish producer of compostable packaging, to create a paper-based high-strength packaging for the Irish farm potato business Meade Farm Group. The innovative bags replace hard-to-recycle plastic with paper, a renewable resource enhanced with a bio-based coating and is certified as compostable.
Working closely for two years, SILBO, Meade and Mondi developed the Forest Stewardship Council®-certified bag using specialty kraft paper to ensure strength in handling while providing barrier properties to keep the produce fresh. The bag has multiple sustainability features: a corn starch-based netting for a small cut-out window, water-based ink, and Mondi’s biodegradable Sustainex® coating, which provides heat sealing and moisture barrier protection.
The packaging has been launched across Ireland, Poland, France and Germany, winning the silver Fruit Logistica Innovation Award. The new solution helps Meade to achieve its sustainability goals: using packaging that is reusable, recyclable, renewable, or compostable wherever possible.
Jeni Meade, sustainability manager at Meade, says that by changing from the previous plastic pillow pack to this bag, Mondi has eliminated hard-to-recycle plastic. In addition, when compared to a traditional block bottom paper bag of similar size, the compostable paper pillow pack reduces paper usage by 34 percent.
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