Behind the gloomy daily news much of concrete effort is put to the work for the future of forest sector. Intelligent packages are a good example. One of the biggest forest industry sites is located in Imatra, in south-eastern Finland very close the Russian border. Stora Enso Imatra Mills lie on a seven kilometre long site along the shore of the biggest inland lake of Finland, lake Saimaa.
Tainionkoski Mill is situated at the western end of the site, while one of the best mills of the company, paper and especially paperboard factory Kaukopää Mill is at the eastern end of the site.
And when you go to the easternmost corner of Kaukopää, passing numerous clusters of tubes, production halls, warning and traffic signs, you will arrive at a modest building called InnoCentre.,
This is one of those places where the future of the forest industry is created. At InnoCentre it is symbolized by Project manager, Ms. Johanna Hoffren, and Marketing Services Manager, Ms. Anu Kurvinen.
The future of forest sector is in packaging
There has been a lot of talk of the decline of the forest industry, and not so much of its possibilities. One of the most promising is packaging. Wood-based paperboard package is a solution for many of the problems of modern society.
Paperboard is a renewable material. Its raw material is timber, and when the logs are felled, new trees will be set to grow to substitute the felled ones.
Paperboard is recyclable, which means that after use it can be processed to new paperboard. What is most important is that in many countries – Finland, for example – it also is recycled. And, if this is impossible, if for example the quality of fibre is bad because of several recycling periods, it can be burned to create bioenergy.
The carbon footprint of cardboard packages is good as well. At its “worst” it is neutral, which means that it does not accelerate nor diminish the climate change.
Thus, use of cardboard is better than its rivals, like plastic or metal, in regard to climate change. These materials are non-renewable, manufacturing them needs much of energy and, in addition to this, plastic is most often made of fossil oil.
In addition to this, the wood products create a carbon storage. The more there are wood products in the world, the more there is carbon in them. When the wood products are destroyed, the carbon in them is released to the atmosphere, where it accelerates the climate change. This is why wood products tackle the climate change, the longer they live, the more effectively this is done.
Cardboard is beautiful
Why would the age of cardboard package then be long? Because it is beautiful.
Take for example the DBS-carton developed by Stora Enso, meant for packaging CD and DVD records. Compared to plastic package DBS is easy to open, long-lasting with beautiful printing surface one is able to touch and where also letterpress printing is possible.
Thus, same material acts as the frame of the package as well as its printing surface, and for most of us, is also more pleasant than hard plastic, which breaks easily and is impossible to print on.
“As to the climate change, the fossil carbon dioxide emissions of DBS package are only one tenth to the respective plastic package,” says Kurvinen. In addition to this, the DBS package opens and closes in an easy and understandable way.
DBS package is already in commercial production. So are also Pharma SHR, Pharma DDS and Pharma DDSi, which are meant to pack tablets. It was the 14th of August when Stora Enso informed that an American Sharp Corporation starts to pack its medicines in Pharma DDS packages. It was the third contract of Stora Enso of its kind within eight months.
As targets in the design of these packages are, among others, that they have to be safe for children, but easy to open for older persons and they must make it easy and safe to use the medicine. This is why the paperboard used to make these packages is so strong that children can not tear it open.
In addition to this, the opening mechanism of the package is designed in such a way that it cannot be opened with the motoric skills of children. The package has reached the highest classification in child resistance tests in the US.
However, it is much easier for elderly people to open than a plastic jar with a tight lid.
DDSi has a memory
The Pharma DDSi carton is better: it remembers when the pill was taken out of the package. In addition to this it has four buttons, one of which is to be pressed in connection with taking the medicine in order to tell how the person taking the pill is feeling: excellent, good, fair or bad. The package also gives an alarm to recall the wellbeing buttons.
The package remembers when the pills have been taken and what the feelings have been, and this information can be transported to computer, or in the future, to mobile phone. It also is possible to make the package tell with a sound alarm, when the pill should be taken.
An obvious question is, what does all this cost. In comparison with what?
“If these packages make us to use the drugs as is planned, it certainly makes our lives healthier, but it also saves money in two ways: people feel better when they use the medicine according to the prescription and finally, the expenses in health care decrease,” says Hoffren, and contuinues: “Furthermore, is this package really expensive, if you compare its price to that of the medicine inside the package?”
The demand of this package is high especially in the US. According to Sharp Corporation, their advantage is also fast packaging machine, even 220 cartons per minute.
Food packages have high demands
Stora Enso has a long history of producing food packaging materials. It also is a demanding branch.
To start, one must make a difference between carton dishes and food packages. The demands for the latter ones are higher, depending on the product packed inside them. The packages must resist moisture and be airtight in two directions; nothing can go in or out, not even light.
The demand concerning heat-resistance sounds high: over 200 centigrade. This really is true; a suitable paperboard package can be put in an oven with 200 centigrade. Should anybody do it for a plastic box?
http://www.forest.fi/smyforest/foresteng.nsf/fa89b3360d6db5b2c22573a6005059ec/eefcf3f991ecf1a7c22574b10033447e