Fazer's Oat Rice Pies switches to plastic-free, recyclable wrapper via UPM Specialty Papers' Confidio barrier paper
The Finnish team of substrate provider and food processor jointly developed the new packaging for Fazer's Oat Rice Pies. Traditional plastic-laminated packaging paper has been replaced with an innovative paper solution, which is easier to recycle and does not compromise the protection it provides the rice pies inside. The award-winning packaging has been recognized in the WorldStar, ScanStar and New Wood competitions and can already be found in the chilled-food aisles of Finnish supermarkets.
The new packaging solution is the result of more than two years of long-term development work to ensure the recyclability of the packaging without compromising food safety and the quality of the rice pies.
"We are working closely with the packaging value chain to achieve Fazer's responsible packaging goals. Each partner brings valuable expertise to the development work. This project combined Fazer's expertise in food production and the production process while also ensuring food safety, with UPM Specialty Papers' expertise in developing demanding specialty papers. We are impressed with how well the new, easier to recycle packaging protects and preserves the high quality of the Oat Rice Pies until the "best before" date," says Piia Soininn-Tengvall, Fazer dir.-Packaging Development.
In the packaging paper developed by UPM Specialty Papers, both the barrier and heat-seal properties have been incorporated into the packaging paper without a separate layer of plastic. The barrier properties are designed to protect the product inside the package until the best-before date, while ensuring that, for example, grease in the product cannot penetrate the package.
"Packaging papers have the advantage of being recyclable within a widely established fiber-recycling infrastructure. Today, more than 80% of fiber-packaging material used in Europe is recycled. Our product development is always based on the premise of ensuring recyclability, in addition to ensuring product safety and the required functional properties," says Susanna Hyrkaes, senior mgr.-Sustainability, UPM Specialty Papers.
The new Oat Rice Pies packaging is based on the UPM ConfidioTM barrier paper, which is heat-sealable. In recyclability test, the recycling reject of unprinted UPM Confidio paper is about 1%, which means that about 99% of the paper can be used to create new, recycled products. The recycling reject of plastic-coated paper packaging is said to be significantly higher.