Iceland Foods has utilized Paptic’s wood fibre-based material to produce reusable, moisture-resistant, recyclable carrier bags that claim to use 40% less raw materials than other strong paper solutions.
The bag is designed to carry heavy, wet, and frozen goods, even on longer journeys; and to be folded, kept, and reused multiple times while maintaining functionality. Folding instructions are provided on the bag itself.
Apparently, the wood fibres used to produce the bag are sourced from sustainably managed forests. At end-of-life, the bag can be recycled with paper or cardboard.
Through its development of recyclable wood fibre material, Paptic aims to optimize the use of raw material resources, help brands and retailers transition away from plastics, and protect natural habitats and biodiversity.
The bag has been introduced across all Iceland Foods stores.
“We continuously look for ways to improve our offering for our customers and to meet our ambitious sustainability goals,” said Mark Armstrong, senior packaging technologist at Iceland Foods. “Therefore, after an extensive period of piloting this bag in stores across the country we have moved to switch to offering paper bags by Paptic as the best choice for our customers and the environment.
“We will introduce this new bag in all our stores across the UK, including the Food Warehouse, over the coming months.”
Jukka Rovamaa, business segment director at Paptic Ltd, added: “We are thrilled about this major development and our close cooperation with Iceland Foods. This step confirms that our material is well designed for this purpose and provides superior benefits - combining functional, cost, and sustainability performance - versus conventional materials.
“We believe that this will help Iceland Foods further reduce the use of plastic carrier bags overall and strengthen its brand position as a leader in innovation and sustainability. By choosing Paptic, Iceland Foods opts for a carrier bag solution that makes sense today- and in the future.”
Back in 2018, Iceland declared itself the first UK retailer to commit to eliminating plastic packaging from all its own-brand products. In the following years, it has collaborated with various companies in pursuit of this target – from implementing Mondi’s functional barrier paper for such products as its chicken breast dippers, to packaging its frozen seafood range in a recyclable paper pouch from Parkside.
More recently, Paptic has supplied Dorsal with its wood fibre-based material in a bid to phase out fossil-based plastics in its pillow packaging and meet increasing demand for environmentally conscious solutions.
By the end of 2023, investments from the UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund (UB FIGG), Emerald Technology Ventures, SIG InnoVentures, and EIC Fund led Paptic to close €27.5 million in growth financing.
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