Toppan has designed its recyclable, paper-based pillow packaging to achieve a 98% light-shielding rate for trading card packets, preventing consumers from identifying rare cards before opening.
As the Japanese trading card market grows, Toppan identifies increasing efforts to phase out plastics and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with stricter environmental regulations, especially in Europe.
Yet paper materials have posed challenges, including the need for specialized forming technology to minimize wrinkling. Consumers have also taken advantage of a paper packet’s transparency to engage in ‘pack searching’ – trying to identify rare cards before opening a pack.
Toppan’s new pillow packaging avoids the plastic components of traditional trading card packaging, instead comprising a paper-based and a heat-sealing coating layer. Since the paper content exceeds 51% by weight, the pack qualifies for Japan’s Paper Mark recycling symbol, which is set to help customers display their commitment to sustainability.
Applying aluminium vapour deposition to the paper has unlocked a light-shielding rate of at least 98%, according to Toppan. This is expected to prevent consumers from ‘pack searching’, or taking advantage of the paper’s transparency to search for rare cards before opening a pack.
Customers can also print directly onto the aluminium vapour deposition layer to apply vivid colours, a metallic finish, and design fidelity to a pack – reportedly comparable to conventional plastic packaging.
Toppan has also developed dedicated pouch-making machinery, including optimized feed rollers and specialized jigs for the folding unit. This is anticipated to minimize wrinkling while achieving high-speed folding during mass production.
Toppan plans to mass-produce 30 million pillow packs per year from autumn 2026. After the market size for trading cards tripled to over ¥3 billion between 2019 and 2024, the company hopes to support global trading card manufacturers – including restaurant chains, apparel brands, and more – to adopt a fibre-based packaging alternative.
In other news, Hasbro previously sparked conversation around its Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Dice Set box after consumers accused the company of overpackaging a tiny product. While the company sought to remove ‘virtually all plastic’ from new game and toy packaging by 2022, it has since decided to reintroduce rPET and bio-PET windows and blisters to the boxes for its six-inch figurines; but while Hasbro has been criticized for its plastic packaging policies, others argue that on-shelf visibility and a memorable unboxing experience are essential marketing tools for products related to tabletop roleplaying games.
Meanwhile, UPM Adhesive Materials has teamed up with One.Five to package stationery in transparent paper. Together, the partners plan to streamline the packaging’s recyclability and lower its CO2 emissions.
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