Metsä Board offers expertise to reduce packaging carbon footprint
Metsä Board is providing tools and materials to significantly cut the carbon footprint of pharmaceutical packaging. The company emphasizes the importance of material choice and accurate data.
Metsä Board Oyj has outlined a strategy to significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with pharmaceutical packaging. The company offers both expert support and lightweight paperboard products to assist pharmaceutical firms in decreasing their packaging's environmental impact.
The core of this approach relies on the use of accurate and reliable data. Metsä Board states that transparent calculations empower pharmaceutical players to make more informed decisions. The company's Sustainability Service, part of the Metsä Board 360 Services offering, equips clients with the means to measure current packaging impacts, including carbon footprint analysis.
Lari Oksala, Sustainability Manager, explains that the data aligns with product category rules for processed paper and board, used for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Metsä Board can also conduct a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) upon client request.
Assessments conducted by Metsä Board indicate that switching from solid bleached board (SBB) to Metsä Board’s folding boxboard can reduce a packaging's carbon footprint by over 50 percent. A shift from white lined chipboard or recycled paperboard to Metsä Board folding boxboard can achieve reductions of 60 percent or more. These calculations have been verified by the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
The company notes that packaging made from virgin fiber paperboard can achieve a lower carbon footprint than that made from recycled fibers. Key factors include the paperboard's weight, the amount of material required, and the energy used in production. Anne Uusitalo, Product Safety and Sustainability Director, states that virgin fiber paperboards offer high strength and bulk, enabling the use of lower basis weights for equivalent packaging quality. This translates to less material usage, reduced transport weight, and less end-of-life waste. Furthermore, Metsä Board utilizes a significant share of fossil-free energy in its paperboard production.