Heidelberg and Solenis Launch Sustainable Barrier-Coated Paper Packaging

Heidelberg and Solenis’s Barrier-Coated Flexible Paper Packaging Solutions

Image Credits: Packaging Strategies

Announcement

Heidelberg and Solenis introduced a robust method for the production of barrier flexible paper packaging solutions. The term pauperization or paper packaging is a flexible and sustainable alternative to plastics, which is turning into an important factor in terms of the functional circular economy. The flexible aper packaging market is expected to grow by 4.5% a year until the end of the decade. This tendency of the market is boosted by the experts through a survey initiated by Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Heilbronn (DHBW) and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (Heidelberg)

The principal investigator, Professor Dr Carsten Kortum, stated,

“This is beyond the short-term trend. It is a positive change fueled by new legal requirements and an effective increase in environmental awareness, aligning with technological innovation and changing consumer behaviors.”

The huge challenge is to search for relevant materials that will act as a solid barrier to water vapour, oils, fats, water, and hot and cold liquids, while following the sustainability principle of a circular economy. Till now, paper packaging has been liable to satisfy barrier functions for food and beverages; now it seems to expand its technical limits.

Heidelberg and Solenis’s tech packaging process

Heidelberg, with Solenis, is a known manufacturer of barrier coatings, has managed to achieve a breakthrough solution. The results of the following will be highlighted at facepack2025 in Nuremberg. The process was established together by Heidelberg and Solenis provides the industrial partial and also the robust application of barrier coatings to paper packaging. Popular for system integrators the Heidelberg integrated Solenis’s technology into its flexographic web printing process with the Boardmaster. In the ongoing process, the barriers get transferred to the paper web with accurate registration at mandatory events. The motive of this partnership is to accelerate the advantages of the solo boardmaster assemblies for implementing Solenis barrier coatings to quicken the technological process and seamlessly reach the packaging producers.

CSO at Heidelberg, Dr. David Schmedding, said, “The economic innovations are critical if there’s a replacement of plastic packaging with the compostable or recyclable paper packaging. By partnering with Solenis to establish coatings and inks and create coated paper packaging in line, Heidelberg is confirming its claim to be a robust, empowered force behind the pauperization. Therefore, we are presenting as a full-service provider of end-to-end solutions in the emerging market of mass production of fibre-related packaging solutions.”