Top honours at the Green Product Award for PE-free paper packaging
Hülzweiler, June 2022
During a formal award ceremony held in Munich, the Green Product Awards were once again presented for products and services that stand out in terms of design, innovation, and sustainability. The award in the jury category “Best of New Materials” went to the eco-friendly barrier coating NP® SiOPack® from Nanopool GmbH. This innovative solution enables the production of PE-free, compostable, and recyclable packaging suitable for direct food contact.
Food Safety without Plastic
The previous challenge of sustainability and safety in the packaging industry is now a thing of the past! Until now, natural fibre-based packaging solutions for demanding applications only achieved sufficient packaging and food safety with the help of coating materials such as Polyethylene (PE) or Bio-PE. The coating with the innovative NP® SiOPack® solution, for example, achieves the same levels of water stability and food safety as PE coatings on cardboard packaging, but as a nature-based product, it can be fully reintegrated into the natural cycle. Thus, this multi-award-winning solution from Nanopool successfully resolves the apparent contradiction between environmental friendliness and product safety.
Technologically sophisticated application for cardboard packaging
For the technical implementation, Nanopool found the ideal support in Van Genechten Packaging (VGP), a pioneer in sustainable coatings. The European manufacturer of cardboard packaging, headquartered in Belgium, has particular expertise in food packaging and has been working on new sustainable solutions and technologies for years. The company developed the mechanical implementation of the coating of cardboard packaging for industrial production. In practical application at VGP, the material is coated with NP® SiOPack® and can then be easily processed for any packaging application.
“Excellent, more sustainable technology”
The special relevance of this environmentally friendly coating for food packaging was also recognised by this year’s jury of the Green Product Award, describing NP® SiOPack® as “an excellent, more sustainable technology for paper and disposable products”, which additionally makes it easy for consumers to intuitively recognise that packaging with this natural coating is recyclable and compostable. The ultra-thin barrier is neither visible nor tangible to the naked senses, meaning that packaging treated with NP® SiOPack® does not differ visually or tactilely from untreated raw materials. The effect of the NP® SiOPack® finishing, however, is clearly noticeable: Absorbent natural materials become reliably resistant to water, oil, fat, dirt, and even germs. This creates safe packaging for dairy products, liquids, frozen goods, soaps, detergents, and much more, which can be disposed of simply via the waste paper stream after use and do not burden nature even if discarded improperly in the forest.
Rapid implementability for packaging manufacturers
That the coating with NP® SiOPack® can be integrated both on the finished packaging product and during industrial production into existing production processes makes the barrier coating a feasible solution, warmly received by an increasingly sustainability-conscious clientele. This practicality was one of the points particularly positively evaluated by the experienced jury of the Green Product Award.
Together for the goal of sustainability
Since 2013, the international Green Product Award, in cooperation with the IKEA Foundation, has been recognising solutions that particularly stand out in terms of design, innovation, and sustainability. In 2022, over 1,500 projects from 56 countries were submitted in 13 categories. This year also sees an expanded networking of award holders through the newly founded Green Future Club. “The collaboration of committed innovators is key to a greener future,” says Sascha Schwindt, Managing Director of Nanopool GmbH. “I believe that only together can we shape a world where the seas are filled with fish and not trash. And that is the future I wish for my children.” “We are pleased that the collaboration between Nanopool and Van Genechten Packaging can make another contribution to protecting the environment, especially in terms of food safety, which until now could not entirely dispense with traditional barriers,” adds Marc Büttgenbach, CCO and Sales Executive, Van Genechten Packaging.
For further enquiries about the wide range of applications for the NP® protective coating, the company based in Schwalbach, Germany, will be happy to assist: d.schwindt@nanopool.eu (Mr Dieter Schwindt)
About the Company:
nanopool® GmbH, based in Hülzweiler, is an innovative family-run business. Since 2002, it has been one of the pioneers in the field of nanotechnology for surface finishing.
nanopool® has succeeded in developing a surface coating suitable for almost all areas of application. This innovation is set to positively transform working life in a variety of ways.
All nanopool® products are based on the latest scientific findings in nanotechnology research. The functionality of the award-winning, food-safe products has been verified and certified by renowned research laboratories.
Further information and a video can be found at:
https://www.siopack.eu/en/
