Without packaging, neither the transport of goods nor trade can function - the booming e-commerce sector in particular is dependent on it. But the mountains of packaging waste are growing continuously. Paper, cardboard and paperboard still account for the lion's share. Opinions are still divided here: What is more harmful to the environment, plastic or paper? As is so often the case, solutions are already available, but they are underutilized. Example: kraft paper bags.

Packaging as a point of contention: Paper as a real alternative?

Compared to plastic, paper has the image of an environmentally friendly alternative. The ban on single-use plastic and plastic bags also contributes to this: More and more disposable packaging is being made from paper, as well as packaging for different foods, fruits and vegetables. Public opinion supports this trend - worldwide.

77 percent of German consumers (75 percent globally) prefer products that use as little packaging material as possible. This is according to the Ipsos Global Advisor study "A Throwaway World. The Challenge of Plastic Packaging and Waste." The study was conducted in 2019 in 28 countries. Even then, around 71 percent of Germans were in favor of banning the sale of disposable plastic products.

Fittingly, 70 percent of respondents to another study conducted by Simon-Kucher & Partners in 2021 rated paper and cardboard as sustainable.

This shows that there is still a need for discussion: paper is by no means the same as paper - especially when it comes to sustainability.

You can find even more information about sustainable packaging in our blog! We use sustainable plastics for our pouch packaging, for example.

What exactly is important with paper packaging?

To put it in a nutshell: Brown paper does not automatically mean that only recycled paper was used in the packaging made from it. The common seals and certificates also provide insufficient information, and in the end they can be confusing. Hardly any consumers know these facts:

• FSC - this is used to label paper products made from virgin fibers and thus wood from sustainable forestry.
• FSC Mix - these products use wood from non-comprehensively certified forestry and production residues.
• FSC Recycled - here, in addition to waste paper, production residues are usually used as pre-consumer products.
• Blue Angel - this is high quality paper made entirely from recovered paper, i.e. post-consumer products.

Only the labeling is difficult - and thus the problem with sustainability is still not comprehensively clarified.

Is the packaging made of pure paper - or has it been coated?

Since paper cannot repel water or grease in principle, it must be further processed for use, for example in the food industry: Only with a suitable coating can paper be used as a coffee cup, for packaging fast food or other foodstuffs.

What increases the variety of uses, however, worsens the environmental balance per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS).

Above all, the question of proper disposal depends on the type of paper: If it is a coated type known as a composite, such as beverage cartons or coffee cups, it does not belong in the paper container but at the recycling center.

You can easily tell the difference if you try to tear the packaging: If you find no foil incorporated, but only paper fibers, then you can dispose of the packaging in the paper container. It may be possible to cut off the film so that you can add it to the recyclables - the paper residue then goes into the paper waste.

Despite the brown color, kraft paper is also not made entirely from recycled fibers, but only to a maximum of 20 percent - and for quality reasons to give typical tear-resistant structure, recycled fibers are significantly shorter. You can therefore use kraft paper bags to pack heavy and even sharp-edged products. Even moist products are in good hands here.

The surface of the kraft paper is almost closed, so that it can also be printed well. Popular are the varieties of kraft paper, which have a ribbed surface on one side - this additionally increases the tensile strength, but can also look very decorative.

You can usually recognize kraft paper by the fact that its color is even darker than the paper made from recycled paper. However, the color is by no means uniform, as it depends on the type of wood used for production and the proportion of recycled fibers. Shades ranging from gray-brown to dark brown are common.

On the subject of the environment, kraft paper bags are not only food safe, they can basically be recycled and composted.

THE environmentally friendly packaging - What is recommended?

Do kraft paper bags offer the solution for all packaging needs? Not at all - so far there is not ONE packaging solution that can be considered environmentally friendly. There are many factors to consider here, such as:

• Recycling possibility
• Proportion of recycled components processed
• Packing weight
• Type and quantity of the filling material
• Frequency of use

Even replacing plastic with paper packaging or introducing reusable packaging does not necessarily lead to the desired success. The Innoredux research project, conducted by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union of Germany (NABU), looked at precisely this issue and compared different packaging variants for specific foods.

The result is remarkable. If, for example, strained tomatoes are packaged in the most environmentally friendly way possible, the following ranking resulted in terms of climate-relevant emissions:

1. Returnable glass
2. Disposable Composite Carton
3. Disposable glass

The reusable solution reduced the volume of waste, while the disposable composite carton produces the lowest CO2 emissions. Emissions are highest for single-use glass.

So there are always various aspects to consider when we want to assess the environmental friendliness of packaging options: Particular care must be taken with foodstuffs, because not all recycled materials may come into contact with them at all.

Recycled paper, for example, must be provided with a plastic coating to prevent the transfer of undesirable substances into the food. In addition, paper is not waterproof or greaseproof. The barrier layer of plastic therefore also protects the packaging material.

Currently, only glass and PET bottles are approved for direct packaging of food.

You want to know more about sustainability and our products? Then contact us, we look forward to hearing from you.

"Fully recyclable" - to be taken only as a hint

This brings us to another misunderstanding: We equate fully recyclable packaging with environmental friendliness. However, we do not know whether the material is actually recycled.

The figures for Germany show a good trend: 16.9 million metric tons of recovered paper were used to produce the approximately 21.4 million metric tons of paper, cardboard and paperboard used annually (2020) - this ratio has increased continuously and amounts to 79 percent.

In addition, digitization is also having an impact in this area: Less white waste paper is being brought into the recycling loop because consumption of graphic paper is declining. In contrast consumption of packaging material increases an. It should not be forgotten here that fibers from so-called sanitary papers cannot be reused. Good recovered paper is therefore in short supply.

The German paper industry also made significant progress in terms of energy efficiency: Compared to 1990, when the production of one ton of paper consumed 3.413 megawatt hours (MWh), the figure in 2020 was 2.743 MWh. However, the truth is that production has increased dramatically since 1990 - by around 68 percent. The energy savings thus lose their positive effect.

Conclusion: Sustainable pouch packaging - it's how you handle it that counts

Recycling paper packaging is only one side of the coin in terms of achieving an attractive environmental balance in this area. It would be better to use stable paper packaging such as kraft paper bags sparingly and repeatedly, and then deliberately return them to the recycling loop.

Or compost them, if the quality of the packaging permits: Prints and stickers can quickly become a problem here. We should therefore start with ourselves - and that calls for a bit of consistency: It is so incredibly convenient to buy food quickly and easily and pack it in paper.

A change in thinking can make a big difference here if, for example, you have cloth bags with you, separate the waste properly or use the kraft paper bags sensibly - they are always hard-wearing.