The new packaging format combines barrier base paper, functional coating and high-definition flexographic technology, enabling up to 90% paper content while ensuring moisture and grease resistance, heat sealability and recyclability.
UPM Specialty Materials, Siegwerk and Uteco have joined forces to develop a paper-based solution for secondary packaging, combining their respective expertise in barrier papers, functional coatings and converting technology. The solution is designed to help brand owners and converters increase the use of renewable materials and explore paper-based alternatives in applications traditionally relying on plastic.
The new format combines UPM’s barrier base paper with Siegwerk’s Cirkit Bar Seal coating, applied using Uteco’s high-definition flexographic technology. The resulting structure can contain up to 90% paper while providing the functional properties required for demanding packaging applications, including moisture and grease resistance, heat sealability and recyclability through standard paper recycling streams, in accordance with CEPI/4evergreen v2 guidelines.
The development offers a practical entry point for companies looking to transition towards paper-based packaging without compromising on packaging performance. It also allows brand owners to test alternative material structures in secondary packaging, while primary packaging continues to ensure product integrity.
“As packaging legislation, such as the EU PPWR, evolves globally, brand owners need practical ways to reduce plastic without compromising performance. Together with Uteco and Siegwerk, we have shown that paper content can be increased to up to 90% in such packaging, while maintaining the performance required for demanding applications,” says Marco Tramontano, Sales Director at UPM Specialty Materials.
Coating technology plays a key role in achieving the required functional properties. Siegwerk’s Cirkit Bar Seal has been specifically applied to UPM’s barrier paper through Uteco’s flexographic process to create a recyclable structure that meets converters’ and brand owners’ expectations. According to Gilles Le Moigne, Head of Circular Economy Coatings at Siegwerk, the project demonstrates how coating innovation can open up new opportunities to reduce dependence on fossil-based packaging materials.
The industrial production trial also demonstrated the potential to integrate several operations into a single production pass. By combining coating, printing and heat sealing, Uteco’s technology enables converters to manufacture functional paper packaging while reducing processing time, energy consumption and production costs.
The solution is aimed at brand owners, converters and machine builders seeking to develop more sustainable packaging formats while maintaining production efficiency and functional performance.