Reference-Manual-From-Forest-To-Market.Pdf
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1. From forest to market Paperboard the natural choice 9 The philosophy of choice 15 The paperboard product 17 Choices of raw material 19 Differences paper and paperboard 22 Fibre to board 26 The paperboard machine 36 Extrusion coating and lamination 38 Board lamination 44 Design and carton construction 46 Consumer use and appeal 56 Distribution and storage 57 Retailing 60 Taint and odour neutrality 61 Migration into foodstuffs 65 IGGESUND PAPERBOARD | Reference Manual 7 Paperboard – the natural choice 8 Reference Manual | IGGESUND PAPERBOARD Paperboard – the natural choice Paperboard – the natural choice When Iggesund published the Paperboard Reference how these paperboards behave in graphic post-produc- Manual in 1992 it was an attempt to create a reference tion or in packaging lines, the conclusion is even more manual for everyone who works professionally with paper- clear: the key issue is not price per kilo, it is performance. board material. Over the years the book has been much When purchasing the input material, it is important to as- appreciated, and in addition to its purely professional use sess the cost per useable end product instead of merely within the graphics and packaging industries, the book considering the price per kilo. also features in courses given by a number of universities and other third-level educational institutions. Our ambition Experiencing paperboard has been to maintain a high level of factuality and neutrality European paperboard normally has a multi-layer structure of information so that the Paperboard Reference Manual that creates a stiffness which exceeds that of all single- will remain a credible work of reference. layer, cellulose fi bre-based materials. This stiffness is part In this, the second, revised edition, we have continued of the quality that we offer our customers and that can be with this tradition, with one exception. In this introduction exploited to reinforce the quality experience or reduce the you are now reading, we discuss some aspects of paper- grammage of the input material. board which are not so easy to quantify or assess. Another parameter which is often used when choosing a material is the degree of measured whiteness. Whiteness Paperboard – a natural material as measured on the paper and board market is a simple As a material, paperboard is special. It is the material with number which is a combination of three different measured the highest added value within the material system com- values. The equation by which these values are assessed prised of paper and paperboard, and is most often used is such that paperboards which look completely different for packaging and high-quality printed materials. can have the same whiteness value. What is most absurd This material system includes everything from virgin is that the blue shade, which causes major problems when fi bre-based paperboards, such as Invercote and Incada, printing accurate skin tones, is rewarded in this combined to paper products made of fi bres that have been repeat- calculation of whiteness. At Iggesund, we have deliber- edly recycled. In the market for paper-based products, ately chosen not to attain the highest whiteness measure- pricing is typically based more on price per unit of weight ment. We do not want our paperboard to become bluer in than price in relation to the end result in terms of its func- a purely optical sense, which would make it harder for our tions, visual appearance and economy of production. customers to accurately reproduce skin tones. We would In a typical advertising or packaging project, great effort have no problem becoming even whiter if we wanted to, is taken to fi nd the right designer and photographer, and but we have chosen a whiteness level for good colour to handle all the produced material in the optimal way reproduction. throughout the production chain. As manufacturers of high-quality paperboard, we are sometimes astonished Paperboard within the goods fl ow at how casually many producers of packaging and printed Paperboard is one of the most widely used packaging materials choose their input material, after having taken materials in the world thanks to the economic benefi ts it considerable care over the quality of the entire process offers throughout the chain from producers to consumers. that precedes printing or converting. It is easy to fi nd ex- Carton blanks can be transported fl at and cost effectively pensive catalogues or cartons whose colour-printed areas until they are erected and fi lled with the contents they are have cracked along the crease even before any consumer designed to protect and preserve throughout the dis- or reader has handled them. There are also countless tribution chain to the consumer. The printing properties brochures, whose cover, if it had been made of stiff pa- of paperboard packaging make it easy to convey both perboard instead of thick fi ne paper, would have had far commercial messages that encourage purchase and greater impact on the recipient’s experience of quality. legally required information about the contents. Paper- Virgin fi bre-based paperboard is the paper-based mate- board packaging can also be recycled as a material or its rial with the greatest added value, and for many applica- stored biogenic energy can be recovered via combustion tions there are simpler and more cost-effective solutions. or anaerobic digestion in accordance with the appropriate However, for anyone who wants the possibility of creating environmental targets. Paperboard is also compostable, more complex shapes to attract attention, for anyone which means that as a material it functions in all the waste who wants taint- and odour neutrality, or for anyone who streams listed in the European directive on packaging and is looking for the ultimate in printing properties, our virgin packaging waste (EC94/62). fi bre-based paperboards, Invercote and Incada, are inter- esting options. If the potential purchaser then explores IGGESUND PAPERBOARD | Reference Manual 9 Paperboard – the natural choice For a better environment Compared to other materials, paperboard made of virgin At Iggesund, paperboard production goes hand in hand fi bres has high performance and relatively low weight. It with sustainable forest management. For every tree which is safe for consumers to use because it contains known is harvested and used in our production process, we plant substances and is made in the same way every time. three or four new ones. The result is a sustainable closed- In most cases paperboard packaging remains folded or loop cycle that stretches over a century or more. Those of fl at until the products are packed. Thanks to paperboard’s us who are now collecting the pine cones containing the small volume and low weight, large amounts of energy are seeds for these new trees will not be alive when Iggesund saved in the transport chain. Paperboard cartons can be harvests the trees that will be the fruits of our labour. dimensioned to maximise the use of loading pallets, which Our operations at both Iggesund and Workington are leads to further signifi cant energy savings in the distribu- energy effi cient and their environmental performance fi g- tion chain. When paperboard cartons have served their ures are well within the limits prescribed by their permits. purpose they can be folded and compressed before being One of our long-term goals is to further minimise the im- transported to a suitable recycling station. At every step pact of our large-scale industry on the local environment. of the way, paperboard packaging saves more energy and At the most fundamental level, we live off what nature has lower environmental impact than most other packag- gives us. A business that bases its operations on this fact ing solutions. – and has done so for more than four centuries – must Paperboard is made from timber, which is a renewable have a sustainable and long-term approach. resource. Sunlight and water make the trees grow, while We produce one of industrial society’s most environ- they also bind carbon dioxide and give off the oxygen es- mentally sustainable products. It is made from a renew- sential to life. The forest’s closed ecological loop provides able raw material and can be recycled both as energy and us the raw material for paperboard, while used cartons material. It has minimal impact on our air and water, and and printed matter have their own role to play in the recy- produces no waste material that is sent to landfi ll. cling system of a sustainable society. As a material, paperboard is a good component in any sustainable environmental strategy. An overall view We work within the most sustainable material system in In considering the merits of packaging and graphical ma- existence. We have been responsible stewards of our raw terials, or the impact of their manufacture on the environ- material for centuries. Our manufacturing is integrated ment, it is important to take a holistic view. The issues to – we transform our own timber into pulp that is optimised be considered will normally include four key subjects – the for board production, which gives advantages of produc- use of raw materials and energy; the production process; tion economy, quality and quality consistency. Rising product and function; and final recycling or disposal. energy prices and more stringent environmental demands It is meaningless and misleading to address narrow are increasing paperboard’s relative competitiveness issues within any of these broad headings, and at the versus other material systems. same time ignore considerations arising from the wider, On the horizon are a greater use of biomass, smarter overall view. energy solutions that further improve our economy of production, and new spinoff products that make the forest Meeting real needs raw material even more interesting.