Paper manufacturer Arjowiggins has launched an innovative and sustainable alternative to plastics for pet food packaging.
As part of its mission to help the pet care industry create a circular economy, the company has developed Sylvicta – a translucent, functional barrier paper that has been proven to preserve the quality of the content just as well as conventional plastics.
The pioneering paper is fully recyclable, compostable, marine degradable and made from renewable raw materials.
Sylvicta has a very high barrier to oxygen, which is the leading cause of food spoilage. This means it can help pet brands and retailers reduce food waste by prolonging shelf life during the transportation, retail and consumer phases of the value chain.
Through precision fibre refining, the R&D teams at Arjowiggins developed the translucent paper with a natural bonding, without the need for harmful chemicals. The result is a paper with a barrier to oxygen, aroma, mineral oils and fatty foodstuffs.
The company is now working with pet care packaging converters to open up an array of applications – from windows in packaging to make the content visible, pouches for dry and oily food, snacks and pet treats all the way though to laminated versions of Sylvicta for heavyweight pet food bags.
The product offers a multitude of creative possibilities for packaging design, as it can be foil-stamped, glued, embossed, printed in offset, gravure, and flexography, metallised, laminated to other papers or coated with heat or cold-sealable materials.
Christophe Jordan, managing director of the translucent papers division at Arjowiggins, said: “Despite the on-going movement towards more sustainable packaging, plastics still remain a popular choice for pet care brands, largely for practical reasons. Until now, most of the existing offer, mainly in single-use packaging, uses unrecyclable, multi-layered laminates incorporating plastics or aluminium foil.
“The good news is pet care brands and retailers looking for a fully recyclable, compostable and biodegradable paper packaging need look no further than Sylvicta – the product is simply revolutionary. It can help to create the circular economy society we all desire.”
Like all Arjowiggins Translucent Papers, Sylvicta is FSC and PEFC-certified, produced on a site that is ISO 14001-compliant, and is carbon-offset through the World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced programme.
