- Food & Beverages
- Article
Billerud collaborates with Arttek Solutions to replace plastic straws in India
Manufacturer of sustainable paper straws, Arttek Solutions in Bengaluru India, under the Arttek Enviro brand, is dedicated to the exciting task to replace plastics in drinking straws. Arttek Solutions has chosen to collaborate with Billerud to drive innovation, selecting Billerud ConFlex Glaze as its straw material. A 100% recyclable and sustainable high-quality MG speciality paper, made from FSC®- certified Scandinavian forests.
Indian speciality packaging manufacturer Arttek Solutions is focused on sustainable, renewable solutions and to offering products that enable customers to replace plastics with renewable paper. As the world market embraces paper straws in its quest to halt plastics littering, the business unit Arttek Solutions was formed, specialised in paper straws.
Collaboration for a sustainable future
Billerud supported Arttek in identifying the right paper qualities for Arttek’s products. To be an innovator in an exciting niche segment of paper straws it was important to finding the right material that offers high functionality and a quality that meets consumer demands.
Arttek had the technical support of Billerud all the way – from trials to product development. The mission of both companies was mutual – a business collaboration that challenged conventional packaging for a more sustainable future.
We think of BillerudKorsnäs as a reliable partner in development and business – especially for a small and niche operator like ours.
High functionality and a great feeling
The selected paper Billerud ConFlex Glaze has one glossy side, offering a smooth feeling for consumers, which sometimes can be challenging since plastics is generally smoother than paper in contact with the lips and mouth. The paper’s strength ensures that the straws are strong enough to survive in carbonated soft drinks which also is a challenge since paper fibres easily dissolve in contact with carbonic acid. ConFlex Glaze lives up to its promises and meets the strictest and most stringent requirements in Cola industry standards and well as FDA standards.
Less waste, good runability
ConFlex Glaze offers good runability in Arttek’s machine equipment and the consistent quality of the paper has helped to reducing wastage. Arttek’s machines operate at medium speed but the company cannot find any obstacles in further increasing speeds.
Arttek would like to mention that the very high-quality packing of reels has also ensured zero wastage during storage and handling.
Worldwide efforts to reducing plastic straws
According to statistics from global environmental organization Earth.Org, more and more companies and brands are determined to abandon plastic straws, including McDonald’s, IKEA and Starbucks. There are also political decisions; EU has decided to ban all plastics straws and in many States and cities in India, plastic straws are no longer available at restaurants. Some states in the U.S. have banned the straws. Just in the USA, 500 million plastic straws are consumed every day, which could fill more than 127 school buses per day, or over 46,400 per year. Thus, there are exciting business opportunities to replace the plastics with paper.
More challenges for the future
Arttek is committed to drive sustainable innovation further in all aspects of its business. Currently Arttek is focused on developing speciality paper tubes for a few industrial applications and upcoming other products under embargo. For this task, there has been a challenge of identifying a paper with a very small metal content. This exploration is ongoing in collaboration with Billerud.
You can reach Arttek through info@arttekenviro.com.