PRESS RELEASE
May 10, 1996
New, stiff paperboard means
cheaper food packagings

A new stiff, light weight paperboard which has been developed mainly for use in food packagings has been launched by Finnish forest industry group, Enso Oy. Enso Performa is said to have exceptional organoleptic properties with no off-taste or odour. Heat resistance and printability are the same as for pure pulp boards. The board allows gramme weights which are 10 - 20% lower than ordinary SBS boards. The board, which is based on a tough CTM pulp, is primarily intended for chocolate, ice cream, cigarette boxes and deep frozen goods packagings. It is also ideal for ovanable dishes, aroma-tight packages and packaging for household chemicals.

”The stiffness and strength of Enso Performa is the same as FBB paperboard. As its middle layer is made from a light and tough mixture of CTM and SBS pulp, the board has a 10 to 20% lower gramme weight, but with the same qualities”, says Yrjö Aho, Sales Director at Imatra Paperboards in Imatra, Finland. Imatra Paperboards is part of the Enso Packaging Boards Division.
This new, highly durable paperboard is available in a substance range of 180 to 350 g/m2. It can be coated with all kinds of PE coatings: PE, PP, High Barrier, one or two side coated PET. The board consists of three layers where the outer layers perform in the same way as a traditional high quality SBS board offering the same good printing qualities.
The core of the board has been strengthened using CTM which makes up around 25% of it’s overall weight. Through this construction, its stiffness and volume can be increased by 10 - 20% while reducing costs accordingly.

Production in Imatra
The CTMP used in Enso Performa is produced at the company’s new production facility at Imatra, Finland. The board producing machinery there is one of the largest and most modern of its kind in Europe with an annual output capacity of 210,000 tons. Also used is a highly effective washing process which serves to reduce the pulp’s taste and odour. Imatra Paperboards has a total PE coating capacity of 250,000 tons per annum and an integrated sheet cutting system.
”Enso is the only European supplier to offer an entire board range from WLC to the brightest colours of SBS board. Imatra mills has four board machines and its own pulp production. We can, thereby, function as a total supplier for the most demanding customers within the food industry”, says Yrjö Aho.
Enso’s annual turnover is USD 6.5 billion. Core business areas are fine papers, publication papers and packaging boards with a production volume of 5,4 million tonnes. The annual packaging board production is 1,4 million tonnes of which Imatra Paperboards’ production is over 800,000 tonnes./ins

Captions:

(1) Enso Performa, is the market’s first high-yield SBS board. It has been developed by Finnish Enso Oy, Europe’s largest packaging board manufacturer. Like traditional packaging board it has excellent organoleptic properties, printability and stiffness while offering a 10 - 20% cost advantage compared with traditional SBS board.

(2) The new, high-yield board, Enso Performa allows packaging suppliers to manufacture packagings with 10 - 20% lower material costs. This is made possible as 10 - 20% lower substances can be used while maintaining the same mechanical properties as traditional SBS boards.

Foot note:
SBS = Solid Bleached Sulphate Board,
FBB = Folding Box Board.
CTMP = Chemi Thermo Mechanical Pulp.


For further information :
Enso Oy
Packaging Boards Division
Sales Manager Yrjö Aho
FIN-55800 IMATRA

tel. (358) 54 689 21 53
fax (358) 54 689