Clear wood-based wrapping

January 8, 2019
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Clear wood-based wrapping film wins New Wood competition

A clear packaging film made from wood pulp rather than plastic has won the New Wood competition.

The Woodly innovative packaging product, developed by Welmu International for packaging fresh food, won New Wood, which aims to showcase the things we can achieve by using wood.

Entries submitted to the competition have to have social significance and commercial potential, meet the standards of sustainable development and incorporate an innovative use of wood.

Woodly won the best entry in the Consumer Awareness category, as well as the overall competition.

The principal material of Woodly is coniferous pulp and is a clear film, resembling traditional oil-based plastic. The film is still at the product development stage, but will have several different uses. It is possible that Woodly may be seen in shops in Finland as early as next year, now that Welmu has concluded an agreement with the Järvikylä company, a producer of potted salad greens and herbs.

Jaakko Kaminen, CEO of Welmu International, says Woodly is being made on three different production lines. One of them manufactures wrapping materials, such as the one used by Järvikylä, one manufactures injection-moulded products such as bottles and cases, while the third one manufactures coating material for cartons and papers used for fast food, for example.

Woodly’s advantage is that it can be produced on the same production lines as traditional plastic. Thus, significant investments or changes in the production processes are not necessary.

The competition jury noted that grocery shops sell plenty of items containing plastics for which a replacement should be found.

“Woodly has great market potential,” said Susanna Winqvist, project manager of the New Wood project. “It is easy to export to international markets.”

In addition to Welmu, several other companies won prizes in the competition. In the Urbanisation category, Woodio triumphed for its wood-based, waterproof composite. The first application is a washbasin, with some now in use in Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland.

In the Changes in the Population Structure category, the award was given to Innomost, which produces raw materials for cosmetics from birch bark.