Innovation Grass Paper
Is grass paper the panacea?
The secret of grass paper production
Is grass paper environmentally friendly?
Grass-paper packaging is sustainability at first sight
Is grass paper compostable?
Can grass paper be used for food?
Is grass paper available all year round? What alternatives to grass paper are possible?
Our NaturePackaging® label stands for:
- Informing
We provide extensive information about using natural fibres for environmentally friendly packaging.
- Advising
We can provide advice on the many uses of grass fibre paper or even pure recycled paper. Optimising your applications is always our top priority
- Mediating
We can arrange suitable partners for your projects if required.
Grass paper?
Simply beautifully printed.
What’s more, playing with the entirely new surface as a design free space opens up new avenues. Take advantage of the fine hay shimmer, which stands out clearly from the other papers.
All common printing processes are ideally suited to the paper: whether flexographic, offset or digital printing is irrelevant when it comes to printability, even fine structures are shown off to their best advantage.
Thus, printed images with full-surface printing can be reduced or rethought by incorporating the grass look.
Nature-Liner® Top
Nature-Liner® Kraft
Nature-Liner® Top Green
Grass – a raw material that is generated without a specific purpose, also offers interesting sustainability benefits from an environmental point of view.
Grass is not cultivated specifically for packaging; instead, the raw material is harvested from unfertilised grassland and is then processed for the paper industry. Thin, unfertilised grass is perfect for the production of grass-fibre papers and is therefore not in competition with feed grasses. Grass fibres also have the benefit of requiring little water in processing, reducing CO2 emissions and shortening procurement routes.
Because what is more sustainable than recycled paper? Recycled paper with grass fibres!
And that’s exactly what we can supply you with as a manufacturer. Our grass paper is free of virgin fibres and therefore more environmentally friendly!
Nature-Liner® – Our Grass Paper
The basis for versatile packaging possibilities. The fine hay structure in the paper gives the packaging a unique character with high recognition value.
- four grammages
- two surfaces
- one corrugated paper
Everything you need for a wide range of choices. More knowledge about the raw material for your packaging?
Feel free to visit the product page of the different grass fiber papers at:
>more information Nature-Liner®
Nature-Board® – Our grass board
We offer you a folding boxboard for an extraordinary market presence:
Grass fiber meets recycled paper – the ultimate combination for sustainable packaging.
You can choose from different grammages: approx. 250 – 550 g/m²
Fine, light grass structure with even appearance.
For samples, data sheets and prices, please contact us!
We are happy to advise and help!
> more information Nature-Board®
Packaging made from grass paper?
Of course you can.
Both virgin pulp fibres and recycled paper can be used as raw materials for packaging paper. Both components have specific fields of application.
However, new possibilities have now emerged with the use of grass fibre as a complementary raw material. From a processing point of view, combining with grass fibre delivers the usual reliability and quality in all production steps.
The demand for packaging papers that are clearly visually different from previous products is becoming increasingly widespread and is reaching all layers of the supply chain. This means that demand from everyone, from end consumers, retailers and brand owners to packaging producers, is constantly increasing and the range of possible applications is also constantly expanding.
Paper production between tradition and innovation: Grass paper
Take: Fibres, water, glue – then press and dry!
The basic recipe for papermaking has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Much has been written about the production processes, yet for many the relatively new grass paper is a term that still leaves some questions unanswered.
Paper making is a very old craft that has undergone changes in raw material composition over time. Starting over 2,000 years ago with plant fibres such as bamboo, then via rags (old rags) and also straw, fresh fibres and recycled fibres were for a long time the two predominant raw materials for paper production. Thanks to the invention of machine production, the once laborious manual creation of individual sheets became a faster and more cost-effective continuous paper web.
Innovation Grass Paper
For some years now, a completely different raw material has entered the stage: Grass. Present everywhere and hitherto little noticed, the fibre has found its way into paper mills. Originally conceived as a cost-effective substitute for virgin fibre pulp, it was soon followed by the combination with recycled paper as a more advanced solution with environmental awareness in mind. A raw material that does not have to be specially cultivated or produced probably corresponds most closely to the idea of sustainability. Grass is available almost everywhere and accumulates in large quantities, for example as maintenance cuttings from unused green spaces. Grass fibre for paper production should be unfertilised and lean in order to be integrated smoothly into the production process with as few nutrients as possible. In this way, grass fibre also escapes the discussion about competition as animal feed. <
Is grass paper environmentally friendly?
The upcoming expansion of EU sustainability reporting obliges more and more companies to provide information on their environmental concerns. The use of grass-based raw materials offers good approaches for the required statements on ecological activities. As an argumentation aid for the environmental friendliness of the paper, there is a comparative product eco-balance according to the current DIN standards ISO 14040 & 14044, where testliner and grass paper are compared in seven impact categories, such as climate change (CO2 pollution), water scarcity or biodiversity. The result, which was also independently validated by a review panel, shows that grass paper has a lower negative impact on nature in all areas than a pure recycled paper and is therefore ecologically more advantageous. This is achieved simply because the raw material grass is processed purely mechanically without the use of chemicals. This is because, unlike virgin fibre made from wood pulp, no lignin has to be boiled out here. <
Is grass paper compostable?
The compostability certified for grass paper by ISEGA ideally plays a rather subordinate role on the German market, as the raw material is collected in an organised manner and returned to the fibre pool. In other countries, however, it is definitely an important selling point. <
Is grass paper the panacea?
In the corrugated base paper sector, the share of recycled fibres has remained almost unchanged at 80% over the past ten years. A supply of virgin fibres will continue to be necessary. Thus, grass fibres are more of a supplement to the raw material pool. The recycling rate of grass fibres will probably be similar to that of recycled fibres. Grass fibre is still too young to provide verifiable data. In principle, grass paper is just as recyclable as regular waste paper and, according to the test report of the Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS), has a fibre yield of over 99.5 %. The Meldorf paper mill, which produces grass paper according to its own patented process, takes grass paper waste and cardboard into its cycle and in turn produces new grass paper from it. The closed-loop system is thus also used in practice for grass paper products. Grass paper is often used as corrugated base paper in the range of approx. 120 – 200 g/m², but papers with various barrier layers such as grease- or water-repellent coatings in grammages below 100 g/m² have already appeared on the market. Grass fibre can also be found in the paperboard sector from 250 g/m² upwards. Here it is mainly used in folding box production or as a printing article in all conceivable uses. <
Grass paper packaging is sustainability at first sight
Visual aspects play a major role in the sale of grass paper. The special look and feel of the paper is the most important selling point: at first glance, the paper illustrates the aspect of sustainability. However, it is also clear that print results on grass paper serve different target groups than is the case with a bright white coated paper. The desired marketing effects can be specifically achieved and staged by incorporating the somewhat rougher grass structure. THIMM Group, a manufacturer of corrugated board packaging, also produces packaging based on grass paper. Their customers, mainly from the consumer goods and e-commerce sectors, are convinced above all by the sustainability of the packaging due to the rapidly renewable raw material grass. In addition, the natural look of the packaging given by the grass fibres enables them to create a consistent sales story. This is especially true for products that also advertise high sustainability. <
Can grass paper be used for food?
On the other hand, the topic of food suitability is literally on everyone’s lips. In principle, the same statement applies to tissue papers with recycled fibres as to pure recycled papers, namely that they are suitable for dry and non-fatty direct food contact. For all other food products, barriers should be used. <
The secret of grass paper production
For a flawless product, the requirements for the raw materials must be precisely defined. The paper mills must specify which grinds and fibre lengths are suitable for the respective machinery. The sorting units that filter out coarse and fine materials must also be adapted to the production of the grass paper. Paper mills that work in-house with recycled paper as raw material have advantages here because they are already proficient in handling foreign materials. Since there are also production recipes for grass paper, with which types of recovered paper which result is to be achieved, a dosing unit is also necessary for the targeted feeding of the grass fibres. The waste paper and grass fibres are then mixed in the so-called pulper, a kind of large stirring tub. Further comminution of the fibres takes place in aggregates that must be suitable for the special requirements of the grass fibre. Finally, the fibre slurry (pulp) passes through an intermediate storage facility, the pulp vats, and then onto the paper screen with a water content of approx. 99 %. Afterwards, the fibre mixture continues to run through the press and dryer sections in the usual way. From here on, there is hardly any difference between the production of grass fibre papers and other recycled papers. In the case of both brown (Nature-Liner® Top) and significantly lighter grass paper (Nature-Liner® Top Green), it is important to maintain the technological values for further use. With Nature-Liner® corrugated base paper, strength values in the range of at least Testliner III are achieved so that further processing into corrugated board can proceed smoothly. <
Is grass paper available all year round? What alternatives to grass paper are conceivable?
Since no freshly mown grass is used, but dried grass is stored in pellet form as a dry product, year-round availability is guaranteed even in the winter months. Thus, many other fibres are also conceivable as a future raw material. There are already approaches with onion or tomato herb, mash or even hemp fibres. Paper production therefore remains highly exciting! <
Do you have any further questions?
Simply contact the
grass paper experts:
Sebastian Finck
Manager Business Development
Phone + 49 151/16249486
E-Mail:
Petra Lueder
Marketing and Productmanagement
Telefon + 49 4122/505-55
E-Mail:
Petra.Lueder@Papierfabrik-Meldorf.de
Examples of applications for grass paper packaging:
