There is a growing global demand for bio-cycle economy solutions. As the world is moving ever closer to moving away from fossil materials, the demand for sustainable alternative materials is growing. Sustainable packaging, textiles, biochemicals, composites, building materials and cosmetics, to name a few, bio-based materials will soon be ubiquitous. Finland is a global leader in the forest bioeconomy and is world-renowned for its innovation and technological development of related products.
Last month, Ms. Outi Suomi, Head of Finnish Bio and Recycling Program at Business Finland and Ms. Ni Wen, Senior Commercial Officer, were invited to speak at the IPIF 2022 International Packaging Innovation Forum.
Ms. Outi Suomi started the conference by introducing Business Finland's two main goals for 2021, of which Zero Carbon Future is one of the key goals. Finland also has great potential to redefine wood, specializing in replacing fossil-based plastics and other materials with bio-based, sustainable fibers.
Today bio-based products are part of everyday life in Finnish households; consumers are expecting more sustainable solutions to appear on the market. So bio-based materials that can be recycled are of great significance for society to achieve carbon neutrality.
Circular economy as a production and consumption model requires people to extend the life cycle of products by sharing, reusing, repairing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. Specifically, waste reduction. When a product reaches the end of its useful life, its materials are kept in the economic cycle as much as possible so that these materials can be reused again and again and continue to create value. In her presentation, Ms. Outi Suomi introduced some of the current Finnish projects related to packaging R&D, initiated by Finnish universities, research institutes, companies and the VTT organization, the National Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The project aims to develop sustainable bio-based solutions for lightweight foam products for protective packaging as well as thermal and acoustic insulation applications in the construction industry. Replacement of petroleum-based polystyrene and polyethylene using cellulose fiber-based foam or bio-based polymer foam.
The focus is on improving material properties and process development to reduce material use as well as waste generation. Considering that foam products often end up being incinerated, recyclability and recycling are critical.
