Mango, vanilla, blueberry and pear. Over a few years, Arla Luonto+ yoghurts have gained a loyal fan base for their natural flavours, beautiful packaging and relatable advertisements. Since February 2019, recycling them has also become delightfully easy: after scooping up the last of the delicious yoghurt, the whole packaging can be recycled with cardboard.

Arla Luonto+ yoghurt cup is the first cardboard yoghurt cup in Finland. Arla and Pyroll collaborated to develop fibre-based lids for the products; these lids are a part of Pyroll’s ecological Pyroll Green series. With the cup made of cardboard, the whole packaging is easily recyclable.

Demand for greener packaging 

The Arla Foods group has committed to work to achieve a carbon-neutral production chain in its milk production by 2050 at latest. As a part of their responsibility programme, this year Arla Finland has introduced innovative packaging solutions to the Finnish market in order to decrease their environmental impact. Yoghurt cups made from Arla Luonto+ cardboard were launched in February in collaboration with Pyroll who helped create their fibre-based lids. At the same time, Arla Finland has launched packaging made from 100% renewable wood-based material for all of their liquid cardboard containers.

The idea for fibre-based lids was first introduced in summer 2018. One year later, environmentally friendly yoghurt cups have already been in production for a while and have become a normal part of a Finnish breakfast table. The time that it took to bring the idea into concrete production was so short that you could call it a record:

‘Successful collaboration helped us start production on the new cardboard cups and fibre-based lids in record time,’ says Arla’s brand manager Kati Janhunen.

The idea behind greener packaging stems from consumer demand. Especially consumers who are fond of the Arla Luonto+ products had wished for more ecological and easily recyclable packaging for their favourite products. The pinnacle of the record-speed project – the finished product – has been finding its way into consumers’ shopping baskets for a few months now, and it has been eagerly received by yoghurt fans.

Innovation is not always needed

The demand for more ecological packaging solutions really took off in 2018. Fibre-based products are one step towards more ecological packaging. According to Marko Manu, the sales director of Pyroll’s plastic and lid packaging, the demand for fibre-based lids and products is clearly on the rise.

Fibre-based lids are an interesting option among ecological packaging solutions since they are not a fresh-out-of-the-oven innovation but rather a re-heated existing solution. The demand for ecological packaging gave new life to an old idea. The development of materials and technology have also aided in bringing fibre-based lids back on production lines and helped with the production process.

‘As the name says, fibre-based lids are fully recyclable with cardboard and they protect the product well,’ Manu explains their features.

Best products through seamless collaboration

Pyroll and Arla developed the product through various tests. The end product has gone through multiple rounds of testing during development; it has been honed to be the best version possible. Product tests took place in Pyroll’s Joensuu factory and on Arla’s own production line.

Working efficiently on a tight schedule requires collaboration and communication between all stakeholders. Manu from Pyroll and Janhunen from Arla are both elated for the successful, smooth collaboration process that allowed completing the project within a tight schedule and enabled agile execution from idea to production.

‘The highlight of the project was clearly the first production and seeing the new products stocked in grocery stores,’ says Janhunen after completing the project.

Pyroll’s own Pyroll Green product family is the company’s response to sustainable development. Pyroll Green products are packaging solutions made from various materials whose overall ecological impact is more environmentally friendly than before.

4th July 2019