Finland-based firm Stora Enso has unveiled a new cost- and resource-efficient alternative to plastic packaging, DuraSense, in an effort to reduce environmental impact of products.

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Image: Stora Enso' DuraSense provides a low-carbon alternative to plastic packaging. Photo: courtesy of Anni Roivas/Stora Enso.

The new line of wood-based biocomposites uses a blend of wood fibers and polymers, which can be fossil, bio-based or recycled, thus reducing the dependency on limited fossil resources.

Stora Enso said that it is introducing DuraSense to new customer segments, including cosmetics, food and luxury brands, marks another step in its sustainability mission.

Stora Enso liquid packaging and carton board SVP head Hannu Kasurinen: “Reducing the amount of plastic is high on our customers’ agenda, and they want help in replacing non-renewable materials.

“With DuraSense we can now offer different biocomposite solutions, such as caps and bottle stoppers, to demanding customers in premium cosmetics, food and luxury segments with very high standards in both aesthetics and quality.”

The DuraSense offers customers a more eco-friendly alternative to plastics while improving sustainability performance and reducing carbon footprint, the firm said.

The biocomposite material, which requires little or no change to existing production techniques, is developed to match conventional plastics.

Stora Enso sustainable packaging components business head Lars Axrup said: “With wood-based biocomposites, the consumption of plastic materials can be reduced by up to 50%, ensuring that less plastic ends up in the environment.

“DuraSense can also be reused as a material up to seven times, recycled along with plastic materials or used for energy recovery at the end of its life.”

In a separate announcement, the firm said that it has introduced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags for automated and unmanned retail.

The product, New Retail by Stora Enso, merges in-store and online shopping by using sustainable RFID tags for wireless authentication and payment.

The cabinets allow customers to unlock from a smart phone via any compatible payment app such as WeChat and MobilePay.

Each item features a tamper-proof Stora Enso ECO RFID tag, which is automatically detected by the cabinet. The items taken out from the cabinet by the customer will be charged via the app.