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Art of packaging
Taste not waste – Baronie cuts its carbon footprint Belgium is synonymous with chocolate, and when one of the country’s top producers was seeking ways to further cut its carbon footprint, Metsä Board was on hand to help.
Charlie Bass, photos: Roope Permanto
S witching from a PE coated board to a dis- persion barrier board means the tray that holds the famous ice praline treats pro- duced by BIG – Belgian Ice Cream Group, part of the Baronie Group, now has a 32% lower cradle- to-grave carbon footprint. Baronie Group, Belgium’s biggest chocolate producer, has a long and distinguished history with roots stretching back to 1839. Today the company produces chocolate products under multiple brand names, with many being firm fa- vourites across its home market of Europe. Ba ronie’s dedication to quality and craftsmanship is matched only by its commitment to sustaina- bility. In addition to participating in several co- coa sustainability initiatives, Baronie is firmly focused on reducing packaging waste and im- proving recyclability. “In 2019, after we launched MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB, our lightweight dispersion-coated bar rier paperboard, we approached Baronie to dis- cuss how the product could help them because we were aware of their strong focus on improv- ing packaging sustainability,” says Tom Symons , Metsä Board Sales Manager for Benelux.
Baronie indicated that the product would be ide- al for its sister company BIG, a producer of ice cream specialities including ice pralines, which were already being packaged in MetsäBoard Clas- sic FBB, a fully coated folding boxboard with PE coating. The inner tray of the praline packaging requires a barrier board since it is in direct con- tact with the frozen product. In the past this has been solved by using a PE layer on the board but in order to reduce plastic, our recommendation was to use MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB. Lighter packaging, less plastic To demonstrate to Baronie the benefits of switch- ing to MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB, Metsä Board produced a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assess- ment (LCA) - a lightweighting analysis covering the whole value chain from forest until end-of life – though excluding the converting process of the paperboard .“The numbers spoke for themselves,” Tom says. “The LCA showed that switching to the disper- sion barrier board would reduce the cradle-to- gate including end-of-life carbon footprint of the packaging by an astonishing 32%.”
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