Forest Film awarded by Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Forest Film is claimed to be the world’s first polypropylene film label material derived entirely from wood-based sources based on mass balance approach and brings UPM Raflatac’s vision of labeling a smarter future beyond fossils to life.

The innovative sourcing begins with UPM Raflatac’s sister company, UPM Biofuels, which converts pulp production residue, crude tall oil from sustainably managed forests, into renewable naphtha, a drop-in raw material for the chemical industry. This product, called UPM BioVerno, is sent to a resin supplier and then a film supplier to convert it into the filmic face material the UPM Raflatac then manufactures into the laminate label material known as Forest Film. 

‘Forest Film deserves attention for being a notable introduction of bio-based polypropylene with a well understood feedstock and an assurance mechanism for responsible sourcing,’ said Adam Gendell, associate director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. ‘It is a significant advancement in the field of bio-based plastics, and we feel it's earned its status as the winner of Innovation in Responsible Sourcing in the 2020 SPC Innovator Awards.’

Moreover, Forest Film is an International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS-certified product, meaning it uses sustainable resources to replace an equivalent amount of fossil resources in the production process – the mass balance approach.

When a comparison is made between a standard label construction and Forest Film, the carbon footprint, including biogenic carbon, significantly reduces emissions up to 66 percent (based on UPM Raflatac’s life cycle assessment study critically reviewed to be in accordance with ISO 14040/44 and PAS2050 standards)​.

Forest Film has identical performance to traditional plastic film label materials. It is now available as either polypropylene or polyethylene, in both clear and white films for a number of packaging end-uses.

‘Thank you to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition for this tremendous honor,’ commented Tyler Matusevich, UPM Raflatac’s sustainability manager for the Americas. ‘Responsible sourcing is top priority for our company because raw materials are one of our biggest sources of environmental impact. Forest Film answers our customers’ and brand owners’ needs for using renewable instead of fossil-based raw materials. Thank you to all the SPC members who continue to drive the sustainable packaging industry forward. Let’s collaborate, let’s learn together and let’s change the world.’

You can read more about Forest Film in an article about a Finnish mineral water brand Vallamo, using this product to express its full commitment to the environment and sustainability.