BillerudKorsnäs launches climate-positive packaging

D-Sack has been engineered to disintegrate in a conventional mixer, with the bio-based carbon in the paper captured in the construction itself.

Co-developed in cooperation between BillerudKorsnäs and LafargeHolcim, D-Sack is said to offer ‘significant’ advantages over conventional cement sacks. The sack dissolves during the mixing process, which minimizes cement waste, eliminates packaging waste and saves time, whilst ensuring a cleaner, safer and healthier workplace. Additionally, D-Sack is claimed as superior to conventional cement sacks when it comes to climate performance. In a lifecycle assessment conducted by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, D-Sack proves to capture carbon dioxide over a 100-year perspective, meaning that it is climate positive. The reason is that the carbon dioxide that was captured from the atmosphere during tree growth and then incorporated into the paper, is stored in the concrete structure.

BillerudKorsnäs described D-Sack as an example of the potential in challenging conventional packaging with a sustainable future as the target. By exploring the sustainability performance of BillerudKorsnäs products further ahead in the value chain, such as during and after the use of the packaging, new exciting opportunities for value creation appear. That is why BillerudKorsnäs has built up a sack laboratory where D-Sack was developed.

Mark van der Merwe, business development director for Sack Solutions at BillerudKorsnäs, said: ‘I am extremely proud of this achievement and very pleased that D-Sack has now been formally launched. It is an innovation that has been produced in our sack laboratory in close cooperation with LafargeHolcim designed to meet specific user needs and needs in the value chain. The sack laboratory has done an excellent job and set the standard for innovation in the packaging industry.’

Henrik Essén, senior vice president of communication and sustainability at BillerudKorsnäs, added: ‘We believe in the potential of developing existing solutions further, in our business as well as in the packaging industry. Concepts like D-Sack, results of innovativeness and cooperation, strengthen our contribution to a sustainable future.’