Paper company on a mission to revolutionise packaging

The Scottish paper company Arjowiggins has a long and illustrious history of making fine and specialty papers that stretches back to 1698.

But now the company, which is headquartered in Aberdeen and has mills in Scotland, England, Spain and China , is drawing upon over 300 years of heritage and experience to help change the future.
Arjowiggins has developed what it calls a “fundamental turn in its strategy” by creating a paper packaging for the food industry that could completely revolutionise our idea of packaging.
Sylvicta was launched in October 2020 and is a sustainable and translucent barrier paper intended to replace single-use plastics in the food, drinks and cosmetics sector.

This will radically change the company’s client base — it is usually made up of graphic printers, designers, packaging convertors and luxury brands.
That has been widened and enriched to include major brands in the food and drink sectors and Sylvicta is now being used in pet food, coffee, dry fruits, sandwich and cheese wraps, frozen food boxes and much more.
Christophe Jordan of Arjowiggins says, “Sylvicta is a translucent and high barrier paper to replace single-used plastic. This paper features tremendous barrier to oxygen (even better than plastic!), helping keep food fresh, it’s a great barrier to grease (KIT test of 12), to mineral oil and to aroma. The potential applications are endless.”

Sylvicta has passed all the possible certifications in the field of sustainability: recyclability within the paper stream, compostability, both home and industrial, biodegradability and marine degradability. It has also passed the food contacts certification, such as FDA and BFR36. This makes it a major contender in the battle to eliminate single-use plastics which are a huge threat to the environment, especially our oceans.
Turnover has started to significantly increase since the launch in 2020, and the company is expecting very strong growth in 2021 and future years.

Arjowiggins has two mills capable of producing Sylvicta, the one in England and the one in China. They are also studying other expansion opportunities as volumes are expected to pick-up further in the coming two to three years.

Christophe says, “Arjowiggins is rapidly and fundamentally changing. Our recent innovations and the ones we are working on will change the face of the company: from a paper producer that fairly exclusively serves the graphic and luxury packaging segments, we are becoming a diversified papermaking group providing alternatives to plastics in various areas like food, cosmetics, printed electronics, heat transfer, medical, etc. Sustainability and circular economy are not just words to us, it is a reality and our future as a business.”
While the last year has been difficult for many businesses, Arjowiggins has seen their move into the food industry partially offset the effects on the original paper side of the business. Christophe says, “The pandemic has convinced us to further accelerate the transformation initiated a few years ago. Consumers habits and expectations have greatly evolved during the pandemic, the world has changed becoming more digital than ever, so we need to adapt and bring adequate answers to these expectations for a greener world.”