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Finnish liquid packaging board producer Stora Enso is now offering Natura Platina board for demanding, high-end products.

Natura Platina is a bleached liquid packaging board with a shiny, metalised polymer coating on top. The board also has an aluminium foil for the superb barrier properties needed in packaging such extended shelf life products as wine, yogurt and juice.

The Natura Platina board is being used in Norway by the dairy company Tine, which sells its Mana Fruit Juice series in one-litre cartons manufactured by Elopak. The juice is a good example of an added value functional food product. "Natura Platina is an attractive liquid packaging board for any market where customers want to have a more exclusive look for their products to support sales and promotional activities," said Liquid Packaging Board Sales Director, Ola Tönnberg. * Exceptional metallic look* The board's exceptional metallic look is achieved by applying a metalised bi-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film on top of the board. The aluminium foil on the reverse side provides an excellent barrier against humidity, oxygen, odours, grease and light. Natura Platina can be used for all typical table-top package sizes, from small portion packs to two-litre cartons.

"We have experience in coating for liquid packaging board with all available coating materials and barrier layers, and we're constantly conducting trial runs on behalf of customers and for our own product development. For this application, we have established close cooperation with Elopak, which also developed a white UV-curable ink suitable for printing Natura Platina in their flexographic printing process," Tönnberg said.

Aiming at extended shelf life According to Elopak, the extended shelf life (ESL) market in Europe is growing rapidly as consumers continue to demand high quality and convenience. This means that more days of shelf life are needed for various milk and juice products. The ESL technology is expected to affect the future development of these dairy segments significantly.

Natura Platina is an attractive packaging material for ESL products and other applications where excellent barrier properties are a must. Packages made of Natura Platina can be recycled like other beverage cartons, and the fibres can be used for producing other fibre-based products. Aluminium and plastic fractions of the package can be fully recovered in an appropriate recovery process.