When Iggesund Paperboard decided to test the limits of what is possible in a paper cup, even it could not have imagined a cup so close to its Waterford or Wedgewood cousins.
Iggesund began with a double-walled cup that is fairly common on the market. The double-walled construction makes it is possible to use one material inside the cup and another for the outer wall, which functions as both a heat shield and a brand carrier.
The inner wall was Invercote coated with polyethylene (PE) and the outer, Aluvision, which is Invercote extrusion coated with a thin layer of aluminium foil plus PE on top of the foil.
“We wanted the metallic feature in order to achieve elegance and shine even though we only printed with one colour, vintage orange,” explained Anna Adler, project leader for market communications at Iggesund Paperboard.
An ornamental pattern framed Iggesund’s Invercote brand. The plan was to cover everything except the pattern with the orange colour and then get the pattern and product name to shine by giving them a raised embossing. The Swiss toolmaker, SMR Stanztechnik, supplied the high-precision embossing tool and the printing was then done by the Italian paper cup specialists, Scatolificio del Garda (SDG).
“We did a number of tests to find out how much we should emboss but finally decided to emboss the entire pattern and brand name,” explained Iggesund’s technical service manager, Alex Guglielmi. “It was interesting to see how the embossing made the metallic tones that weren’t overprinted with orange really shine. A real eye catcher.
"Matching the printed and embossed areas was a real challenge. To be certain of avoiding any misregister, it was decided to reduce the number of cup blanks per printed sheet from twenty-seven to twenty-four. Invercote has fantastic dimensional stability but sometimes it’s better to be on the safe side. It’s still a fantastic result for anyone who wants elegance and a visual impression that can convey a brand.”
The paperboard’s printability and ability to be finished to a high level of elegance are not the only reasons why Iggesund believes in a renaissance for paperboard beverage cups. Competing materials such as traditional plastic or polystyrene foam cups create a much higher carbon footprint than a cup made of paperboard with a thin PE coating.
“A cup made of PE-coated Invercote has a carbon footprint that is scarcely a quarter the size of the one left by the same cup made of plastic – just comparing the weight of the materials used. By that measure alone, the paperboard cup is the clear winner. If you add the existence of efficient recycling systems and the fact that the stored bioenergy can finally be recovered, paperboard is an outstanding choice of material,” Adler explained.
Iggesund foresees long term business opportunities for cups like this product. Debates are currently raging over the environmental aspects of polystyrene foam cups. In the US, which is a huge market for disposable cups, a number of cities are taking action to forbid the use of polystyrene foam materials in beverage cups and catering packs.
Iggesund Paperboard is part of the Swedish forest industry group, Holmen, one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies listed on the United Nations Global Compact Index. Its flagship product, Invercote, is sold in more than 100 countries.
