UPM and BASF collaborate to push recyclable fibre-based packaging forward

UPM Specialty Materials and BASF have teamed up to advance recyclable, fibre-based packaging as the industry comes under sharper pressure to cut waste and redesign formats around recyclability. The companies say their cooperation combines UPM’s barrier and barrier base papers with BASF’s Joncryl HPB barrier technology resins to help brand owners, converters and formulators move away from conventional mixed-material constructions.

The collaboration is pitched at food and non...

-food packaging applications where high protection performance is still required, but where plastic-heavy or polyethylene-laminated structures are increasingly hard to justify under tightening rules. The companies frame the work as part of a broader shift towards design-for-recycling principles, with the EU’s Regulation 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste acting as a key policy driver.

UPM’s paper grades, including Solide Lucent and Asendo, are designed for demanding converting and printing uses. BASF says its waterborne Joncryl HPB resins have been tested without harming paper recyclability under the CEPI v. 2.0 standard in Europe. UPM’s packaging papers also carry recyclability certifications under CEPI v. 2.0, PTS-RH 021/97 category II and WMU SBS-E in the US, although third-party testing of the full combined structure is still under way.

Mika Uusikartano, senior manager of product portfolio management at UPM Specialty Materials, said the shift to recyclable fibre packaging requires both stronger barrier performance and closer co-operation across the value chain. Rolf Alles, director of sales resins EMEA at BASF, said demand for sustainable packaging is rising from brand owners through to converters and formulators, and described the joint approach as a credible basis for paper-based alternatives to plastic-based systems.

The companies plan to present jointly developed samples at interpack 2026 in Düsseldorf, underlining how suppliers are trying to turn recyclable packaging from an aspiration into a commercially workable materials platform.

Source: Noah Wire Services