Elopak invests and expands as green packaging demand hikes profits
Second-quarter revenues were up 3.8% to €288.4m for the international paper-based packaging supplier, while adjusted EBITDA ticked up 15.2% to €43.8m.
Elopak had taken new line orders from customers in Q2 that significantly contributed to the Norway-based business’s results, Elopak director of packaging development Ole-Petter Trovaag told FoodNavigator.
Due to increased manufacturer interest in more sustainable packaging, the business has begun expanding into the Americas, the Middle East, North Africa, and India.
Europe’s largest dairy producers
The business’s first US production plant will open in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2024, while India and the MENA regions came online in 2022.
Food and drink manufacturers were more than ever seeking sustainable packaging solutions that delivered against high food safety standards, Trovaag said. Elopak’s cartons contain wooden fibre and a plastic barrier to avoid liquids entering the organic materials. However, work continues to reduce polymers in favour of fibres.
Elopak invests
Rising food and drink manufacture desire for more sustainable packaging has benefitted Elopak, which has invested in new machinery and packaging technology, as well as invested in new manufacturing locations across the Americas, Middle East and North Africa.
“In Q1 2024 we officially launched a new state-of-the art filling line for chilled distribution and our packaging can extend shelf life for a milk package up to 60-days once it’s on shelf,” said Trovaag.
The business worked with its Japanese machinery manufacturer Shikoku Kakoki to develop the new filling lines, which have already been adopted by some of Europe’s largest dairy processors.
Packaging sustainability strategy
Germany’s Hochwald Foods, which processes over 2bn kilos of milk annually, moved all fresh dairy and mixed milk beverages for its Bärenmarke brand to the new lines.
Lithuanian dairy Žemaitijos Pienas also moved its fresh organic milk packaging from plastic to Pure-Pak cartons, reducing plastic use by 80%, according to Elopak CEO Thomas Körmendi.
The business would launch its revised sustainability strategy next month, which would include updates to existing products as well as upcoming NPD, said Trovaag.
“We’re working a lot on the functionality of our opening devices with alternative material for our Pure-Pak cartons, that originally were without a closure device,” he explained. “And we’re challenging ourselves on how to reduce polymers, which we still need to have for oxygen barriers. But we’re looking at how to ensure the polymers can be recycled within a circular economy.”
