- With HERMAnature fieno (grade 340), HERMA is offering grass paper as a label material for the first time.
- Compared with paper made from virgin fibres or even recycled cellulose, grass paper is very resource-saving and low in CO2 emissions.
- Free of allergens and equipped with a low-migration adhesive, the grass paper is ideally suited for food and cosmetic labels.
Probably the most environmentally friendly paper in the world consists largely of grass, or more precisely sun-dried hay. The preparation of these fibres for paper production is - in comparison to production from virgin fibres or even recycled pulp - very resource-saving and low in CO2. Grass paper has been widely used for various food packaging applications since 2017, for example - and has also attracted a great deal of attention from companies that rely on sustainable packaging. The new label material HERMAnature fieno (grade 340) made of grass paper makes it possible to transfer the aspect of special sustainability to the labels. The production of such grass paper is based on special grass pellets developed and patented by a German company in the Rhineland. The grass fibres are processed mechanically and without chemicals, saving 97 percent energy and 99 percent water compared to wood pulp. In addition, there is less logistical effort because the grass comes from domestic compensation areas. This means that up to 75 percent CO2 can be saved; in the end product grass paper, the saving amounts to a considerable 20 to 25 percent less CO2.
Very good printability
The new label material HERMAnature fieno (340) consists of 30 percent of this extremely sustainable raw material. It can basically be processed in the same way as conventional paper and printed very well in offset and flexo printing. "As this is a natural product, colour fluctuations can occur," says HERMA Development Manager Dr Ulli Nägele. "But in combination with the rougher haptics, this signals to the end consumer immediately and credibly that this is a sustainable packaging material. An additional advantage: the grass paper is free of allergens requiring EU labelling, as listed in Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011; these include fish and nut products. This makes grass paper labels ideal for use on food and cosmetics. To maintain this advantage, HERMAnature fieno is equipped with 62A adhesive. It may come into direct contact with dry, moist and greasy foods which can be assigned a correction factor of at least 3 according to Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011. Apart from this, pressure-sensitive adhesive 62A is a generally applicable perma-nent adhesive with very good adhesive properties on a wide variety of surfaces. The final adhesion is very high on both polar and non-polar (such as PE) surfaces. It is characterised by very good water resistance and has particularly good resistance to light, heat and ageing.
Proven sustainable
The environmental advantage of grass papers has now also been scientifically substantiated: "Grass-based pulp performs significantly better than wood-based sulphate pulp and waste paper alternatives within the framework of the present comparative life cycle assessment in terms of energy and water consumption, acidification potential and emission balance", according to the authors of the life cycle assessment drawn up by the International Centre for Sustainable Development in Sankt Augustin 2017. "The decisive factor for the ecological advantage of grass paper is in particular the low fuel and energy consumption in the production process, which results in particular from the short transport routes". For example, the grass can easily be grown on ecological compensation areas in relative proximity to the paper mills - and thus does not compete with the cultivation of food.
