Sappi's new Ultraflute offers versatile, cost effective

"Our product innovation is driven by market demand," says Richard Wells, General Manager Commercial, Sappi Paper and Paper Packaging. Developing a product that addresses yield and cost advantages will assist converters in constructing a box that is cost competitive, without compromising on performance standards". Sappi's packaging is mostly used in the industrial and agricultural sectors.

Key benefits of Ultraflute

Lightweighting is a worldwide trend due to its 'carbon footprint' benefit of reduced road, sea and air freight shipping costs. As a worldclass lightweight product, Ultraflute's advantage is that it doesn't compromise on performance or the structural integrity of the box. This means using less paper to achieve the same results, which leads to more competitively priced end-use products.

Ultraflute's high virgin fibre composition adds to its superior strength, resulting in stronger boxes, improved stacking strength and yield advantages.

The product's high humidity performance makes it particularly ideal for fruit and vegetable packaging that need to withstand changing cyclic humidity conditions, as well as frozen fish, meat and other agricultural produce sent to market via the cold chain. Ultraflute typically retains more than 70% of its initial strength under these conditions and maintains this strength for longer periods. This is an improvement on Sappi's previous semi-chemical range.

In terms of convertibility (influenced by paper properties and machine running speed), Ultraflute offers improved flexibility and tensile, stretch and tear properties. These factors allow for increased corrugator speeds and the optimum use of raw materials.

On the environmental side, our new fluting product is made from renewable, sustainable resources that are certified in terms internationally recognised environmental and quality standards (ISO 14001 and ISO 9001); and which carry the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) stamp of approval. Ultraflute is also biodegradable and recyclable, making it a responsible choice for agricultural and industrial packaging requirements.

This product is available in grammages of 125,140 and 165g/m².

Visit www.sappi.com for more information.