Cardboard is a renewable raw material and is made from cellulose or wood fibres. Just as in the production of paper, the cellulose is broken down and processed with water to form a pulp. Depending on the type of cardboard, waste paper can also be added. It is important that there are no foreign bodies in the mixture.
During production, more and more water is then removed from the pulp slurry until individual layers are formed which can then be pressed. These are then smoothed and refined. Whether the material is ultimately cardboard or paper is determined by its weight: if the material has a basis weight of 220 g/sqm, it is called cardboard. If it weighs less, it is paper.
Good to know: Corrugated board requires two smooth sheets of cardboard with a corrugated layer between them. This makes corrugated board a robust packaging material. Corrugated cardboard can also be chopped up and used as a filling material.
BioPak articles are mainly made of FSC-certified cardboard. This means that they are made from wood from forests that are managed in an environmentally, socially and economically responsible way. For food safety and longer food transport life, cardboard products are often coated with a thin layer of compostable PLA corn starch or sugar cane-based PBS.
Cardboard as food packaging
Cardboard is one of the most popular packaging materials and has become indispensable, especially in the transport sector. However, it is not only used for shipping bags or other packaging solutions, but is also ideal for sustainable food packaging.
Folding boxes or boxes with lids are easy to stack and have a low weight due to the material. If the cardboard has a special PLA coating, the folding boxes are also suitable for greasy dishes or those that release a lot of moisture or are still hot.
The cardboard packaging is available in square or round formats, for example, so that soups and bowls can also be taken as to-go goods. The lids of our Ronda and Brick cardboard boxes are also made of coated cardboard, but can also be transparent and made of 100% recycled PET, so you can quickly see the dish inside from the outside.
Another advantage of the boxes: They are usually microwaveable and, depending on the solution, can be individually labelled with stickers or even printed - ideal for individual to-go packaging.
Disposable packaging is also available as practical folding boxes. For example, the organic boxes in the Asian look from Duni are practical to handle and do not require an additional lid. Boxes with two compartments are ideal if two components are to be transported separately but two boxes are not necessary. This way, the ingredients are separated from each other inside the folding box - which saves packaging material and also makes transport easier.
Cardboard products are also popular as beverage cups. Thanks to the PLA coating, hot drinks can be filled at a temperature of up to 100 °C and do not cool down so quickly. The lids, optionally made of CPLA, bagasse or paper, have a small hole from which you can drink. Other lid variants are also available. Depending on the solution, they are compostable or recyclable.
Cardboard can not only serve as shipping packaging for food, but also as a base. For example, there are already many different versions of paper plates made from sustainable wood fibres. The coating is water-based and ensures that the plates do not become soggy. In different shapes and sizes, they are suitable for a wide variety of dishes and buffet shapes. Considering that plastic plates have been banned since 2021, paper plates are not only an environmentally friendly alternative, but also an even more attractive one.
