The Navigator Company announced today that it will increase paper prices in Europe from 4% to 6%, setting a minimum of 30 euros net per tonne. This increase will be effective for all dispatches from 1st February, and the Company will inform shortly about the details of the new prices to be applied by grade. This decision was taken due to unsustainable low levels of profitability across the industry in Europe and following the recent announcements of worldwide increases in pulp and logistics costs.

UPM Raflatac extends its CarbonNeutral® product portfolio by achieving CarbonNeutral® product certification for the whole Linerless product range. The certification is issued by Natural Capital Partners in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol. The leading global framework provides a robust and pragmatic blueprint for carbon neutrality. Direct thermal (DT) linerless labeling products help customers to reduce their packaging footprint and is in high demand in the packaging value chain. Sustainability and efficiency benefits of using linerless are significant as linerless brings up to a 40 percent reduction in material usage compared to traditional labelling technologies. DT linerless market has seen approximately 15 percent year-on-year growth in recent years.

Resonating with the ambitious EU regulatory targets for reducing waste, UPM Specialty Papers has introduced a new “LinerLoop compatible” label to promote closed loop recycling of release papers used in self-adhesive labels and tapes. Release papers carrying the label qualify for recycling in UPM LinerLoopTM, which is the first commercial-scale closed-loop recycling solution for silicone coated release papers. Currently some 50% of used release papers and matrix materials are recycled in Europe, but it is estimated that only 15% are recycled back to release papers in a closed loop (source: CELAB, AWA). As a member of CELAB-Europe and AFERA, UPM Specialty Papers works towards increasing the share of closed-loop recycling. Recycling silicone coated papers in a circular fashion is a technically demanding process. One factor, for instance, impacting closed-loop recycling is the shade of paper. As the typical shade of glassine used in label applications is white or some other light shade, recycling darker coloured glassine grades in the same stream would contaminate the recycled pulp.