Flow Cosmetics, a Finnish natural cosmetics company, has selected paperboard from Metsä Board, part of the Metsä Group, as its packaging material of choice, for its innovative range of shampoos, body and face soaps. Bar-shaped cosmetic products are ecological to use as well as to transport and store. MetsäBoard Natural FBB was selected for the packaging board for its visual appearance, lightness, and ecology. In addition, the uncoated surface of the paperboard has a pleasing natural look and feel. “As part of our zero waste principle, we chose sustainable MetsäBoard Natural FBB board. We wanted to ensure that our products are natural all the way through to the packaging, and that they comply with stringent quality requirements,” says Riitta Jänkälä, Founder and CEO of Flow Cosmetics. "It's also important to us that all our packaging boards are recyclable after use."

"Reflecting on my first year, I am proud of the International Paper team for embracing transformational change and achieving tremendous progress together," said Andy Silvernail, Chief Executive Officer. "We deployed 80/20, focusing on our most valuable customers and aligning our resources accordingly. We launched key initiatives to drive step-change improvement in our performance, and invested to grow in the most attractive markets. Most recently, we welcomed our DS Smith colleagues and outlined our strategic direction at our Investor Day." "This year's first quarter results reflect higher sales and earnings, primarily driven by the DS Smith acquisition, sales price increases, and cost out," Silvernail added. "We also made good progress on growing our market position in our North American packaging business. Overall market demand, however, was softer than anticipated in both of our regions. As expected, our free cash flow was temporarily impacted by transformation costs and incentive compensation payout. In this uncertain macroeconomic environment, we are focusing on actions within our control as we accelerate our 80/20 execution to drive commercial excellence and cost out across the company."

New data shows that 44% of Brits admit to hoarding cardboard boxes – with a massive 135m believed to be sitting in our sheds, garages, and wardrobes. Over half of Brits (52%) say the amount of cardboard packaging in their homes has increased since the pandemic, with two thirds (66%) of those blaming more online shopping, and more than a quarter (28%) holding on to boxes without any clear motive - simply because “they might be useful in the future.” But the hoarding habit, while seemingly harmless, is actually keeping raw materials out of the hands of recycling companies and causing paper prices to rise. "Since the pandemic begun there’s been a major shift in consumer shopping habits and we’ve seen a huge rise in people ordering more items online, accumulating more boxes as a result. But while some put these boxes to good use – re-using them for storage, arts and crafts, or to ship other items - many boxes are sitting unused and not finding their way back into recycling streams. It means that materials are at best getting delayed in reaching recyclers, and at worse not getting to them at all." — Rogier Gerritsen, Head of Recycling at DS Smith