The plastic-free eco-barrier paperboard, MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB, has recently achieved DIN CERTCO certificates in both industrial and home compostability. The industrial certification complies with DIN EN 13432 and ASTM D6400 standards and the home compostability certification complies with NF T 51-800. Eco-barrier paperboard is manufactured by Metsä Board, the leading European producer of premium lightweight paperboards, and part of the Metsä Group. Helena Moring-Vepsäläinen, Product Safety Manager at Metsä Board, comments: “There is a growing demand among brand owners for new, more ecological solutions for food and food service packaging that are made of renewable, non-plastic materials, and which can be recycled or composted after use. MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB has now been certified with these international compostability standards and this will help our customers to choose a packaging material that they know will reliably comply with their different disposal requirements.”

Bulgaria has become the latest member to achieve PEFC endorsement of its national forest certification system. The PEFC General Assembly voted for the endorsement of the Bulgarian system in a postal ballot. “We are very grateful to our friends from the other members of PEFC who, through their vote, have endorsed the Bulgarian standard,” said Antony Stefanov, Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Forest Management and Certification in Bulgaria, our national member for Bulgaria. To achieve PEFC endorsement, a national system goes through a rigorous assessment to confirm it was developed in line with our requirements. Through this process, we can ensure that national standards meet our globally accepted PEFC Sustainability Benchmarks.

Paper or plastic? It’s a debate that has raged for years about a variety of goods, including grocery bags, food packaging materials, lollipop sticks, personal care items and other single-use products. The latest item to make headlines is the humble straw. Plastic drinking straws are ubiquitous, but they may soon take a backseat to paper drinking straws. A series of highly publicized California rulings has sparked a growing movement to ban plastic drinking straws in the United States, with proponents citing environmental concerns. One of the newest laws on the California books makes it illegal for restaurant servers to give guests plastic straws unless asked. Several California cities have followed suit by enacting local ordinances that ban the distribution or sale of plastic drinking straws in some food-service establishments. And it’s not just in California. Several major U.S. cities are putting laws in place to discourage the use of plastic drinking straws and stirrers. Amidst the growing debate, public pressure has also driven businesses — from Starbucks and Bon Appétit to SeaWorld and Disney — to announce their own plans to eliminate plastic drinking straws. Click read more below for additional detail.