Since the middle of the year, board games manufacturer Ludo Fact has been packing its puzzle pieces in paper instead of plastic. The flexible ‘Koehler NexPlus Seal Pure 40 g/m2′ packaging paper from Koehler Paper is the final piece in the games manufacturer’s quest to offer its customers 100% recyclable and sustainable products, entirely free from plastics, for both games and puzzles. The card decks for the board games ‘CATAN’ and ‘Halli Galli’, which were originally wrapped in cellophane, switched to flexible packaging paper from Koehler Paper back in 2022.
Sustainable Packaging Paper
Like all other Koehler NexPlus papers, the Koehler NexPlus Seal Pure is also heat-sealable, and its sturdiness characteristics make it ideally suited for further processing on all commercially available packaging machines.
“We can produce approx. 120,000 puzzles per week —from puzzles for small children to puzzles for adults with 6000 pieces. The stability of the packaging paper from Koehler Paper enables us to pack the products at the same speed as plastic film, for example,” says Marcel Riehle, director of Operations at Ludo Fact, explaining the decision to switch to paper.
Ludo Fact produces up to 17 million units per year for around 200 games publishing companies worldwide. The company is the first manufacturer on the market that has been able to introduce sustainable paper packaging for its products in large runs and at optimal costs.
“Koehler NexPlus Seal Pure can be used as secondary and primary packaging, if no additional barriers are required. “Our packaging paper is designed in such a way that it is technically very well suited for material recycling and the production of recycling paper. It also significantly reduces the carbon footprint in comparison to conventional plastic packaging. Since there is an excellent recycling stream already in place for paper, it also contributes to a sustainable circular economy,” adds Jürgen Leber, sales Manager and Technical Customer Service for flexible packaging papers at Koehler Paper, highlighting further advantages offered by the Koehler NexPlus Seal Pure packaging paper.
Innovative paper solutions
The research and development team from Koehler Innovation & Technology worked with the experts from Koehler Paper to develop the NexFlex product range, a unique and 100% recyclable generation of flexible packaging papers. The aim here is to replace plastic in packaging by using so-called barrier paper wherever possible.
The range covers a broad spectrum: It includes standard coated and uncoated papers used in laminates for pouches, sachets, and other applications, making them suitable for a wide range of packaging for food and non-food products. The next generation of papers for flexible packaging are sustainable barrier papers with functional surfaces for product-specific protection (Koehler NexPlus).
The NexFlex product family also includes papers coated on one side with good dimensional stability and high smoothness (Koehler NexCoat), as well as uncoated paper with a natural appearance (Koehler NexPure). Various flexible packaging papers from Koehler Paper were awarded a score of 19 out of a possible 20 points by the environmental service provider Interseroh, along with the ‘Made for Recycling’ seal.
