Mineral oil content in the Paper is a concern; Paper should be IFS & FSC approved and responsibly sourced: Barun Banerjee, Head - Packaging at Nestle India

Mineral oil content in the Paper is a concern; Paper should be IFS & FSC approved and responsibly sourced: Barun Banerjee, Head - Packaging at Nestle India

NESTLÉ India is a responsible organisation and facilitates initiatives that help to improve the quality of life in the communities where it operates. NESTLÉ India manufactures products of truly international quality under internationally famous brand names such as NESCAFÉ, MAGGI, MILKYBAR, KIT KAT, BAR-ONE, MILKMAID and NESTEA and in recent years the Company has also introduced products of daily consumption and use such as NESTLÉ Milk, NESTLÉ SLIM Milk, NESTLÉ Dahi and NESTLÉ Jeera Raita. The Company continuously focuses its efforts to better understand the changing lifestyles of India and anticipate consumer needs in order to provide Taste, Nutrition, Health and Wellness through its product offerings. 

The Pulp and Paper Times got the opportunity to interact with Mr. Barun Banerjee, Head - Packaging at Nestle India Limited. The conversation was based on the use of Paper Packaging in Food products packing. Here is the full conversation.

Q: How does Nestle evaluate the single-use plastic ban and what are the strategies of Nestle to counter the issue?

As a company, we are looking at ‘3R’ which is the way of Recycle, Reduce and Recovery and our global commitment is that we have to make our packaging sustainable and nothing should go into the landfill. Packaging sustainability, the entire value chain has to be mapped and we have to see that what right for the product protection and packaging around it. I think packaging by design has to be correct, protect the product throughout the shelf life and it should be also able to withstand this entire loading- unloading and distribution value chain. 

Q: Nowadays, Biodegradable packaging is in trend, has Nestle been working on any product packaging which has got primary packaging as well as secondary packaging both by nature biodegradable?

I think the understanding of biodegradable, compostable and recyclable packaging has to be understood thoroughly by any industry whoever is developing such packaging. In India, Today the need of the hour is towards material which is recyclable by design. In my opinion, the availability of biodegradable packaging or compostable packaging for food industry is still at a research & development level and not being scale up to that level. We might have to import and run it on our line which has to be seen and then end of the day, our direction should be towards the plastic circler economy.

Q: As Nestle consumes a large number of paper varieties with sufficient quantity. What are the positive and negative points, do you see of the paper supplied by Indian Manufacturers?

The consistency has to be paper color, today we use mostly on labels, board and shipping case applications. We don’t use much paper on direct product packaging. We have very minimal use of paper. If I look at the point of quality performance of the paper, we still find it that the moisture part has to be addressed. The pickup of moisture in a paper or board has an issue on performance of Box when it is handling and distributed in the marketplace. The damages go up, I think concerns we see in the paper quality in the sense of strength and consistency. Still, we need to go far on this development. 

Yes, many paper industry players are now setting up good lines and machines, and we are seeing a significant improvement on the quality of boxes and cartons. One more issue which we have seen is the mineral oil content in the paper, for food packaging mineral oil transfer is a concern; our limit is still on the higher side for the recycle boards. We have lot of bagging boxes which you use in our product for nutrition packaging.

Q: Has Nastle been working on any research and development project under which Primary packaging in Paper substrate is being researched?

I will not be able to give any specific answer to it but yes, we are working on it because end-of-the-day packaging has to be a mix of paper, plastic, tin, and glass. So there are works being done on the paper packaging to add a global level.

Q: What is the size of the packaging market and what appreciation do you see in next 5 years?

At the growth level of paper, I can only talk about the industry growing pace. The Industry is growing and the demand of paper would be there all the time, only concern would be the pricing of the paper. More and more demand is getting come; get added in the FMCG sector. Now we have to see, whatever paper we are taking it should be IFS & FSC approved and responsibly sourced. Paper industry has to manage the backend supply and sustainability of paper.

Q: What kind of improvements do you want in current paper supply?

Improvement should be the consistency of the shade, performance and quality because we are still scared about any containments coming, like any heavy metals contact in the paper. I think these are the materials safety point of view. The smell issue is there, it should be contented. I find today many paper bags with a very foul smell. 

Q:  Any message you want to give to paper manufactures?

My message would be that paper industry should come up with a barrier paper to compensate some of water paper barrier which is a challenge in the food segment because water barrier is very much required for all kind of FMCG product, whether it is coffee or milk, I think the paper development has to grow in this India, for a barrier coated paper and also the puncture-resistant of the paper because if there are sharp edges in the packets or products then it should not puncture.

I think the paper quality has to be improved through these two areas as well. For us, strength of the paper to entire value chain till it reaches the consumer, it should be able withstand.

Web Title: Mineral oil content in the Paper is a concern Paper should be IFS FSC approved and responsibly sourced Barun Banerjee Head Packaging at Nestle India