Sweden’s largest family-run ready-meals maker, Gunnar Dafgård AB, is satisfying the consumer’s taste for premium packaging that’s environmentally friendly, pioneering a new sustainable packaging solution from SilviPak [11] of Sweden. Dafgård became the first to use new SilviPak molded wood-pulp packaging for its most popular frozen ready meal, Billy’s Lasagne, which is produced at a rate of 18 metrics tons/day.
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The SilviPak tray is made from 100% virgin fiber with no recycled paper content. The material can be molded into virtually any shape or size and is then covered with a film barrier layer of choice. For its 200-g lasagna product, Dafgård chose the SilviPak 3001, a 173x120x30-mm, dual-ovenable tray coated with a barrier layer of CPET, to replace an existing paperboard tray. The secondary packaging consists of a flexible film bag.

Dafgård produces more than 30 different frozen and chilled ready meals for distribution to foodservice and retail outlets across Europe. The company plans to launch other meals in the SilviPack tray in the coming months.

An excellent insulator

“SilviPak is a very competitive alternative to the solutions currently available in the market,” says Dafgård product manager of packaging Anders Wretman. “Extended shelf life is important for our products, and our paperboard tray cannot handle modified atmosphere packaging like the SilviPak can. We also want to reduce our dependence on petroleum, in part because oil is a finite resource, and in part because of the outlook for continued high oil prices.
“SilviPak is also stable with excellent insulation properties. This is a clear advantage for consumers, who can hold the tray without burning themselves.”

The tray is said by Wretman to be easily disposed of: “SilviPak can be recycled together with other paper products in the post-consumer waste stream. If needed, the barrier film can easily be removed and recycled together with other plastic products.”

So far, consumers’ response to the new packaging has been “very good,” Wretman adds.