Fish sustainably packaged: Environmentally-friendly packaging for the takeaway business at Nordsee GmbH

Nordsee GmbH, with headquarters in Bremerhaven, offers fish specialities for consumption on site and off site in over 350 branches throughout Germany. To find a solution for safe and environmentally-friendly transportation of baguettes, burgers, etc, the traditional company turned to Thimm: The aim of the packaging development was to find sustainable alternatives to the existing aluminium and plastic packaging.  

For the new Nordsee snack boxes, the developers at Thimm rely on " ComBa^®" papers with a sustainable water-based coating. These papers for the production of corrugated cardboard for direct food contact, known as foodWave^®, are free of emulsifiers and solvents and provide reliable protection against liquids and grease. The snack boxes are currently produced in two sizes for the restaurant chain and can therefore hold all types of burgers, baguettes, burritos or wraps. Due to the high material stability of the F-flute, the boxes have similar properties to untreated solid cardboard at the same specific weight per unit area, but at a lower price. The snack boxes also benefit from the good printability of the F-flute, as the low flute pitch forms a flat surface. The printing was carried out in flexo postprint. The boxes are stackable and have foldable flaps to discharge escaping steam.

For out-of-home platters, such as plaice fillet with potatoes and remoulade sauce, Thimm has also developed a three-part box: It consists of a printed lidded box for the fish and variable 1/2 and 1/4 bowls for side dishes and sauces. The boxes are likewise produced from foodWave^® in F-flute, the inner trays are also made from the barrier-coated paper "ComBa^®". The trays can also be used to reheat dishes in the microwave.

After use, consumers can recycle the new Nordsee packaging in paper-recycling bins. In this way, sustainable packaging becomes a valuable recycling product which can be used to product more paper. In addition to new take-away trays with integrated drinks holders, which are also currently being produced by Thimm, the next joint developments for heat-resistant packaging are already in the starting blocks.