Mark Petersen, vice president – international sales at Catalyst Paper, in his recent visit to India, said, “We think we have a specific niche in the Indian corrugated market with regards to virgin food safe paper. We have been assessing fast food applications in India like pizza boxes; the paper used makes the box very inferior because of very low strength, inferior linerboard. We have a specific grade, which is designed specifically for micro flute applications.”

In the wake of the rising concerns about the possible health risks arising from chemicals migrating into foods from packaging, the new Catalyst grades of paper are seen as a solution to make packaging safe for food contact. These grades are suitable for making lightweight micro-flute corrugated boxes for food applications as well as paper bags, wrapping paper, and place mats in restaurants.

Petersen added, “The world is becoming more and more concerned about food safety. So, for food contact applications recycled papers are not suitable. It is impossible to clean these papers as they have all types of nasty chemicals and heavy metals including mercury and lead. Like EU and China have strict regulations to use virgin paper for food contact, other markets across the globe are going that way and the same trend will be seen in India.”

“Catalyst’s bag and containerboard paper is made with clean 100% virgin pulp. It has three paper mills in Western Canada. The new grades which Catalyst has launched in India also include lightweight corrugated mediums and liners and virgin kraft paper substitutes for fast food wrappings and PE-coated pouches for food service,” added Petersen.

Nishish Jha, managing director at Canada-based OTCL Group, which represents Catalyst Paper in India, said, “This paper is exceptionally clean and without contaminants, ink spots, dark spots or other imperfections that are seen in recycled or partially recycled papers. This makes this grade very attractive for any kind of food packaging or fast food corrugated applications.”

OTCL Delhi is working on appointing a dedicated sales and support manager for packaging grade paper in Mumbai. “OTCL believes that Maharashtra government’s decision to ban plastics will give a boost in demand for paper bags as a sustainable alternative. Selecting a right paper for these bags is critical and Catalyst has a grade specially designed for this application,” concluded Jha.

These packaging grades are available from 40gsm to 85gsm depending on various applications.