NORMA, a chain of discount grocery stores in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, and Austria, has recently taken an important step towards greater sustainability. Effective immediately, select convenience products from its private label will be packed in Koehler NexPlus® Advanced, an innovative and recyclable paper product made by Koehler Paper. 

This product is heat sealable, features an oxygen and oil barrier and is grease-resistant, ensuring that it can reliably protect the products inside it while remaining highly recyclable. In fact, the paper’s recyclability has been verified in conformity with the Cepi standard, confirming its value as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional plastic packaging. The products were manufactured by Frießinger Mühle.

A focus on closed-loop recycling when choosing packaging materials

“Here at NORMA, we’ve set concrete goals when it comes to packaging. First of all, we want to reduce unnecessary packaging material. To do that, we’re taking a very close look at the packaging we’re using for our private label and analyzing which packaging materials are needed and which aren’t,” says NORMA’s Head of Central Advertising and Communications Katja Heck. “Secondly, we want to check all our packaging to see whether we can replace it and use environmentally friendly materials instead. Our goal here is to make sure that we conserve resources along our entire value chain – all the way from production to sales. Fortunately, and together with our partner Frießinger Mühle, we’ve found an innovative alternative in the form of Koehler Paper’s flexible packaging paper.”

“Our packaging paper is not just ideal for convenience products, but also shows the kind of potential that paper has as a whole when it comes to its use as a packaging material,” underscores Christoph Wachter, Director of Flexible Packaging Paper at Koehler Paper. “High recycling rates, certified supply chains and the use of renewable raw materials make paper the ideal choice for recyclable packaging,” 

Sustainable packaging: Innovative paper solutions with ‘NexFlex®’ from Koehler Paper 

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 recyclable generation of flexible packaging paper products. The range covers a broad spectrum, including standard coated and uncoated paper used in laminates for pouches, sachets, and other applications, making them suitable for a wide range of packaging for food and non-food products.