Fischer TruKraft™

Taking Natural One Step Further

This is an age of minimalism and environmental activism. Consumers want simple yet convenient packaging that they can discard without feeling guilty about it ending up in the environment and harming wildlife. They also want their favorite food establishments to reflect their values by giving back to communities and establishing corporate sustainability objectives. Even with innovations in compostable, recyclable and post-consumer products, the most simple and economical alternative for food packaging will always be paper.

There are still many outdated misconceptions about paper products. The biggest false impression that consumers have about paper products is that they cause deforestation, when the opposite is true. According to Two Sides North America, net forest area in the U.S. has been stable since the early 1900’s and has increased from 754 to 766 million acres between 2005 and 2015. Net volume of growing stock increased by over 10% between 2005 and 2015. Paper manufacturers encourage forest sustainability through their purchase and use of certified wood fiber and by promoting sustainable forest management policies and practices at home and around the globe. By providing a dependable market for responsibly grown fiber, the paper industry encourages landowners to manage their forestland instead of selling it for development or other non-forest uses.

For companies who want to promote sustainable initiatives, the answer is simple. Paper is the naturally sustainable, economical and environmentally friendly alternative for single-use packaging. Unlike plastic, aluminium, foam packaging which do not biodegrade for years or at all, pure paper packaging biodegrades in couple of months. In order to encourage and educate consumers about their choices when purchasing food in packaging, Fischer Paper found out that a simple printed message on our packaging goes a long way. That was the inspiration to re-brand our natural kraft stock products. With Fischer TruKraft™, the company aims to support less processed, natural, sustainable, biodegradable and simple packaging.

Products in the Fischer TruKraft™ line have the following characteristics that we feel define sustainability:

1) Brown kraft that consumers identify as more environmentally-friendly

2) Printed sustainability messaging which is identified as one of the most important characteristics when it comes to the sustainability of packaging, according to internal survey results from our customers

3) They are made from certified sustainable and renewable materials

5) All the products are biodegradable and/or commercially compostable (though not all are certified compostable by a third-party at this time)

Sustainable Definitions

A natural resource such that is replenished by natural processes at a rate comparable to its rate of consumption by humans or other users.

Process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Due to the fact that plastic is non-biodegradable, it is essential that it is recycled as part of the global effort to reduce plastic and other solid waste in the environment.

A portion of the material used in the product has been diverted from the solid waste stream. Post-consumer content refers to waste that people have actually used and recycled instead of discarding to landfills. Pre-consumer content materials has been diverted and reused during the manufacturing process.

Biodegradable refers to the ability of materials to break down and return to nature. For packaging products or materials to qualify as biodegradable, they must completely break down and decompose into natural elements. The process of biodegradation is influenced by several conditions, including temperature, humidity, oxygen levels, presence of bacteria and time.

Compostable materials are similar to biodegradable materials, as they are both intended to return to the earth safely. Commercially compostable materials are sent to designated sites with specific conditions dependent on wind, sunlight, drainage and other factors.

Home composting of biodegradable packaging materials could divert waste from municipal col­lection systems. Home composting using compost bins or heaps is more variable and less optimized than industrial composting.