A new material is conquering the market: Grass paper is an innovative and sustainable alternative to conventional papers and cardboards made from wood fibers. It impresses with its ease of handling, dimensional stability and recyclability. It is also suitable for almost every application that paper made from wood fibers can cover. However, the most important argument for using grass-paper is its resource-saving production.

Contrary to what the name suggests, grass paper is not made exclusively from grass. Grass fibers do have all the properties necessary for the production of paper. However, they are not as stable as wood fibers. For this reason, grass and wood fibers are mixed in paper production. Depending on the intended use, up to 50% of wood fibers can be replaced by grass fibers. Instead of “fresh” wood fibers, waste paper can also be reused.

Grass paper, like conventional paper, must meet certain standards. After thorough testing, various official bodies and certain institutes award certificates that guarantee the paper special properties. For example, a seal of approval based on the criteria of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, USA) confirms that the paper complies with the regulations in force there for products that come into contact with food or medicines.

The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) seal confirms that the wood fiber content of the grass paper originates from responsible forestry. The ISEGA test seal, on the other hand, can stand for various properties of a product. In the case of grass paper, the certificate usually means that its contact with food is harmless.

Grass paper fibers are obtained from hay grown on compensatory land. This coarse-fibered hay is not suitable as animal food. Unlike wood fiber, grass fiber does not need to be broken down to make paper. Wood fibers are deprived of the lignin they contain before processing, using a great deal of water, energy and chemicals. The hay used to make grass paper is simply cleaned and ground into short fibers.

In addition, grass is a rapidly renewable ecological raw material that can be produced regionally anywhere. This ensures short transport distances. In Germany, 80% of the wood pulp used in conventional paper production is imported. The transports are up to 9,000 km. In addition, around 4 million German trees are currently felled each year for paper production. Extrapolated to the pulp imports, this means: 20 million trees felled annually to produce enough paper for the German market. f paper manufacturers worldwide were to replace half of the wood fibers with grass fibers, this would result in a measurable reduction in global CO2 emissions.

Aside from the environmental factors, the material properties of grass paper are also an argument for increasing its use as a packaging and cushioning material. Here are the advantages of grass paper at a glance:
versatile

• dimensionally stable
• printable
• recyclable
• compostable
• quickly renewable raw material
• resource-saving production
• grass fibers can be combined with waste paper fibers
• less CO2 emissions

You can get more information about the possibilities of grass paper packaging from one of our packaging specialists, who will assess your work environment and advise you individually.