Your recyclable paper packaging for food items

There are virtually no limits to your creativity. We can print over the entire surface of our bags, including the front, back and base. We use high-definition digital printing (CMYK colour format), which means we can also print high-resolution photos and graphics. Of course, you can also easily print any shade of kraft paper onto your packaging.

Find out more about our design guidelines here.

By default, our Nils comes with a tear-off notch. Unfortunately, our classic add-ons such as zips, Euro holes or aroma-protection valves are not available in combination with Nils, as they are made from single-layer plastic and our Nils material is designed to be plastic-free.

However, Nils is certified with two sustainability labels: the FSC® label and the Made for Recycling label. You can add these as add-ons to your configuration and have both printed together on your Nils packaging.

Like all our other pouches, they can be filled either by machine or by hand. They can be sealed at the top. Nils is one of the few paper materials suitable for use with heat-sealing machines. You can also find further information in our blog post on filling and sealing pouches.

We are not aware of any packaging material that can currently be moulded into a package (‘sealed’), offers high levels of protection, and is entirely free of plastic. All binding agents used to seal packaging currently available on the market are based on plastics.

However, we have managed to reduce this proportion to a minimum. We use only synthetic resins in the form of our ultra-thin coating – but we do not use a permanently bonded plastic film. For this reason, our Nils paper packaging can be easily recycled in the paper waste stream. The more packaging materials that are recycled, the better for our environment!

Paper packaging can be recycled via the waste paper collection in many European countries – provided its material composition is suitable for this purpose. Recyclable paper packaging supports effective paper recycling systems and conserves resources.

Our Nils material, for example, holds the ‘Made for Recycling’ certificate and seal, which confirms the full recyclability of this paper packaging!

Uncoated paper packaging is made entirely of paper and offers a particularly natural and recyclable paper structure. Coated paper packaging usually features additional barriers against grease, moisture or oxygen, thereby providing greater product protection.

Our Nils contains no plastic film at all, but is partially coated to provide your food product with a solid protection.

Many people rightly wonder just how sustainable coated paper packaging really is. The vast majority of paper bags are not fully recyclable. In practice, much paper packaging usually contains plastic coatings. This means they cannot be recycled or reused.

To be fully recyclable, packaging must be made from a single material (mono-material). This is the case with our Natural Nils (and, incidentally, with our materials Transparent Toni and Metallised Martha). This is also confirmed by the independent certification from the recycling service provider Interzero: our Nils scored 18 out of a possible 20 points in the ranking. No other food-safe paper packaging on the market has achieved this score according to Interzero.

Find out more about Interzero’s ‘Made for Recycling’ seal here.