UPM Specialty Papers has confirmed that its packaging papers have been certified as recyclable, meeting the standards set by both the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and US WMU testing methods.
The company stated that all of its barrier papers, barrier base papers, and flexible packaging papers have undergone and passed the latest CEPI recyclability test.
According to CEPI-Scorecard version 2.0 (January 2025), the assessed papers are considered technically recyclable in a recycling mill using conventional processes.
The papers accredited under the CEPI standard comprise barrier papers such as UPM Asendo, UPM Asendo Pro, UPM Confidio, and UPM Confidio Pro.
UPM confirmed that its barrier base papers, including UPM Prego, UPM Solide Lucent, and C1S packaging papers such as UPM UniquePack, UPM UniquePack Strong, and UPM FlexPack, are also certified.
The standardised CEPI testing method replicates the key stages of industrial processes.
The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which came into force last month, requires all packaging to be recyclable by 2030.
UPM said all of its packaging papers are also compatible with the European recyclability standard PTS RH 021/97 Cat II and can be recycled within existing fibre recycling streams.
In addition to complying with European recycling standards, a range of UPM’s packaging papers have been certified as recyclable for the US market under the WMU SBS-E Recyclability Certificate method.
These include UPM Asendo, UPM Prego, UPM Solide Lucent, UPM UniquePack, UPM UniquePack Strong, and UPM FlexPack.
UPM Specialty Papers Products and Technology director Janne Varvemaa said: “The CEPI results are strong evidence that the recyclability of our papers is sufficiently robust.
“Additionally, there is room for converters to boost the performance of our papers with additional coatings, without compromising recyclability.”
Earlier this month, UPM and Orkla Suomi introduced a test paper wrapper for Panda Milk Chocolate.
