Finland has the highest level of coffee consumption per capita in the world. Meira occupies an important position in the coffee roasting sector, covering ca. 27% of the Finnish market according to the company’s website.
They continue that “almost every third package of coffee sold in Finland is Kulta Katriina, Meira’s best-selling brand.” According to their press release:
The New Vallila Roastery, a coffee brand from Meira launched in October. In this product range, the company invested in an ethical and environmental approach, both in terms of the product itself and in the packaging material.
The coffee used in vallila roastery products is 100% responsibly produced.
Instead of traditional aluminium laminate, the coffee pack is made from fully aluminium-free and semi-renewable herbal ingredients.
The carbon footprint of the package is 45% lower than the regular coffee package. Environmentally friendly materials have been the cornerstones of the development of the new packaging, optimised to reduce the size of the package’s waste, and the ability to maintain the authentic taste of coffee.
The first coffee’s released from the roastery are the Uganda Sipi Falls and Honduras Lempira. Both these coffees are single origin, organic and certified under the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ.
Meira’s Environmental Packaging Strategy
Although food packaging often accounts for only a few per cent of the climate impact of food, it is an important and visible part of the food for the consumer. If the packaging is not in order, it may at worst have spoiled the product and caused disappointment or even a health risk. Not to mention the fact that valuable raw materials and work used to make the product throughout the supply chain have been wasted.
The most important task of packaging is to ensure the shelf life and safety of the product and, of course, also the taste and smell of the product. Environmental friendliness and efficiency are also important criteria; the packaging material should be used as little as possible and the material used should be as environmentally friendly as possible.
we have set an ambitious target of 100% of Meira’s packaging made of recyclable, recycled or renewable materials by 2030.
Due to the above themes, the development of food packaging is sometimes challenging; for example, a new material might be recyclable or made of renewable material, but its protective properties are not sufficient to guarantee the shelf life of the product.
Or it would be needed many times as much as an old material. For example, in the case of coffee, the ability of the packaging to protect the product from oxygen is critical; coffee is best preserved when it does not have to deal with air.
Meira was able in 2020 to reduce plastic used in coffee sales batch packaging by as much as 25% from 2019, which equates to about 3000 kg, or to look at that another way, approximately 600,000 plastic bags.
This result was achieved by narrowing the cardboard used in the shipping packaging, and by narrowing and thinning the plastic film used. In addition, 30% of the raw material for plastic is industrial recycled plastic.