Significant amount of plastic based tapes could be replace by fiber-based tapes

In general, tapes can be divided into three types. Plastic-based packaging tape (BOPP), which has over 60% share of the tape market. BOPP is commonly used is carton sealing e.g. when a webstore sends you a carton they seal it with BOPP.

Fiber-based tapes are the second largest with some 10% market share. The best-known application of fiber-based tapes is masking tape. Globally Ahlstrom-Munksjö is one of the biggest suppliers of masking tape paper. Iconic duct tape belongs to the third category of specialty tapes which are used for wide variety of end-uses. They are made of various raw materials, but mainly plastic.

All tape qualities cannot be replaced by plastic-free solutions due to their end-use requirements. The BOPP which has the largest market share and could is the largest tape grade. We have already a solution what could replace a significant part of the used BOPP in carton sealing.

When recycling carton boxes the used BOPP is the only material which cannot be recycled. The box can be recycled into a new carton, but the plastic tape is the problem and sometimes it gets to nature and after a while, it will decompose into microplastics. 

If we increase the usage of fiber-based tapes, we can affect the amount of microplastics in the environment.

For our fiber-based solution please contact us: tape@ahlstrom-munksjo.com