Looking like a large yellow daisy, Silphie – also known as the cup plant – shows great promise for paper production: its fibres offer an alternative to classic wood pulp and are also recyclable. Better still, this renewable raw material can be sourced regionally.

The brand new idea comes from OutNature, supplier of Silphie fibre and paper, which was awarded the German Packaging Prize for New Material in autumn 2020. We believe there are many arguments in favour of its use, so we started exclusive tests with corrugated board and cardboard as partner of OutNature.

Not all technical data for the new material are available yet. According to OutNature its prototype paper and cardboard materials currently have a 30% Silphie fibre content, and the ambition is to reach at least 50%.

Benefits for the entire ecosystem

The cup plant benefits the entire ecosystem during its lifecycle, as it places low demands on the soil yet generates high amounts of biomass. Its recyclability is a further advantage over other wood alternatives.

Ongoing testing

Our Circular Innovation Team is convinced that optimising packaging sustainability with Silphie paper could be one of the added value concepts it’s been searching for. For this reason we currently evaluate how this new material behaves in the production process, where its strengths lie and which applications and products it is best suited. We are open for all clients who want to join this testing process