Santa Maria tortillas save plastics with new packaging from Flextrus

Paulig, owner of the Santa Maria brand, has worked together with Flextrus, a member of AR Packaging, to develop packaging which protects its products while minimising its environmental impact.

Santa Maria needed an environmentally friendly packaging for its soft tortillas. They are extremely sensitive as they are made without preservatives, so if not packed in a thoroughly evaluated and optimised packaging they will mould.

The new packaging is made of a lidding film based on unbleached paper which is coated with tailored barrier material to secure the shelf life of the tortillas and minimise food waste. The base web is a combination of environmentally sound plastics to ensure product protection with efficient use of material. Since the packaging now is based on paper, which is a renewable source, the carbon footprint is reduced by 35% in comparison to the former packaging, and means that Santa Maria will reduce its plastic consumption by 150 tons per year.

Flextrus sales manager Mattias Söderholm said: “We have jointly done a great job to make this happen. Several departments and different areas of expertise have been heavily engaged in the project to make sure to deliver a great packaging for the consumer.”

Anders Jonebring, R&D director at Paulig said: “This new packaging for our tortilla is an important milestone in our sustainability work. However, we continue to strive for even greater, sustainable innovations. We are already investigating solutions that will make our packaging even better. As of now, we celebrate saving 150 tonnes of plastics per year and want to thank our supplier Flextrus for their contribution in making this happen.”