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When small details drive big change
Small packaging components can have a surprisingly large impact on recyclability. Together, FibreStrap, Billerud and Mimcord developed a fiber-based fastening solution designed to replace plastic cable ties without compromising performance.
In packaging development, innovation often focuses on the largest and most visible components. Yet some of the biggest opportunities for improving recyclability can be found in the smallest details.
For brand owners, even small packaging components can influence recyclability and overall packaging performance.
Plastic cable ties, fastening solutions and hangtags are still widely used in otherwise fiber-based packaging systems. Small components, often overlooked, but enough to complicate recycling and reduce the circularity of the entire solution. This challenge became the starting point for FibreStrap.
Developed in close collaboration with Billerud and paper converter Mimcord, FibreStrap demonstrates how rethinking a small packaging component can improve recyclability without compromising industrial performance.
A question worth solving
The founders behind FibreStrap share decades of experience from the Nordic forest, fiber and packaging industries. Throughout their careers, they have worked with developing renewable packaging solutions designed to replace plastics and improve recyclability.
Yet one recurring challenge kept appearing. Even highly optimized fiber-based packaging often relied on small plastic fastening components that complicated recycling and made the overall packaging system less recyclable.
The question became increasingly difficult to ignore:
If the packaging can be fiber-based, why shouldn't the fastening solution be?
Answering that question proved far more complex than expected.
Replacing conventional plastic cable ties required much more than swapping one material for another. Strength, secure locking, production efficiency and recyclability all had to work together within existing industrial packaging operations.
What ultimately made the difference wasn't just the material itself. It was having the right expertise around us, with partners who could test, challenge assumptions and help us move forward quickly together.
Innovation through collaboration
As development progressed, FibreStrap partnered with Billerud and Mimcord, combining expertise from across the packaging value chain. Billerud contributed expertise in fiber materials, application development and industrial testing. Mimcord added more than 75 years of expertise in paper-based cord manufacturing and industrial production.
Rather than optimizing individual materials in isolation, the partners approached the challenge from a system perspective. Together, they developed, tested and refined a completely new fiber-based fastening solution that could meet the demands of real-world packaging operations while supporting improved recyclability.
A small component with measurable impact
The result is a fiber-based fastening solution that replaces conventional plastic cable ties without disrupting existing packaging processes or performance.
Instead of becoming a component that interrupts paper recycling, the fastening solution becomes part of the packaging system itself.
According to life cycle assessment calculations conducted by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, FibreStrap can reduce carbon emissions by more than 85% and water consumption by more than 80% compared with conventional polyamide cable ties.*
These results demonstrate how material innovation and thoughtful system design can work together to improve the sustainability performance of everyday packaging.
For us, the key was making sure the solution could work not just in concept, but in production. Bridging that gap is often where the real challenge lies.
Why details matter
Packaging performance is rarely determined by one single innovation.
It is the combination of materials, design and functionality that ultimately defines how well a packaging solution performs throughout its entire lifecycle.
The FibreStrap collaboration shows that improving circularity is not always about redesigning the entire package. Sometimes, meaningful progress starts by questioning the smallest components, especially those that have simply been accepted for decades.
For Billerud, the project demonstrates how close collaboration, fiber expertise and a shared ambition to challenge conventional solutions can transform an idea into an industrial reality.
Because sometimes, the smallest detail can drive the biggest change.
Have a packaging challenge worth rethinking?
At Billerud, we collaborate with brand owners and partners to test, refine and scale packaging ideas that perform in real-world conditions.