Even after the completion of the APPLAUSE project, the topic of the usefulness of products from the biomass of invasive alien plants, specifically paper and cardboard made from their content, is still extremely popular with students at the University of Ljubljana

As part of the master's thesis, student  at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Textiles, Graphics and Design, Chair for information and graphic technology Špela Pašič under the mentorship of Assoc. prof. dr. Urške Vrabič Brodnjak, produced secondary gift packaging, which will be used in Kolpa d.o.o. for the needs of promotional gifts.

Cardboards (grammage approx. 240 g/m2) were used, with the content of cellulose fibers of Japanese knotweed, goldenrod and common black locust. The cartons were machine-produced at the Pulp and Paper Institute, Ljubljana, within the framework of the APPLAUSE project. The secondary packaging for the promotional gifts program at the company Kolpa d.o.o. should be designed in a modern way, which mainly means in today's design language, ecological and in accordance with the principles of the circular economy, i.e., with the lowest possible degree of coverage of the primary material with the printing paste and, if possible, without the use of binding agents (glues). The two key conditions that ensure a high level of recyclability or the proportion of reuse of used packaging.

The student, Špela Pašič, made a gift bag and a gift box for promotional gifts. The material used, i.e., paperboard made from goldenrod cellulose fibers was selected based on measurements of basic, physical-mechanical, surface, structural and printing properties. Kolpa, d.o.o. welcomed the presented packaging with pleasure and they plan to include it in their range of promotional gifts, which indicates the awareness of the business, of the necessity of including such products in their process, thus clearly communicating to the public that they are a company open to new economy opportunities and ideas.

Writen by: assist. prof. Klemen Možina, Phd., UL, NTF