German chocolate manufacturer nucao has partnered with Koehler Paper, a Koehler Group company, to launch its chocolate bars in paper packaging.

The flexible, 100 percent recyclable Koehler NexPlus Advanced offers oxygen, mineral oil and grease barrier properties. The paper is suitable for vertical packaging machines and horizontal packaging machines.

nucao’s Crisp & Crunch, Almond Butter & Sea Salt, Roasted Hazelnut Butter, Creamy Strawberry and Salted Caramel chocolate bars are the first packaged in paper on the German market.

Over the past few months, the Koehler Paper team worked together with researchers and developers from Koehler Innovation & Technology to develop the flexible packaging paper Koehler NexPlus Advanced for use on horizontal packaging machines.

“From a technical point of view, this is revolutionary as vertical packaging machines have a very high production speed,” says Alexander Rauer, head of business development for flexible packaging paper at Koehler Paper. “Paper needs excellent strength properties to be processed in this way, without being too thick for the machines to handle it.”

Koehler NexPlus Advanced now offers all the necessary properties for this, allowing production speeds of 600 bars/min to be achieved with this packaging paper. With the brand owner, packaging paper manufacturer, printer and packaging machine manufacturer were involved in the development from the outset enabled the time to market launch to be drastically shortened.

“Projects of this kind rely on transparency and knowledge sharing, so we are delighted to have been able to confidently go through this process with Koehler Paper,” says Mathias Tholey, co-founder of nucao. “We have come one step closer to our mission to generate a positive impact on the planet with chocolate thanks to our innovative paper packaging.”

The research and development team from Koehler Innovation & Technology worked with the experts from   Koehler Paper to develop the NexFlex product range, a 100% recyclable generation of flexible packaging paper. The aim here is to replace plastic in packaging by using barrier paper wherever possible. The range includes standard coated and uncoated paper used in laminates for pouches, sachets and other applications, making them suitable for food and non-food products.

The next generation of paper for flexible packaging features sustainable barrier papers with functional surfaces for product-specific protection (Koehler NexPlus). The NexFlex product family also includes paper coated on one side with dimensional stability and high smoothness (Koehler NexCoat), as well as uncoated paper with a natural appearance (Koehler NexPure). Various flexible packaging paper from Koehler Paper were awarded the “Made for Recycling” seal by the environmental service provider Interseroh.