Plastic is everywhere – and it can never be completely abandoned. However, there is an endless number of end uses where plastic can be replaced with a renewable and recyclable bioproduct.

That is what Metsä’s innovation, Muoto™, is all about – a pure and safe three-dimensional fibre product made of wood fibres. The future packaging revolution. With our unique concept, we manufacture products tailored to different end uses according to the customer’s preference and deliver them ready for use directly from production.

Muoto^™ feels like paperboard, and it looks like paperboard. But it isn’t paperboard. It’s more. It’s a fit-for-purpose product always and everywhere.

For us, Muoto is a new way of thinking. It is a major new opening in the packaging market. With novel technology and unique product features we maximise the benefit and ease for the customer. For you, it is safe, sustainable, easy to use, reuse and recycle. In a natural way.

The most unnecessary consumption is to first produce and then throw away. Food waste is a good example of this. Loss is prevented with the right kind of packaging, where safety and usability are also paramount.

Modern lifestyles are dysfunctional without packaging. The most responsible option can be found in nature. The raw material for the Muoto™ product grows in sustainably managed northern forests, and the origin of each package can be traced. Metsä Group has a hold on the entire chain from the tree stump to the final product.

Metsä Group’s fibre expertise is among the best in the world. Our new and efficient pulp mills produce high-quality softwood and hardwood pulps, the qualities of which are developed in close cooperation with our global customers. This pure and safe fresh fibre is then processed into high-quality recyclable fibre products.

We can use a variety of wood fibres in Muoto™ products. Each fibre has its own technical properties that we utilise in the right proportion in three-dimensional fibre products to achieve an appropriate end result.

Softwood pulp brings strength to the end product, as well as runnability to the production process. Hardwood pulp provides excellent surface properties. Mechanical pulp provides stronger structure, greater bulk and stiffness.

Muoto™ products are manufactured at a demo plant that is part of Metsä Group’s integrated mill site in Äänekoski, Finland. Ready-to-use three-dimensional fibre products for the packaging industry are made directly from wet wood-fibre pulp, with no intermediate phases. A product is created  with wet forming, which allows the product to be modified to suit different end uses. Outstanding surfaces are obtained by hot pressing.

The entire production process from wet pulp to the finished packaged product is integrated into one production line. The resource efficiency of production technology has been honed to the highest level – raw materials and water circulate in the process, and no waste is generated from production. Energy use has also been minimised with innovative process and technology solutions.

Muoto™ is a fossil-free and safe natural product, whose incomparable properties make it a perfect substitute for plastic – for example, in food packaging.

Muoto™ is a functional package that combines structure, functionality and design. The product’s layer structure creates the possibility to customise according to the application – the repertoire of different forms of packaging is endless. The products are always made fit-for-purpose according to the customer’s needs.

Muoto™ products can be stacked nested, which also makes logistics efficient. The safe fresh fibre packaging is completely fossil free and we will avoid using stickers, tapes or plastic bags on it.