Two Sides Insight – Interview With Jarkko Tuominen, Metsä Spring

Biography and Introduction

Ian Bates, Marketing and Partnership Director for Two Sides interviewed Jarkko Tuominen, VP Projects at Metsä Spring – part of the Metsä Group, in the latest Insight interview.

“I’d like to introduce you to our guest, Jarkko Tuominen, VP Projects at Metsä Spring – part of the Finnish forestry, pulp, paper and packaging – the Metsä Group.

This is part of Metsäliitto – a cooperative of over 90,000 Finnish forest owners. Metsä harvests about 33.9 million m3 of forests annually. 100% is sustainably managed and traceable. Mills you might have already heard of include Kemi and Äänekoski – the two largest wood, pulp and paper mills in the Northern Hemisphere. The group has a turnover of €6 million and directly employees over 9,500 people in 30 countries.

Jarkko joined Metsä Spring in 2019. He is responsible for developing their new 3D moulded fibre products.

He worked previously at Metsä Board joining the group in 2012 and has worked within the fibre packaging sector for over 30 years in different senior management positions.

Metsä Spring is Metsä Group’s innovation company. Metsä Spring invests worldwide in promising young enterprises (startups) and conducts R&D activities also on its own. All ideas within the Metsä Spring portfolio must have a strong link to the Metsä Group business ecosystem. Hence, the goal of Metsä Spring is to strengthen this ecosystem.

Jarkko has a Masters Degree in Science.”

Questions Asked:

1. Can you please share with us more about Metsä Spring, your innovation projects and the circular thinking behind your strategy?
2. Moulded 3D fibre products have traditionally been made from recycled wood pulp processed from recovered paper and paper packaging as well as other recovered cellulose fibres such as sugarcane ‘waste’ (bagasse). What are the technical advantages of utilising virgin wood pulp fibre and what end use examples lend themselves to this material and packaging format?
3. From our research we know that the majority of people love paper-based packaging compared to other material formats, such as fossil-based plastic. Why is it then that that nearly 85% of people think that forests in Europe are shrinking not growing at an area the equivalent of over 1,500 football pitches every day?
4. For brands wanting to switch to fibre, what do you see as the main technical and commercial hurdles to overcome that will help facilitate change to a more sustainable and circular economy?