Between 22-24 May, 130 industry professionals convened in Thessaloniki, Greece, for the Eurosac Congress 2025. The event marked signs of recovery in the market in 2024, but the paper sack market for cement declined, even if building materials (excluding cement) had a 3.1 per cent increase. In absolute terms, paper sacks for the cement sector totalled 1.10bn in 2024, compared to 1.13bn in 2023.

The positives of paper sack usage in the cement sector were highlighted by Thomas Hilling from Haver & Boecker and Dominik Wörsdorfer from Windmöller & Hölscher. They shared observations that paper sacks require three times less space, uses only 20 per cent of the energy and one-tenth of the manpower compared to Woven Polypropylene Sacks (WPP) sack production.

Elin Gordon from CEPI Eurokraft presented her lab study comparing filling speed, product loss, dust generation and carbon footprint across both packaging types. The results again highlighted the advantage of paper sacks in the cement sector. They can be filled 21 per cent faster, reduce product loss by a factor of four, generate a third of the dust and only half the carbon footprint of WPP sacks.

Grand Prix Award winners included:
• Gold award – the expandyble from dy-pack
• Silver Award – W Gröning and Billerud Future-proof paper sack for low-carbon cement
• Bronze Award – re/cycle PaperPuls Bag advanced from Mondi.

The Public Choice Award was presented to Billerud for the development of ConFlex® Heat Seal.
EUROSAC Grand Prix winners and participants.EUROSAC Grand Prix winners and participants.