Cigar manufacturer, J. Cortès is switching to more sustainable card packaging for its new-look Neos Exotic cigar brand which will soon be known as Exo.

On re-naming its popular Neos Exotic cigarillo line, the company decided to find a more sustainable alternative to plastic packaging.

Frederik Vandermarliere, CEO, J. Cortès said: “We initially considered using recycled plastic, but there’s not enough of it available and biodegradable plastic hasn’t yet caught up when it comes to colour retention and strength. We, therefore, settled on a totally different approach.”

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY MANUFACTURE

This revolved around the use of Metsä Board card packaging, produced with young fibres and a focus on environmentally friendly manufacture using timber certified as sustainably sourced.

According to the Belgium-based company as much as 99% of Metsä Board production waste is reused for energy generation.

“This new packaging symbolises the logical resumption of our sustainability policy,” Vandermarliere remarked. “As another example, we installed a new water system at our cigar factory in Sri Lanka, which allows us to save 2.6 million litres of water every year.

“In reality, the running costs of the new system offset the savings we achieve in water. But as a family business, we think it’s more important to leave behind a better world for our kids.”

Exo as it is now known, is a line of aromatised cigarillos manufactured using the best tobacco products from the world’s equatorial regions. It is available in four rich flavours (Exo Classic, Exo Red, Exo Blue and Exo Filter).

Click here for our recent video interview with Frederik Vandermarliere, CEO, J. Cortès.

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