RIIHIMÄKI, Finland-Among Finland's most intrinsic national treasures are its vast, pristine forests, harboring berries, reindeer, mushrooms and moose, and linking the country's peoples to a key part of their heritage. Subsequently, this eastern Scandinavian nation's modern paper and pulp industry is one of its most important, and one of the most progressive of its kind in the world. So it is at once ironic and completely natural that Finland's dominant dairy company's most recent capital investment will allow it to reduce its use of paperboard boxes as shipping containers.
At its yogurt plant in this small city in southern Finland, Valio Ltd., a cooperative group with a 100-year history, has converted to a roll-in container system that uses metal dollies and plastic shippers.