A rosy and green future

For optimum cost control and eco-efficiency in retail goods supply chains, all links should look at processes from end to end, say UK experts cataloguing the world’s best available tools and technologies capable of reducing emissions of CO2 and use of raw materials and energy.

Persuasive arguments for adopting this principle and the implications for machinery makers were presented by Bosch Packaging Technology at last month’s Starpack Summit run by IOP: The Packaging Society, which took as its theme ‘Creating Business Confidence Through Packaging Innovation’.

“Don’t concentrate on one machine in the packaging system but ensure that you get advice on the complete packaging process,” says Jacob van Kogelenberg, product manager responsible for secondary packaging at Bosch, in Switzerland. “Make sure your partner has the ability to produce samples of primary and secondary packaging to enable you to analyse on full scale the effects of the packaging in the total process from the production to the shelf,” he advises.

When such assurances are combined with a machinery company’s know-how, “sustainability regulations offer an opportunity to improve the positioning of your product in the market and meet your goal, to make money”, he concludes.

The call for ‘green’ packaging can be heard throughout the food industry. Cartons use wood from managed forests as a natural raw material, which can be recovered and recycled, and therefore provides a “sustainable option for packaging”, explains designer and manufacturer of packaging machinery Kliklok International.

Many opportunities exist to use recycled material and lighter cartonboard in the ready-meals market. Kliklok and cartonboard producer Korsnäs, of Sweden, are currently running automatic sleeving trials using Korsnäs Supreme 250 micron/200 g/m2 board where typically a 400 micron/250 g/m2 is used.

“The feedback so far is that Kliklok’s Certiwrap wraparound cartoner can comfortably and efficiently handle this lightweight board at speeds of up to 150 sleeves/min,” says Kliklok spokesperson Michelle Tatum.

The company’s patented rotary carton feeder makes this possible. The mechanism was originally designed for its range of end load cartoners and enhanced on the new Celox high-speed end loader. The rotary feeder positively pulls, rather than sweeps, the carton out of the hopper and transfers it into the flight chains in the same direction as the carton travel. In doing so, it gently pulls the carton into shape, reducing damage to the pack and enabling recycled and lighter weight board to be run with confidence – for less wastage, better productivity and higher profit.

“This is great news for food producers who are increasingly obliged to combine increased production with reduced packaging costs, and avoids negative environmental impacts associated with using traditional heavier cartonboard,” states Kliklok.

The watchstrap-style cartonboard sleeve for ready-meals is in high demand by supermarkets for environmental and cost benefits, and consumers like it because the contents are visible. Kliklok’s Certiwrap wraparound cartoners have been proven to handle a wide range of “economically-shaped” sleeves, with optional features for product retention, tamper evidence and upright shelf-ready display.

The machinery company recently worked with Heinz to launch microwaveable Snap Pots using an innovative wraparound pack style for baked beans and spaghetti hoops. Heinz chose the Certiwrap C150 to wrap a printed cartonboard sleeve around the plastics 4-pot pack. The carton enables instant product recognition, and the “unique open design” of shelf-ready style allows easy consumer viewing and accessibility. The C150 also offers Heinz easy size-changing and low maintenance.

In the world of packaging, shape matters and is a meaningful part of the message. Resource economy is also important in the competition to be green. So are mono-material solutions for straightforward post-consumer waste management.

“Getting more from less has to be a critical 21st century imperative,” says Ian Webb, founder and managing director of Webb Scarlett deVlam. A vocal member of the designer community on the need to create “sustainability solutions,” he spoke to Packaging Today at the Starpack Summit about how packaging can be proactive in getting across a brand’s sustainability message – he calls it the “new packaging battleground”.

Packaging Today has previously highlighted exemplars of environmental moves. But design has to be used innovatively and work hard to express key brand traits and personality.

“It’s clever to have an own-able pack,” says Ian Webb. A focused design strategy can build premium quality into a product, to raise its price-point and the profit margin. He gave as an example a cube-shaped wine-box on the US market that differs from the competition it stands alongside.

In terms of environmental impact, cartons reportedly have come out on top in the “first” Europe-wide life-cycle assessment of cartons, food metal cans, glass jars and pouches. Carton packaging can save CO2 emissions and reduce fossil resource use by up to 60 per cent, according to SIG Combibloc. The Swiss manufacturer of carton packaging systems commissioned the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (Ifeu) to undertake the study.

Overall weight and the pack material are the main environmental impact issues of a packaging system for ambient food products such as soups and tomato products, the study concluded. As the food and retail industry is globalised, this life-cycle assessment took a Europe-wide approach and factored in the “considerable” variation found in national recycling rates. The results appear to show carton packaging performs “significantly better than the assessed packaging alternatives in almost all environment-related impact categories”, says Michael Hecker, head of group environment, health and safety at SIG Combibloc.

Bob Houghton, head of marketing at cartons manufacturer Chesapeake says good design and value engineering has enabled alternative ways of packaging products to reduce the amount of waste and in some cases cut out the use of plastics. Because a mono-material packaging specification is “easier to recycle”, Chesapeake is even offering food packaging alternatives that dispense with PET thermoforming.

“The design team working together with marketing and brand owners has created innovative products with shelf stand-out while reducing the amount of packaging going to landfill,” says Bob Houghton. He cites as a good example Green & Blacks ‘bag-shaped carton’ by Chesapeake’s Bradford factory and the London-based Pearl Fisher design agency. The carton was printed using six colours plus a special drip-off varnish process, combining registered high gloss and matt varnishes.

Chesapeake’s novel DualPack is made from one piece of board with two compartments which, if necessary, can be easily split by the user by adding perforations to the side panels. There is a neat tuck-top design and a tactile flip-top that produces a distinctive ‘click’ when the lid is opened or closed. For the healthcare market, the pack can be adapted to contain a blister card for tablets. The pack is also suitable for confectionery and toiletries.

Summing up, we see a resilient cartons sector offering a format which technologists with the machinery suppliers and graphic designers can further explore while bathing in a rosy and ‘green’ glow.