The ins and outs

The ins and outs

The packaging industry would be lost without closures. The most innovative packaging would be a laughing stock if not for a suitable way to get to the product inside. Emma-Jane Batey speaks to leading industry figures and brand-owners to understand how packaging gets closure

Closures make opening and closing a product easier, allow packaging to become tamper-proof and keep products fresher for longer. While the closure may not be particularly eye-catching when it comes to shelf-appeal, it is certainly the part of the packaging the consumer gets frustrated with most easily if it is hard to open, lets food go stale or leaks all over the fridge.

So who is leading the way in the world of closures? Wipak UK, part of the Finnish Wihuri Group, has certainly gained a leading position among European suppliers of multilayer films and, thanks to a dedicated food packaging division, is bringing fresh ideas to the closures sector too. The Powys-based packaging manufacturer has food packaging and medical packaging divisions, with both able to “create synergies at all levels”.

Wipak’s food packaging division supplies packaging films for a broad range of food products including fresh meat, dairy products, baked goods, confectionery and ready meals for customers worldwide. Its recloseable packages are gaining particular attention in this sector, with its appreciation of staying one step ahead of market trends proving to be a key driver.

Open and shut case

It is this focus that led exciting popcorn brand Propercorn to contract Wipak to develop and manufacture the packaging for its latest product. London-based Propercorn is the UK’s fastest-growing popcorn brand and its dedication to offering a new twist on this favourite snack meant that Wipak created a new sharing format with an innovative closure. The flexible-packaging company used a specially developed film structure and advanced laser-score technology to make a sharing pack with a pull-away panel as the closure, which manages to be easy to open and robust enough to withstand the supply chain.

Wipak UK’s sales manager, Wayne Hallsworth, explains, “Our design for Propercorn is based on the increasingly popular sharing concept for snacks. We created a unique format with a ‘pinch ‘n’ pull’ panel on the front of the pack that can be easily removed to create a ‘bowl’ for any sharing occasion. The Propercorn sharing bag is not only a first in popcorn but it is unlike anything else in flexible packaging.”

The Propercorn sharing bag can also be opened the traditional way – from the top of the pack – but the ‘pinch ‘n’ pull’ panel, created using contour laser technology, does not compromise the bag’s integrity in any way. Propercorn’s co-founder Ryan Kohn is clear that the brand’s new packaging format is an interesting addition to its ever-growing portfolio.

“Sharing is in growth but well-being remains top of the agenda, with people increasingly demanding tastier, healthier snack alternatives to enjoy with friends or at work,” he says.  “Our ‘tear to share’ format is a real first in popcorn and we’re hugely excited by its potential to really drive the growth of the CSN sharing category.”

“We have worked closely with our retailers and shoppers to identify new sharing occasions for popcorn and the most suitable formats to fit these. We worked with Wipak to create this bespoke packaging format and our sharing bags provide customers with a really versatile, healthy solution for various snacking occasions.”

Seal the snack

The fast-growing snacking trend is not just driving innovative packaging for the adult market but also for kids. The latest product from Ella’s Kitchen, the UK’s leading organic baby and toddler food and snack company, with a 30% share of the market, shows how innovative closures make life easier for consumers. Ella’s Kitchen’s Pick Me Melty Hoops come in 25g plastic pots with twist-on-and-off lids that mean parents can give their young children just a few snacks at a time and reclose the tub.

Designed for babies over ten months old, and part of the Ella’s Kitchen new ‘play and learn’ finger food range, the Pick Me Melty Hoops see the brand extend its snacking category. All of the brand’s products use 100% recyclable boxes and are made from recycled board, with vegetable inks and water-based coatings used to print the boxes. Ella’s popular pouches use 80% less material than many other alternative forms of packaging and do not contain any bisphenol A or phthalates, with the aluminium used is also totally BPA-free.

Mark Cuddigan, head of Ella’s Kitchen in Europe, explains: “We were delighted to enter the snacking category last year, but babies and toddlers have very different needs, so it was really important to us to ensure we were catering for our littler ones too. We pride ourselves on developing best-quality products but with the new baby finger food range we want to support little one’s development too. Working with our experts has allowed us to produce a range that we’re confident delivers this, while also thrilling tiny taste buds and keeping growing tummies happy.”

The Pick Me Melty Hoops resealable tub shape has been cleverly designed to fit into changing bags and cup holders, on buggies and in cars. The range also includes Grip Me Baby Biscuits that come individually wrapped and Grab Me Melty Puff that have their own resealable sticker on every pack.

“The bright and colourful packaging is super-handy for little ones on the go and great for parents too,” Cuddigan adds. “All our caps and straws are made from PE plastic, which is very common in food use and has served this type of packaging well for many years, and is easily recyclable. An independent audit of the life cycle of our pouches has shown that the energy used, and the environmental impact when making, transporting and destroying them, is significantly less than PET plastic bottles, Tetra Packs and glass.”

A good look

The beauty industry is getting in on the innovative closures act too. Covent Garden’s famous Neal’s Yard Remedies has long stocked its totally organic beauty products in its iconic blue glass bottles but, with its latest collaboration, it has introduced a new pump dispenser. Working with ‘wellness guru’ Ella Mills of Deliciously Ella, Neal’s Yard Remedies has brought her passion for plant-based eating to new beauty products: the Rose, Lime & Cucumber Collection.

A Neal’s Yard spokesperson says: “Our packaging is designed to ensure our products reach our customers in top condition, as well as being easy to use, practical, beautiful and have a minimal environmental impact. We can’t refill the packaging used in our organic skincare but we can use ‘pre-loved’ material to make it from. Never one for half measures, our blue plastic bottles are British-made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials. They are more energy efficient to produce and divert waste plastic from potential landfill. Also, all our plastic lids and caps are easily recyclable”

Closures are big business

Leading global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and packaging supply chain services Sonoco is active in developing and manufacturing more responsible innovative closures too, so it’s not just a focus for brand-owners. With over $5 billion in annual net sales and more than 21,000 employees worldwide, Sonoco has an important role to play.

Sonoco’s plan to promote its latest innovation in closures at FachPack 2016 saw it launch its SquareCan – a convenient, eye-catching square-format container that offers a larger decoration area. The SquareCan’s plastic lid is decorated using in-mould labelling and, as Sonoco’s sales and marketing director Rolf Regelmann explains, “opens up a whole new range of design possibilities”.

“The in-mould labelling used for our innovative SquareCan closures give a very high-quality impression. The closures are great proof of our ability to innovate and demonstrate our know-how in how rigid paper containers and plastic packaging complement each other perfectly,” he adds.

Alongside the SquareCan, Sonoco has also recently launched its Vegetop, a special shaker top that is made of organic, compostable plastic that means its rigid paper container is even more sustainable.

So whether consumers want their tops, lids and packages to be easier to open, quicker to seal or look fancy on their bathroom shelves, getting closure is clearly the way to go.