The move by global giant Unilever to release the new 75ml cans onto the market in the UK and Ireland on Monday 4 February - for brands including Sure, Dove and Vaseline Intensive Care - was a very well guarded secret.
Certain to revolutionise the spray deodorant category globally, the new format is half the size of the industry standard 150ml aerosol cans, thanks to the new technology developed by Unilever that allows double the concentration of active formula to be dispensed with less propellant and at half the spray rate.
Speaking at the PCD Congress cosmetics packaging show in Paris this week, Lindal Group technical manager Malcolm Large told Packaging Today: "There were some changes for us in the way we make certain elements of the mechanism.
"Unilever had to change their formulation, so we had to change aspects of the valve in order to maintain the consumer spraying experience."
Consumers, Large added, will use the new 75ml aerosols in exactly the same way as the larger traditional cans.
Having been party himself to testing for the new products, Large also confirms that the new cans "will last as long as the larger sizes".
Sustainable pluses
In addition to its handier size - particularly well suited to carrying in handbags for the initial target female market - the reduced material requirements give a number of sustainability advantages.
The reduction in the required size of the can means the company uses on average 25% less aluminium per can, as well as less gas.
The smaller size results in more product per pallet in transportation, resulting in a "35% reduction in the number of lorries on the road".
Unilever states that in a product category in which 80% of UK and Ireland consumers prefer aerosols to roll-on or stick formats, and approximately 19 million cans of women's aerosol deodorant are used in the UK per year (IRI data, UK 2012), the company's brands alone are expected to achieve "an immediate 24 fewer tonnes of aluminium and a resultant 283 tonnes reduction in carbon used every year".
The aluminium saved would make 1,846,000 soft drink cans or 12,000 aluminium bikes, according to Unilever, while the CO2 savings would be equivalent to the average emissions of a car travelling 51 times around the earth.
Richard Swannell, director of design and waste prevention at the UK government intiative WRAP, comments: "The new aerosols represent a step change in the aerosol category and WRAP applauds Unilever's leadership role in evolving the format.
Ambitious targets
The new 75ml cans are a major step forward for Unilever as it progresses towards two of its own "ambitious" Unilever Sustainable Living Plan targets: to halve the greenhouse gas impact of products across the lifecycle by 2020; and to halve the waste associated with the disposal of products by 2020.
Unilever has also supported work done in recent years by the UK's Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (ALUPRO) and the British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association (BAMA) in encouraging local authorities to accept empty aerosols in kerbside collections and recycling can banks.
Unilever says its new 75ml aerosol cans are: "The first major packaging reduction initiative for aerosol deodorants since they were introduced in the late 1960s."
