A development by Sonoco UK’s Consumer Packaging division has enabled a supplier of vehicle oils and fluids to replace its costly metal can with a rigid paper-based container.
The global packaging services provider and manufacturer of industrial and consumer products says the result is a ‘lower-cost, sustainable packaging solution that has all of the positive attributes and benefits of a metal container, but none of its downsides’.
Sean Cairns, general manager Sonoco Rigid Paper and Closures, Europe, says: “The fluids to be sold in the cans are moisture sensitive, and there were a number of challenges we had to overcome.
“The tube needed to be durable enough to sustain the fluid’s four-year shelf life and strong enough to not collapse when the screw pourer cap was inserted during production. We also needed to counter the impact of spillage or staining that can occur during the production process.”
The supplier had previously used steel containers for its vehicle oils and fluids, which are exported to a number of international destinations. Sonoco’s solution was a rigid paper container with metal ends that offers the same product appearance and protection for liquids, but at a lower cost and using far more sustainable materials.
In addition to a 27% reduction in material weight inputs and reductins in the customer’s shipping and handling costs, the rigid paper container also results in a 34% reduction in energy inputs, a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 2% reduction in chemical bad actors.
“Sonoco Consumer Packaging completed a 12-week trial of the new container with the customer,” says Cairns. “We measured the moisture content at regular intervals to make sure that the proposed packaging solution met the demands of the customer.
“The first delivery of the finished product, manufactured in Manchester at one of our European production facilities, took place in autumn, and we are currently scheduled to deliver up to two million cans each year, depending on demand.”
Sonoco U.K. Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sonoco (NYSE: SON), founded in 1899 and now one of the largest diversified global packaging companies and the world’s largest ($4.1 billion) producer of paperboard cans.
Sonoco's new rigid paper chemicals container to replace more costly cans
