Nestle, Unilever and Mengniu all develop new packaging materials as the flexible packaging market booms

Recently, global FMCG giants Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mondelēz and Mars jointly launched a GBP 1 million "Flexible Plastic Fund". The fund calls on more flexible packaging manufacturers, retailers and recyclers to cooperate in jointly promoting the flexible packaging recycling market in the UK, and by stepping up current flexible packaging recycling efforts, to increase the market supply of recycled materials, reduce plastic pollution and promote the circular economy of the industry.

According to the report "The Future of Global Flexible Packaging to 2026" published by Smithers, global flexible packaging consumption is expected to reach 31.5 million tonnes by 2021. By 2026, the global market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 3.4% to reach 37.5 million tonnes. Compared with rigid packaging, flexible packaging has several advantages, including better protection of the contents, reduced resources, lighter packaging weight and lower costs. In addition, as personalization has become the norm, packaging design solutions are also becoming increasingly important. Let's take a look at some fresh news in flexible packaging worth learning from!

First recyclable flexible retort pouch for pet food

Nestlé and Amcor have jointly manufactured a recyclable package, starting with wet cat food, that will improve the environmental footprint of consumer packaging by as much as 60%.

AmLiteHeatFlex recyclable pouch - the world's leading flexible packaging leader Amcor partnered with Nestlé to launch the world's first recyclable flexible retort pouch. Using Amcor's AmLiteHeatFlex recyclable pouch solution, the new high-barrier pouch made its debut in Dutch stores in October 2020.

The new retort pouch is a polypropylene (PP) pouch that uses an ultra-thin AmLite transparent barrier coating to protect the product. It has high barrier properties and can withstand high temperatures, replacing the traditional PET/AL/OPP packaging structure, and can reduce carbon emissions by 60%.

Recyclable dishwasher tablet packaging

Global consumer goods giant Unilever joined hands with Amcor to develop a brand-new recyclable e-commerce package dedicated to the brand's dishwasher tablets, in order to accelerate its sustainable development and e-commerce process. This packaging has been successfully launched in the European market and is applied to two major dishwasher tablet brands: Sun All-in-1, for Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Portugal; and Svelto, launched in the Italian market.

Mengniu's double-layer eco-friendly yogurt lidding film is thinner and lighter without compromising quality

Recently, Mengniu integrated industrial ecological forces and joined hands with plastic raw material suppliers, packaging manufacturers, recycling and regeneration companies and other parties across the industrial chain to achieve circular recycling and reuse of plastic packaging for the first time in the domestic food industry, fully applying post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic as product outer packaging film. After a full switch, it is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 300 tonnes per year, reducing resource waste and carbon emissions at scale, and contributing to the circular economy and the protection of the ecological environment.

Mengniu adheres to the 5R principle, and its key research directions in eco-friendly packaging include: how to reduce food waste through packaging, achieve packaging lightweighting, packaging recycling and reuse, packaging degradability and recyclability, and so on.

Hangzhou Mitor uses distiller's grain protein to process degradable packaging materials

Hangzhou Mitor New Material Technology Co., Ltd. recently achieved a technological breakthrough in the field of degradable packaging materials, producing degradable packaging by extracting soft protein from distiller's grains and mixing it with fiber. This material has lower production costs and a shorter degradation cycle than PBAT and PLA. A patent is currently being applied for. Mitor has reached a strategic cooperation with Budweiser (China) in raw material supply, and is expected to achieve industrialization in 2024, with the production cost per tonne of product expected to drop to around 10,000 yuan.

Glenroy flexible packaging launches a series of sustainable packaging product portfolios

US-headquartered flexible packaging specialist Glenroy launched a "Sustainable Packaging Portfolio" to help brand owners in the food, pharmaceutical, pet food, health food, personal care and household products industries achieve their sustainability goals and address the global waste problem.

Glenroy's sustainable packaging portfolio all uses recyclable film laminated pouches, such as post-consumer recyclable (PCR) film laminated pouches that meet the requirements of the How2Recycle store drop-off label program, with a film recycling rate of up to 53%, as well as eco-friendly stand-up pouches made from post-consumer recycled plastic, with recyclable content of up to 48%.

Maybelline FitMe® Matte + Poreless foundation pouch

Maybelline's FitMe® Matte + Poreless envisioned a new solution for e-commerce packaging, using it in combination with traditional rigid glass bottles. The packaging is a travel pouch that is more mini in shape and more powerful in function, suitable for e-commerce retail.

This flexible spray pouch is flatter; compared with current glass bottles, the packaging is reduced by 90%, which allows more products to be shipped during transportation.

GripTop anti-slip pouch

Flexinnovakft partnered with Foltradekft to develop the GripTop anti-slip pouch.

The GripTop anti-slip pouch has high anti-slip properties, with micro-protrusions on its surface for anti-slip; these micro-protrusions ensure that GripTop pouches do not slide against each other in a stack. The coefficient of friction of traditional film pouches is between 0.20 and 0.35, while that of stacked GripTop pouches is higher than 0.6. GripTop pouches maintain their anti-slip performance whether in dusty or humid conditions. In addition, the protruding material on the surface layer of the GripTop pouch is fully compatible with polyethylene, and the GripTop pouch is a fully recyclable polyethylene pouch.

Future evolution trend of bottled water: flexible pouch water

As for the future evolution trend of bottled water, one-off bagged water in flexible pouch packaging has attracted great attention and emphasis from all packaging water companies in the industry through this pandemic. At present, bagged water production technology is relatively mature and is very likely to become a mainstream product for household drinking water in the future. Many packaging water companies have stated to bagged water industry platforms that they will comply with market consumer demand and add new production of one-off bagged water to meet the consumption needs of different families. Foresighted water companies have already begun to seize the initiative and actively explore the household one-off bagged water market.

Bagged water

5-10 liter lightweight small packaging is light and can be picked up by the user, making water replacement convenient; the elderly and children can all switch it independently and freely. The drinking process is sealed with no secondary pollution, and there is no contact with air at all during drinking, effectively isolating harmful gases and solving the secondary pollution problem of "gas and water replacement" in bottled water from the root. Lightweight packaging is low-carbon, energy-saving and easier to recycle or reuse, meeting the requirements of future environmental development.

This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378008.html. All rights belong to the original author; this article is for industry exchange and learning only.