SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING
in to help create a new approach to packaging the product. The aim was to optimise the packaging design in terms of both sustainability and economic efficiency. Pick & place robots enabled the developers to shorten the plastic trays by 10mm. Thanks to this optimisation, the film repeats of the flowpacks could also be reduced by 6mm. This helped save packaging material and therefore costs in the long run. The carton was also reworked and now consists of a single
flat blank with a lid and it is no longer made up of three different parts. Taken together, the improved packaging yields more savings potential – the carton footprint could be reduced, which provided room for nine instead of eight boxes per layer on a shipping pallet. The bottom line was a big cost saving for Hosta – not only did it save on packaging material, but also on truck journeys – helping to reduce its carbon footprint.
Many other confectionery brand owners are now also seeking out new processes and materials in an ongoing effort to create more sustainable packaging solutions, with producers such as Mars Wrigley, Nestlé and Ferrara, for example, pledging to use only sustainable packaging by 2025.
Flexible solutions
When considering a change of packaging it is also vital to choose the right machinery to help reduce waste, drive greater efficiency, increase productivity, and improve recyclability, all within a holistic sustainability strategy. “Flexibility is no longer a luxury but is a requirement in
the consumer-packaged goods industry (CPG) industry,” explains Timo Kollmann, Managing Director at Hugo Beck. “The need for alternative, sustainable materials require machines which can handle everything from recyclable films made from mono-material or recycled content, through to paper-based packaging.” Hugo Beck, for example, offers a horizontal flowpack machine that can be easily adjusted to process new packaging materials with short changeover times and can cope with many different products and dimensions.
“Minimising the use of packaging material and waste
is a key obligation across all food production sectors,” continues Timo. According to a recent report from YouGov, as of 2019 46% of the British population felt guilty about the amount of plastic they used and 82% were actively trying to reduce the amount they use. “Considering this shift in consumer mindset, confectionery manufacturers should be looking for machine technology which can both minimise the use of resources and future-proof the user.” Hugo Beck has developed its packaging solutions to ensure ease of configurability to ensure flexibility. It has also been working hard to help reduce packaging materials consumption through tighter packaging and by enabling its equipment to work with thinner packaging and shrink film materials.
Consumer demand
A 2020 European study on consumer preferences for packaging revealed that almost 70% of respondents were actively trying to reduce their use of plastic packaging.
38 Kennedy’s Confection June 2022
This report highlighted that the market for flexible packaging – the primary packaging of products needed to change and as a result many confectionery brand owners have been switching to the use of more sustainable materials – such as recyclable mono-materials – and also switching to packaging processes designed to handle these materials. When considering switching to sustainable packaging materials it is still vital to ensure the quality of the end product. Changing to more sustainable materials also cannot come at the expense of more material jams, tears, or poor-quality seals. This would only result in increased waste, which reduces an organisations sustainable credentials and defeats the object of the material change for a more sustainable product! Theegarten-Pactec points out that the switch to mono- materials for primary packaging can be a challenge to implement, especially when it comes to packing delicate chocolate products. Traditionally, chocolate bars have been packaged using composite materials which can be easily packaged by fold wrapping and do not require any additional securing of the packaging by sealing or glue. However, the composite materials employed are not recyclable and so do not meet consumers demand for more sustainable packaging. Unfortunately, recyclable mono-materials often have poor dead-fold properties which requires an additional packaging step to close and fix after folding – either by sealing or with the aid of glue.
The problem with sealing chocolate bars, however, is that an aluminium paper laminate material is required to protect the delicate chocolate from the heat of the sealing tool. To solve this conundrum, and eliminate the need for the
second packaging layer, Theegarten-Pactec has developed a new sealing technology designed to be located directly after the wrapping or packaging station. It employs negative pressure that causes the package to be sucked onto the sealing stamp with no direct contact between the packaging and the product during the sealing process. The heat needed for the sealing process is distributed evenly over the entire sealing surface, ensuring that there are no pressure marks or other damage to the chocolate. Active cooling of the environment ensures additional product safety. After
KennedysConfection.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
