DuPont's 23rd Awards for Packaging Innovation Honoured New Developments

DuPont's 23rd Awards for Packaging Innovation has honoured new developments from global brand giants such as Gillette, Coca Cola, and Intel, Glaxo Smith Kline and Heinz - and their packaging partners. "The nominees and winners this year show how sustainability considerations are driving innovation, " Shanna Moore, global director of sustainability at DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, said in a 13 June news release. "We see how sustainability takes many shapes - ranging from use of organic or renewably sourced materials to the relentless drive to reduce waste and weight. " According to DuPont, the trends among the 2011 award recipients bear out the results of a recent DuPont online survey of packaging professionals, which found sustainability to be respondents’ pick as the top challenge facing the packaging industry, closely followed by cost concerns. "Nearly all of the winning innovations related to reducing waste in the system, " jury panel head John Bernardo, a principal at Sustainable Innovations, said in the release. "The jury could see a much deeper consideration of sustainability concerns, starting with responsible sourcing [and] thoughtful package design, all the way to end-of-life factors. " Winners were announced through a global webcast where members of the independent jury panel provided their perspectives on the winning achievements and where the winners discussed the challenges they overcame in bringing their new developments to market. This year's jury evaluated more than 200 entries from 26 countries and awarded two diamond winners, six gold winners and eight silver winners. They were: Diamond Procter & Gamble and Be Green Packaging’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide package moved away from a clamshell approach and opted instead for a formable pulp tray made of renewable bamboo and bulrush fiber-based material. Judges decided the new package pushed the boundaries of pulp trays, reducing both cost and material weight, as well as being easier to open and having improved room for marketing-related graphics. Ecovative Design won allocates for its mushroom seeds-to-packaging product, EcoCradle, which is grown from mycelium and regionally sourced agricultural byproducts such as cotton burrs and oat hulls. EcoCradle is completely composed of ultra-rapid renewable resources and is also home compostable. The jury found it to be a cost-effective and sustainable replacement for expanded polystyrene or other materials used in protective packaging. Gold Cimplast Embalagens and Cimflex’s Brazilian-developed Virtuous Cycle is a complete cycle approach that enables used multilayer agrochemical bottles to be diverted from landfills and remade into high-value products. The system uses DuPont’s Fusabond polymer compatibiliser, making it possible to possible to reuse this mixed material waste stream for products such as rigid or flexible corrugated pipes and automotive lubricant bottles. According to the award citation, more than 150, 000 tonnes of agrochemical empty plastic bottles have been collected from the field since 2002, saving an estimated 374, 000 barrels of crude oil and more than 160, 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being sent into the atmosphere. Dutch firm Apeldoorn Flexible Packaging and US-based Cloeren received a gold award for Katan-Ex microlayer stretch film, which was honored for excelling in increased pallet stability at elevated temperatures, using 30% less material per pallet and reducing damaged products during transportation by 80%. Aptar Group’s all-plastic airless cosmetics dispenser is composed of only one family of plastic, polyolefin, and its pump is composed of just 4 all-plastic components. The redesign of the pump ensured that all of the high-end personal care product can be dispensed completely, eliminating costly wasted product. The all-plastic design enhances recyclability Scholle Packaging and Shell Global Lubricants’ bag-in-box system for automotive chemicals and fluids removes 24 one-litre bottles from the waste stream and features superior product evacuation, saving suppliers money and keeping material out of landfills, according to the DuPont jury. Overall, petroleum-based resin usage in the packaging is reduced by nearly 90% compared to rigid one-liter bottles. During shipping, greenhouse gas emissions are overall lower than the incumbent packaging due to more-efficient cube utilization on trucks, in warehouses and at the end-user. Household Essentials packages its ironing board cover in a dual-functional, sewn-in cloth pouch that can be used later as a spray bottle holder. By eliminating the outer package completely via the pouch approach, Household Essentials reduced package weight by 14% and eliminated approximately 375, 000 pounds of PVC from going into landfills. Additionally the smaller package size, being 35% smaller, reduced shipping costs and reduces retail display space by 30%. Slovakia’s Moneta S marketed its Yango AL-brand laminate film, which replaced a 14-micron foil structure with a 3-micron biaxially oriented polypropylene film and 7-micron foil, resulting in an extremely thin printable plastic film. Use of the BOPP provided extra strength, scratch resistance, protection and an ink-inside feature to the foil structure. The perfect dead fold was achieved due to the very low thickness of the BOPP layer which is taken by aluminum foil as a lacquer. Silver H. J. Heinz and Multivac developed Heinz’s Dip & Squeeze ketchup package to offers better functionality and convenience by offering two different ways of use: tearing off the top or "cap" for squeezing, or peeling off the lid for dipping. The new package provides the times more ketchup than standard 9-gram sachets and uses less packaging. Shaped like the iconic glass Heinz ketchup bottle, Dip & Squeeze strongly reinforces the company’s brand. A silver award went to Stonyfield Farm, Clear Lam Packaging and Arcil for a breakthrough use of NatureWorks polylactic acid in a high-volume dairy application. The new form/fill/seal multipack yogurt cups are made of 93% PLA, a switch from high-impact polystyrene, believed to be the first for this market. PLA use results in 48% lower greenhouse gas emissions vs. HIPS. Compression strength increased by 15-20%, resulting in fewer damaged products during transit. US-based Plastipak Holdings and France’s Tescor developed ThermoShape, a new light weight PET container for hot fill beverages. ThermoShape enables 20% less material to be used without the use of vacuum panels or impact on the performance of the bottle. Coca-Cola Co. used 30% plant-based PET bottles for its I Lohas –brand bottled water, reducing weight by 40% compared to the former design while guaranteeing consumer usability. Once consumed, the bottle is easily twisted, which crushes the bottle to a very small size. Indian firm Positive Packaging Industries replaced large glass bottles of Nestle Magi Arome seasoning liquid with thermoformed, single-use mini bottles made of flexible laminate. The bottle-shaped packet maintains brand recognition and enhances shelf appeal. Its small size also offers easier handling and shipment. US computer giant Intel replaced all PVC inserts with thermoformed amorphous PET and corrugated fiberboard in a reduced package size The sourcing change achieved a reduction of 2.5 million pounds of material, reduced water consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, as well as taking shipping trucks off the road. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, API Laminates, Chesapeake Packaging, and Blue Marlin Brand Design’s transatlantic collaboration resulted in innovative new packaging for Sensodyne toothpaste. The design uses cutting-edge Fresnel lens technology and positional control through the lamination process, allowing the printer to register their inks to the lenses to create a unique three-dimensional brand identity. Fresnel lenses have been used in packaging applications as random designs but never in discrete areas aligned with such tight print to register. Perfecseal, a subsidiary of Bemis and Arthrex, came up with a wire coil clamshell to overcome the challenges faced in assembling medical suture passing wire. Using a three-paneled, thermoformed package design and eliminating the porous, heat-sealed lid, manufacturing times and costs were reduced while helping medical staff to easily remove the suture for quick use. Source: European Plastics News