Riding the wave of sustainability

15 April 2013



The year is still somewhat in its infancy but one thing is clear, sustainability is as high on the agenda as ever for packaging manufacturers in 2013. Major players in the home and personal care sectors are making monumental strides to place sustainability at the heart of their packaging programmes. Tim Sheahan looks at the factors driving this exciting innovation


A recent survey commissioned by BAMA, the British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association, found that nearly 70% of the UK population buy or use aerosols and, of those who do buy them, 73% are recycling.

According to BAMA, this research shows that the "green credentials" of the aerosol sector have changed "dramatically", in the UK at least.

"Eighteen years ago, consumers would have found it difficult to recycle their empty aerosol cans as at that time just 7% of Local Authorities included aerosols," the organisation says. "Today, in part through the Association's concerted campaign for change, over 87% of Local Authorities now accept empty aerosols for recycling."

The BAMA research found that consumers recycle used aerosol containers from all parts of the home, with the highest proportion coming from the bathroom (91%), and good recycling proportions also achieved from the bedroom (70%) and kitchen (78%).
However in the garage environment, around half of consumers forget to recycle empty aerosols (51%). The products most commonly recycled are personal care aerosols - a reflection of this being the largest sector of the industry.

And arguably the biggest step-change in that field of packaging in 2013 has been the move by global giant Unilever to release new 75ml cans for its aerosol brands including Sure, Dove and Vaseline Intensive Care.

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.

In addition to the reduced size - which is particularly well suited to being carried 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. This size results in more product per pallet in transportation, resulting in a "35% reduction in the number of lorries on the road".

Unilever also states that in a product category in which 80% of UK 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. Commenting on its new 75ml aerosol cans, Unilever described them as the first major packaging reduction initiative for aerosol deodorants since they were introduced in the late 1960s.

While Unilever is busy cutting the aluminium footprint of its aerosol output, ecological cleaning brand Ecover last month unveiled a "world first" in packaging with the advent of a fully sustainable and recyclable plastics.

Set to launch next year, the plastics will incorporate post-consumer recyclables (PCR), the firm's Plantastic, which is plastic made from 100% sugarcane, and plastic material retrieved from the sea.

Ecover is collaborating with Waste Free Oceans (WFO) and UK plastics recycling plant Closed Loop on the project, which will enable the group to reintroduce plastic, fished from the ocean, back into the bottling supply chain.The plastic will be recovered by boats outfitted with a special trawl that will collect between 2 and 8 tonnes of waste per trawl. This is then cleaned and recycled, with the collected waste sent to Closed Loop Recycling plant in Dagenham, England, where it is processed and turned into plastics.

Philip Malmberg, chief executive at Ecover, says: "As manufacturers we've got to take responsibility for sustainability very seriously - to take real action on climate change and the damage done by our over-reliance on fossil fuels, creating 'green' products that deliver more than a nod to sustainability."

He adds: "Our focus on continual innovation means that we are always pushing boundaries. We're never satisfied and we don't ever expect to be. That's what makes our business so exciting, and what ensures that we continue to deliver above and beyond."

It is not only the global brands driving innovation in sustainability. The EU packaging directive that comes into effect next year requires packaging to be suitable for recycling, energy recovery or composting, and not to be excessive for the purpose intended.
In addition, it should have waste minimisation and recovery "built-in" to the packaging product at the design stage.

One example of this approach can be found in the recent collaboration between Sappi Fine Paper and Innovia Films. The two companies have jointly developed home compostable laminate packs for a range of food and drink applications.

The partnership pairs Innovia Films' NatureFlex flexible packaging films and Sappi's Algro Nature range of flexible packaging papers. By leveraging these substrates, the manufacturers are aiming to demonstrate the range of applications, from drinks pouches to cereal bar wrappers, made possible with the compostable materials.

"The combination of these natural materials provides the essential barrier requirements of each of the product groups represented by these prototype coffee, snack bar and single serve drink packs," says Paul Barker, Innovia Films product manager. "In real applications this would facilitate the disposal of the contents with the packaging into either home or industrial composting environments."

www.bama.co.uk
www.ecover.com
www.innoviafilms.com
www.sappi.com
www.unilever.com




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