Food and Beverage Packaging October 2012 : Page 22

PMMI Corner BEYOND THE PACKAGING SURFACE: WHAT REALLY MAKES A ‘GREEN’ PACKAGE I BY: TOM EGAN n response to consumer demand for more eco-friendly packaging, brand owners are in-creasingly adopting new formats or modifying existing ones. For some, this entails a switch to a new substrate that is recyclable or biodegradable. Others may seek to lightweight packaging to re-duce the amount of packaging material used. Regardless of their choice, all manufacturers ex-ploring a change to their packaging format must take certain factors into account to ensure they achieve the expected sustainability beneﬁ ts. A package that contains a different kind of material – or just less of it – may not perform in a manufacturer’s existing operations. With-out the proper adjustments to packaging ma-chinery, running a new or lighter format can negatively impact sustainability efforts by in-curring costly waste. The reality is that almost any change to the package will require chang-es to the production line. Some adjustments may be simple, such as a tweak to the infeed. Others may require a complete line redesign. Today’s lightweighted water bottle provides an excellent example. After successfully re-ducing the amount of resin from the container walls, bottles are far less rigid than they used to be, even exhibiting similar characteristics to a soft-sided pouch. Further lightweighting op-portunities existed in the neck ﬁ nish and com-panies began exploring a short skirt cap design as another way to further enhance the bottle and cap sustainability footprint. This move meant that the cap torque proﬁ le needed to change to ensure it would close with slightly less than one turn —rather than the one and a half turns necessary for the existing cap. The capping equipment had to be rede-signed to accommodate the new torque proﬁ le and operate at speeds matching the rest of the line to maintain production expectations. Projects of this complexity require close co-operation between the brand owner and equip-ment and materials suppliers in order to deliver a successful product to the marketplace. It is important to involve all parties early in discus-sions about packaging format changes so key challenges and questions can be explored well WWW . FOOD ANDBEVERA GEP A CKA GING . COM before any modiﬁ cations are made. An open line of communication is the best way to ensure that the best possible package goes to market, offering both sustainability and performance. Food and beverage manufacturers seek-ing new or lightweighted packaging formats will ﬁ nd the material and equipment suppli-ers and other resources they need at PACK EXPO International 2012 (October 28 – 31; McCormick Place, Chicago). The Conference at PACK EXPO, which runs concurrently with the show from October 29-31, will also feature a Sustainability Track with sessions addressing related challenges and solutions. A full confer-ence schedule is available online. Please visit www.packexpo.com for more information about the show and to register. F&BP Tom Egan, vice president, industry services, PMMI PMMI is a trade association of more than 600 member companies that manufacture packaging, processing and related converting machinery in the United States or Canada; machinery components and packaging containers and materials. PMMI’s vision is to be the leading global resource for the packaging and processing supply chain, and its mission is to improve and promote members' abilities to meet the needs of their customers. PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and EXPO PACK México, connecting participants in the packaging and processing supply chain with their customers around the world. Coming Up: PACK EXPO International at McCormick Place in Chicago, Oct. 28–31, 2012; EXPO PACK Guadalajara at Expo Guadalajara, February 27–March 1; EXPO PACK México 2013 at Centro Banamex, Mexico City, June 18–21. Learn more about PMMI and the PACK EXPO trade shows at PMMI.org and Packexpo.com. 22 FOOD & BEVERA GE P A CKA GING OCT OBER 2012

PMMI Corner

Tom Egan

BEYOND THE PACKAGING SURFACE: WHAT REALLY MAKES A ‘GREEN’ PACKAGE In response to consumer demand for more eco-friendly packaging, brand owners are increasingly adopting new formats or modifying existing ones. For some, this entails a switch to a new substrate that is recyclable or biodegradable. Others may seek to lightweight packaging to reduce the amount of packaging material used. Regardless of their choice, all manufacturers exploring a change to their packaging format must take certain factors into account to ensure they achieve the expected sustainability benefits. A package that contains a different kind of material – or just less of it – may not perform in a manufacturer’s existing operations. Without the proper adjustments to packaging machinery, running a new or lighter format can negatively impact sustainability efforts by incurring costly waste. The reality is that almost any change to the package will require changes to the production line. Some adjustments may be simple, such as a tweak to the infeed. Others may require a complete line redesign. Today’s light weighted water bottle provides an excellent example. After successfully reducing the amount of resin from the container walls, bottles are far less rigid than they used to be, even exhibiting similar characteristics to a soft-sided pouch. Further light weighting opportunities existed in the neck finish and companies began exploring a short skirt cap design as another way to further enhance the bottle and cap sustainability footprint. This move meant that the cap torque profile needed to change to ensure it would close with slightly less than one turn —rather than the one and a half turns necessary for the existing cap. The capping equipment had to be redesigned to accommodate the new torque profile and operate at speeds matching the rest of the line to maintain production expectations. Projects of this complexity require close cooperation between the brand owner and equipment and materials suppliers in order to deliver a successful product to the marketplace. It is important to involve all parties early in discussions about packaging format changes so key challenges and questions can be explored well before any modifications are made. An open line of communication is the best way to ensure that the best possible package goes to market, offering both sustainability and performance. Food and beverage manufacturers seeking new or light weighted packaging formats will find the material and equipment suppliers and other resources they need at PACK EXPO International 2012 (October 28 – 31; McCormick Place, Chicago). The Conference at PACK EXPO, which runs concurrently with the show from October 29-31, will also feature a Sustainability Track with sessions addressing related challenges and solutions. A full conference schedule is available online. Please visit www.packexpo.com for more information about the show and to register. Tom Egan, vice president, industry services, PMMI PMMI is a trade association of more than 600 member companies that manufacture packaging, processing and related converting machinery in the United States or Canada; machinery components and packaging containers and materials. PMMI’s vision is to be the leading global resource for the packaging and processing supply chain, and its mission is to improve and promote members' abilities to meet the needs of their customers. PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and EXPO PACK México, connecting participants in the packaging and processing supply chain with their customers around the world. Coming Up: PACK EXPO International at McCormick Place in Chicago, Oct. 28–31, 2012; EXPO PACK Guadalajara at Expo Guadalajara, February 27–March 1; EXPO PACK México 2013 at Centro Banamex, Mexico City, June 18–21. Learn more about PMMI and the PACK EXPO trade shows at PMMI.org and Packexpo.com.

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