DuPont Honors Packaging Innovators

Trend setters in stretch film, biopolymer processing, and source reduction were among the winners last month of the 23rd Annual DuPont Packaging Awards, sponsored by DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, Wilmington, Del. Here are three examples from among the 16 winners:

•Microlayer stretch film: Apeldoorn Flexible Packaging in The Netherlands and Cloeren Inc. of Orange, Texas, were honored for Apeldoorn’s Katan-Ex microlayer stretch film. Cloeren’s microlayer feedblock and die technology allowed design of a stretch film with optimal properties for the beverage industry. The film offers increased pallet stability at elevated temperatures, uses 30% less material per pallet, and reduces damage to products during transportation by 80%. “Instead of having the nanolayers at the core, I wanted them to be closer to the surfaces of the film so they would provide maximum toughness and extensibility,” states Eddy Hilbrink, AFP R&D manager. “No one could have imagined just a few short years ago that 27-layer stretch films would prove practical, feasible, and unique—and here we are,” remarked Peter Cloeren, president of Cloeren Inc.

•Compounded PLA yogurt cups: Stonyfield Farm and Clear Lam Packaging, Elk Grove Village, Ill., accomplished a breakthrough use of PLA in a high-volume dairy application. The new form/fill/seal multipack yogurt cups are made of 93% PLA, switched from HIPS, believed to be the first for this market. Compression strength increased 15-20%, resulting in less product damage in transit.

•Lightweight hot-fill PET bottle: The ThermoShape from Plastipak Packaging, Plymouth, Mich., is an innovation in manufacturing and design of lightweight PET containers for hot-fill beverages. Where hot fill normally requires thick-walled containers, ThermoShape cuts material usage by 20% without using vacuum panels or sacrificing performance. Use of a ThermoShape machine to reshape the container just before labeling allows freedom for a wide array of container designs.