Blisters clear enviro-hurdles

Fox 40's mechanically bonded blister packs retain the clarity of a clear blister while complying with European recycling mandates. Card costs drop 20%, and new machine boosts productivity by 50% while halving labor.

With Fox 40?s new blister pack (above), four ?posts? in the blister protrude through holes in the card. The posts are then crush
With Fox 40?s new blister pack (above), four ?posts? in the blister protrude through holes in the card. The posts are then crush

After being let down one too many times by a whistle that malfunctioned during a crucial play, Ron Foxcroft, a professional referee, decided to build himself a better mousetrap. His resulting "pealess" whistle-which omits the cork pea that can become frozen, wet or "overblown," all contributing to whistle failure-launched a new company, Fox 40. Today Fox 40 whistles are sold in over 120 countries, typically merchandised in blister cards with heat-sealed polyvinyl chloride blisters. In the U.S., they're available at sporting goods and outdoor stores for $5.99.

However, in some markets, notably Europe, paperboard blister cards aren't considered recyclable since they're coated with plastic for heat-sealing.

"We were having a hard time bringing blister packs into Germany," explains Paul Groleau, operations manager for the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, firm. "Our customer was placing them into plastic bags so that they could be recycled, but which didn't do anything for the shelf appeal of the product." He adds, "A lot of our customers are expecting and requiring recyclable packaging." Thus, the company began to look for a new package.

"We wanted a 100 percent recyclable card and blister, and we wanted a product that could be pilfer-resistent," says Groleau. "Plus it had to have retail appeal at the same time."

The solution was a type of blister pack that still uses a clay-coated, 100% recycled newsback card and clear plastic blister (thermoformed now of recycled polyethylene terephthalate glycol), but which uses a mechanical technique to adhere the two components. Essentially, four posts or protrusions are designed into the plastic thermoformed blister. Similarly, four matching holes are die-cut into the card. A unique blister packaging machine, called the Kordpak II, supplied by Kord Products Ltd. (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), guides the protrusions into the holes. It then applies pressure to flatten the protrusions so that they mushroom over the holes, thus mechanically locking the blister to the card. The Swedish-built machine has been running since March.

Aside from meeting the objective of producing a recyclable blister pack without sacrificing merchandisability, the new package and machine provide Fox 40 with two big benefits.

First, the cards cost about 20% less than before since they don't need to be coated with plastic. (There's nothing especially unique about the cards themselves, says Groleau, except for the fact that they're now made of 24-pt, 100% recycled newsback versus virgin SBS used previously.) Fox 40 also chose to switch to PETG, which is only slightly cheaper than PVC, but is more widely accepted for recycling. It also contains 100% recycled content.

The cards have an environmental message on the back touting the recyclability, and Groleau says plans call for the blisters to be thermoformed with the SPI-1 code for PET recyclability.

Next, the machine itself is far more productive than the semi-automatic blister sealer that Fox 40 had been using. That unit had been producing about 1ꯠ packs/hr with two people. Today, the Kordpak II produces about 1귔 packs/hr with one person. Since the machine packages cards two-up, that translates into a cycle time of just over 12 cycles/min or about 25 cards/min. Fox 40 expects the labor savings to pay for the machine in two years or less.

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