Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Light shines on carded blister

Netherlands-based Philips Lighting Co. packages its Marathon brand of nonincandescent household bulbs to the American market in a carded pack that contains a recycled, amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET) blister set in an outer card. Changing from solid unbleached sulfate board to recycled board helped make an ecologically friendly, cost-saving package.

January 31, 2001

Sustainable Packaging: Page 566

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Organic labeling finalized

It took 10 years, but in December 2000 the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture published its official definition of “organic” and established rules for both raw and processed foods that bear the USDA Organic seal.

January 31, 2001

Closures

Dialing into new packaging

Variotec Innovative Packaging Systems (Kaufbeuren, Germany) has launched a new dispensing concept called Dialpack. First used in Germany in 1999 for Variotec’s own Variosun brand sunscreen, the Dialpack system allows consumers to select their preferred level of SPF protection between every application. A dial on the front panel of the polypropylene “bottle” can be adjusted to meet specific sunscreen needs.

January 31, 2001

Coding, Printing & Labeling

A 'greener' way to decorate

VOSS of Oslo, Norway, is the first beverage plant licensee of RevTech’s Envirogluv™ glass decorating technology. In fact, it’s the first application of the technology used by a packager other than Revlon, RevTech’s former parent company, which has used it on glass containers of nail polish and makeup for several years.

January 31, 2001

Consumer packaged goods

Where packaging meets logistics, Nordic style

Edited copies of presentations at a Danish symposium are bound into a 106-page volume that largely examines transit packaging and how it fits into a company’s logistics plan.

January 31, 2001

Protective/transport packaging

SeaShell drives away damage

Disk drive manufacturer Seagate reduces damage by 60% and saves more than $4 million per year in freight and materials costs by switching to a thermoformed ‘SeaShell’ clamshell.

January 31, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

Correctional facility bars wasted food, materials

A specially developed film applied to reusable trays on a heat-shrink machine helps the Milwaukee County House of Correction provide inmates with a tamper-evident package that reduces wasted food and packaging materials.

January 31, 2001

Additives, coatings & inks

Molding process

Developed by Matrix Packaging (Lancaster, NY), multilayer extrusion blow molding process creates optical effects such as the anodized and soft-touch look in plastic bottles.

December 31, 2000

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

P&G moisturizer sold in RPET

A clear clamshell made of recycled polyethylene terephthalate helps showcase the newest Oil of Olay® moisturizer from Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. Thermoformed by Creative Forming (Ripon, WI), the clamshell recently earned an award in the Roll-fed/Consumer Housewares category in the 11th annual thermoforming competition sponsored by the Society of Plastics Engineers.

December 31, 2000

Flexibles

Bags are a natural for organic cereals

In May, 2000, Barbara’s Bakery, a Petaluma, CA-based natural foods maker, began using oriented polypropylene “eco” bags to sell family-sized packages of its Organic Shredded Oats and Organic Puffins cereals.

December 31, 2000

Labels

Over-the-top effort solves TE challenges

Arm & Hammer’s p-s TE label for its new HDPE shaker bottle of baking soda uses two types of adhesives. The duo performs tamper-evidence while it meets regulatory requirements for foods.

December 31, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Phoenix Contact Inc: Quick-connection system

Quickon, from Phoenix Contact (Harrisburg, PA), is a quick-connection system designed for applications in which round cables with a small number of wires must be connected efficiently and quickly.

November 30, 2000

Flexibles

Sporty pouch will be a U.S. first

from InterBev 2000: Following more than two years of development, Hydrade Beverage Co., Dallas, TX, unveiled in New Orleans its 500-mL stand-up pouch for the sports drink category. Intended for on-the-go use, the pouch has a laminated PET/foil/PET/PE structure and a resealable fitment for convenience. Sourced and contract filled overseas, it will debut in four varieties in the U.S. in early 2001.

November 30, 2000