Mark J. Kirwan Paper and Paperboard Packaging Technology
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The main benefits of aseptic packaging are:
•
food safety – harmful bacteria and other microbiological contaminants are
eliminated from liquid food and drinks
•
no refrigeration necessary – cost and environmental impact reduced
•
convenient – lightweight, shatterproof and convenient for distribution
•
better taste and nutrition – retains natural taste and colour, less damage to
heat-sensitive constituents, such as vitamins, and reduced use of chemical
preservatives
•
longer product shelf life.
13.7 Post-packaging sterilisation
Tetra Pak launched a retortable brick-shaped carton known as Tetra Recart in
2001 (Packaging, 2001). The material is a 6-layer laminate including paperboard,
aluminium foil and polyolefin, i.e. polypropylene, with heat sealing adequate to
withstand retorting at temperatures around 130 °C.
This package is an alternative to the heat-processed can and glass jar. It is suitable
for the packaging of a wide range of foods, such as vegetables, fruit, soups, ready
meals, sauces, pastas, salsas and pet food.
Aseptic filling of pureed tomatoes in cartons
UHT heating: 125° for about 4 min.* (HTST High Temperature – Short Time)
*Temperature and duration depend on the product
Packaging Packaging Packaging Packaging Packaging
filled pack
aseptic
sealing
aseptic
filling
sterilisationshaping
Pulping
Mixing
HTST
Figure 13.25 Aseptic filling of pureed tomatoes in cartons. (Reproduced, with permission, from SIG
Combibloc.)
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A form, fill, seal machine erects cartons from flat blanks and, after filling, seals
the bottom. This machine is capable of handling 24 000 cartons per hour, i.e. simi-
lar to that of a modern canning line.
The main benefits are:
•
food safety – harmful bacteria and other microbiological contaminants are
destroyed in the retorting process
•
long shelf life comparable with processed food cans and glass jars
•
no refrigeration necessary – cost and environmental impact reduced
•
convenient to handle and open, lightweight and shatterproof
•
more efficient distribution, storage and merchandising compared with
cylindrical cans and glass jars.
13.8 Transit packaging
The needs of transit packaging, storage and merchandising at the point of purchase
have all been addressed by the suppliers of liquid-packaging materials. Packs are
collated or grouped for sleeving, placing in trays, and shrink or stretch wrapping.
Special packaging formats are used for boxing the tetrahedral, wedge and pouch-
shaped packs. Plastic crates have been designed which also serve as merchandising
units at the point of purchase. Figure 13.26 shows three presentations of stackable
distribution packs.
These packs are designed for efficient stacking, i.e. best use of the pallet
volume and with alternate rows having a different pattern to give pallet stability
(Fig. 13.27).
For the large retail groups selling large volumes of products in paperboard-based
liquid packaging, the usual package for distribution is the roll container as illustrated
in Figure 13.28.
Delivery lorries have been designed to handle crates and facilitate loading/
unloading.
Figure 13.26 Distribution packs. (Reproduced, with permission, from Tetra Pak.)
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13.9 Applications
The main application area in volume terms is for the packaging of dairy products,
such as milk and cream, and utilising both refrigerated non-aseptic and aseptic
packaging. This has been extended to a wide range of juices. Wine and mineral
water have been packed in liquid cartons. Ice lollies are packed in Tetra Classic
and Tetra Classic Aseptic packaging.
Figure 13.27 Efficient palletisation in use of space and stability of the pallet. (Reproduced, with
permission, from Tetra Pak.)
Figure 13.28 Roll cage container for use in distribution and at point of purchase. (Reproduced, with
permission, from Tetra Pak.)
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Other examples are as follows:
•
Cooking oil in 1.5 l Pure-Pak
®
(Packmark, 2000a).
•
Liquid egg range of products in Pure-Pak
®
(Paperboard, 2000).
•
New Covent Garden Soup Co. in 2l cartons (Packmark, 2000b). (There are
many examples of soup cartons in smaller sizes.)
•
In the non-food area, softener products used in washing clothes have been
packed in cartons as a refill pack for plastic containers.
•
Gable top cartons can be used for dry food. For example, Tetra Rex, 750g in
2-litre cartons, has been used to launch a range of high fruit content muesli
recipes by Capespan International, under the Fyffes, Cape and Outspan
brand names printed on six colours litho (Packaging, 2003). Freeze-dried
vegetables have been packed in large Pure-Pak
®
cartons for the catering and
institutional markets.
13.10 Environmental issues
The liquid-food packaging industry has invested much effort into promoting the
environmental benefits of liquid-packaging cartons through industry-wide associ-
ations. In general, this has concentrated on aspects which apply to paper and
paperboard packaging as a whole, and as such will not be discussed here.
Environmental issues which are specific to this form of packaging concern are
discussed in the following sections.
13.10.1 Resource reduction
The material used in beverage cartons has been reduced by 21% since 1970
(www.drinkscartons.com/docs/packaging10.htm). This has been made possible by
new carton design and use of CTMP (SIG Combibloc).
An average beverage carton weighs 28 g, which is 3% of the total pack weight
in the case of milk and juice (www.drinks.com/doc/packaging10.htm). (A 1-pint
glass milk bottle in UK weighed approximately 220 g, which is roughly 26% of
the total pack weight.) On the journey to the filler’s plant, 600 000 empty 1-litre
beverage cartons fit into one truck. The same number of glass milk bottles would
require the use of 22 trucks (www.drinks.com/docs/packaging4.htm).
After filling, beverage cartons are easily stacked and take up less space. The
overall effect in transportation is significant in reducing emissions of nitrogen
oxides, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. In connection with this subject,
a US report stated that the lightweight of the carton and the rectangular shape
meant that over 50% more cartons could be packed on a truck compared with
comparable glass containers (Clydesdale, 1990).
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13.10.2 Life cycle assessment
A major debate has taken place in Germany about the environment comparison
between packaging, such as glass, which is recovered and reused and one-trip
packaging, such as the beverage carton. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in 1993
had failed to reach a definite conclusion on this comparison and another was
commissioned at the Fraunhofer Institute in 1999 to be undertaken in accordance
with ISO14040 (Fraunhofer, 1999).
The report was submitted to an international panel for review (Critical review,
1999) and the conclusion was that there was ‘No clear and unambiguous pre-
ference for non-reusable or reusable packaging’. The glass bottle came out better
in respect of:
•
lower generation of municipal waste
•
lower water consumption
•
lower total-energy consumption.
The beverage carton was superior in terms of:
•
lower greenhouse effect
•
less hazardous waste
•
lower use of mineral resources
•
lower use of non-renewable energy
•
lower acidification of the environment
•
lower eutrophication of the environment.
A further LCA study was set up by the German Federal Environment Agency
(Umweltbundesamt) and was carried out by Prognos, IFEU Institute, GVM +
Packforce. Title: Ökobilanz Getränkeverpackungen für alkoholfreie Getränke und
Wein. Phase I published in August 2000. Phase II published in October 2002
(Texte 51/02, ISSN 0722–186X, Forschungsbericht 103 50 504). This is available
at www.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info-daten/daten/bil.htm (SIG, 2004).
13.10.3 Recovery and recycling
Of the liquid food and beverage cartons placed on the EU market in 2002, 27%
were recycled and 29% were used in energy-to-waste plants (ACE, 2004).
The fibre recovered from paper-based liquid packaging is of high quality
and therefore is useful to maintain the quantity and quality of recovered fibre.
Usually the separated plastic material which is separated is used for energy
recovery.
The UK has been slow in seeking to recover beverage cartons from mixed
paper waste. Technology is, however, available to segregate different qualities of
waste paper. The alternative, i.e. to segregate different types of household waste at
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source with kerbside collection, is being encouraged and a plant at a paper mill
became fully operational in November 2003 in UK with the capacity to recycle
20% of the UK’s used liquid food and beverage cartons (LFCMA, 2003).
Corenso, a mill (joint ownership of StoraEnso and UPM-Kymmene), which
makes the base papers for reel cores, at Varkaus in Finland has commissioned
a plant built by Foster Wheeler, which recovers aluminium in addition to fibre and
plastic materials. A gasifier turns the flammable plastic material into gas which
fuels a gas boiler. The heat generated is equivalent to burning 16500 tonnes of fuel
oil per annum. Ash containing aluminium is collected in oxygen-free conditions –
this is cast into blocks and sent to an aluminium foil production plant (Metal, 1999;
Usine Nouv, 2001).
13.11 Systems approach
Today, there are many examples of a total system approach involving one packaging
company acting in partnership with manufacturers, particularly in the food industry, in
developing, installing and maintaining the whole system from the point of packaging
to the point of sale.
In the case of liquid packaging, this has tended to go one step further and
includes the food processing. This is inevitable if, as with aseptic packaging, the
processing and packaging is inevitably closely integrated. This has led to liquid
packaging manufacturers being closely associated with food processing, and this
in turn has led to packaging solutions which are highly cost effective.
In another way, the manufacturers of liquid packaging have also gone further
than most packaging manufacturers in studying and getting involved with solutions
for the logistics of distribution from the end of the packing line to the point of sale
at the supermarket. This has resulted in maintaining, developing and expanding
liquid packaging in paperboard-based packaging.
Solutions have been developed with the worldwide market bearing in mind the
serious wastage of food which occurs in the developing world as a result of the
lack of suitable technology that can be adapted to local needs.
References
ACE, 2004, Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, as on 2 March 2004 at
www.drinkscartons.com/docs/recycling_euro.htm.
Asepticpackaging, 1989, Details at the website of the Aseptic Packaging Council at www.aseptic.org.
Asepticpackaging, 2000, Details at the website of the Aseptic Packaging Council at http://www.aseptic. org/
presidential_award.html and also at http://www.tetrapak.ca/awards_presidential.asp.
Clydesdale, F., 1990, Science Notes, University of Massachusetts at Amhurst, 26 September.
Corrugated, 2002, Corrugated Carton Bulletin, vol. 27, no. 7–8, July–August, p. 2.
Critical review, 1999 (see Fraunhofer, 1999), TNO Institut Delft (NL), EMPA Sankt Gallen (CH),
Bayer Leverkusen (D) + Umweltbundesamt Berli (D).
Environ, G.W., 1996, Excellence, June, pp. 49–51.
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Fraunhofer, 1999, ‘Ökobilanzen für die Verpackungssysteme Kartonerpackung (Giebel), Cartonverpackung
(Block) und Mehrwegglasflasche mit 1 Füllvolumen zur Verpackung und Distribution von
Frischmilch’ (in German), Jürgen Bez et al., Fraunhofer Institute, March.
INSEAD, 2003, ‘Tetra Pak – High Tech & Entrepreneurial Strategy’, INSEAD, June, http://faculty.
insead.fr/adner/PREVIOUS/projects-May03/Tetra%20Pak.pdf.
Krook, M. & Hedenqvist, M., 2001, 8th European polymers, films, laminations and extrusion coatings
conference, Barcelona, Spain, TAPPI Press, Atlanta, USA.
Leander, L., 1996, Tetra Pak – A Vision Becomes Reality, Tetra Pak International S.A., Pully, Switzerland.
LFCMA, 2003, Liquid Food Carton Manufacturers Association, as on 2 March 2004. Visit www.
drinkscartons.com.
Metal, 1999, American Metal Market, E. Warden, 15 September.
Packaging, 2000, Packaging News, May, p. 2.
Packaging, 2001, ‘New Tetra Pak carton challenges food cans’, Hilary Ayshford, Packaging Magazine,
16 May 2001.
Packaging, 2002, ‘Ecolean makes global progress’, Packaging Magazine, 17 June 2002.
Packaging, 2003, Packaging Magazine, vol. 6, no. 1, 9 January, p. 3.
Packmark, 2000a, Packmarknarden Nord, no. 17, November.
Packmark, 2000b, Packmarknaden Nord, no. 14, September, p. 27.
Paperboard, 2000, Paperboard Packaging, vol. 85, no. 7, July.
Paperboard, 2001, Paperboard Packaging, vol. 86, no. 4, April, pp. 26, 28, 30.
Robertson, G.L., 2002, The paper beverage carton: Past and future, Food Technology, vol. 56, no. 7.
SIG, 2004, This information was provided by Dr Isabella Classen, SIG Combibloc, in a private
communication.
SPCI, 2002, 7th International conference on new available technologies, Stockholm, Sweden, SPCI
Swedish Association of Pulp and Paper Engineers, 4–6 June.
Tampere, 2000, Barrier coatings in packaging conference, Tampere University of Technology, June.
TAPPI, 2001, R. Edwards, ‘Polypropylene extrusion coating’, from proceedings of 2001 Polymers,
laminations and coatings conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 26–30 August, TAPPI Press.
Tucker, 2003, Food Packaging Technology, chapter on ‘Food biodegradation and methods of preservation’,
Blackwell Publishing 2003, pp. 47–51.
Usine Nouv, 2001, Usine Nouveau, no. 2795, 4 October, pp. 66–67.
Further reading
Muthwill, F., 1996, ‘Continuous aseptic packaging of liquid foodstuffs using a complex combination of
paper, polyethylene and aluminium’, Bureau, G. & Multon, J.-L. (eds), Food Packaging
Technology, published by John Wiley & Sons, New York, Cambridge, pp. 51–64.
Paine, F.A. & Paine, H.Y., 1993, ‘Aseptic packaging using flexible materials’, Handbook of Food
Packaging, Second Edition, published by Blackie Academic & Professional Publishing, London,
Glasgow, New York, Tokyo, Melbourne, Madras, pp. 278–284.
Websites
Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) at www.drinkscartons.com.
Aseptic Packaging Council (US) at www.aseptic.org.
DuPont at www.dupont.com/packaging.
Elopak at www.elopak.com.
SIG Combibloc at www.sigcombibloc.com.
Tetra Pak at www.tetrapak.com.
14 Moulded pulp packaging
Chris Hogarth
14.1 Introduction
Amongst the largest volume of mass-produced, moulded pulp packages in Europe
and North America are egg trays, Figure 14.1, instantly recognisable by consum-
ers, and egg boxes.
As the name implies, this type of packaging is made from pulp which is
moulded into a shape designed to hold and protect the product to be packed.
The primary function of moulded pulp packaging is to provide impact protection
against breakage, chipping, etc. This is achieved in the design, which locates and
stabilises the product. The structural design can also provide a degree of springiness
and therefore shock amelioration.
14.2 Applications
Moulded pulp packaging includes the following:
•
trays – such as those for eggs, Figure 14.1, fruits, ampoules and vials and also
punnet-style trays with handles for mushrooms. Top and bottom trays are
used to locate and protect bottles and jars, Figure 14.2.
•
clam-shell–style containers in which the product is enclosed as for eggs or
bottles (Fig. 14.5)
•
corner or edge protectors for ceramics, radiators and furniture (Fig. 14.6)
Figure 14.1 Egg trays.
Paper and Paperboard Packaging Technology
Edited by Mark J. Kirwan
Copyright © 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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•
locating fitments to assist the packaging of non-rectangular products, for
example elliptically shaped chocolate boxes, where several products are
packed in a corrugated box container for distribution.
Recent new applications of moulded pulp packaging include trays for the location
of collapsible tubes, e.g. in foods and toiletries, and for electronic products
Figure 14.2 Bottle protection with top and bottom fitments.
Figure 14.3 Typical tray shapes.
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Figure 14.4 Complete kit of shower fittings.
Figure 14.5 Glass bottle protection suitable for postage.