Supply chain sustainability: Switch to Bag-in-box system slashes dairy company’s plastic use

30 Aug 2019 --- Switching from buckets to flexible bags from Rapak – part of DS Smith’s Plastics Division – has saved a large European dairy company 83 percent in annual plastic usage. The dairy company noted that the high levels of waste generated from its typical polypropylene (PP) bucket packaging for its soft cheese were not in line with the environmental values of itself and its customers. As cheese packaging is traditionally not recyclable due to high rates of contamination, the Bag-in-Box technology offers a more sustainable solution for the supply chain.

The aseptic Bag-in-Box technology was developed more than 30 years ago to cater to the needs of the food industry, Anastasia Khodakova, Global Marketing Director, Flexible Packaging, DS Smith Plastics Division, tells PackagingInsights. “The objective was to offer extended product shelf life and more secure transfer of processed ingredients, especially for sensitive products with neutral PH areas such as milk. The flexible inner bag was designed to be air-tight, thus ensuring minimal contact with air and drastically reducing the risk of contamination. DS Smith Rapak also developed a patented double seal Intasept technology that offered the highest levels of sterility for aseptic filling of Bag-in-Box.”

Rapak designed a 60 gram flexible low-density polyethylene(LDPE) bag solution for the dairy company. Additionally, returnable plastic trays were purchased to carry and transport the bags from the dairy to the customer. Once with the customer, they simply cut the bag open, remove the product and place the empty bag in the bin.

Although the solution is not recyclable, it still delivers tangible sustainable benefits. On an annual scale, the new solution reduces plastic waste by 83 percent and reduces plastic use by 300 gram per unit or from 252 metric tons to 42 metric tons annually, notes Rapak.

Looking to the future, Khodakova notes that Rapak is committed to exploring how to make the solution recyclable and continues to work with flexible packaging industry associations.

“Even the most sustainable plastic packaging still has a room for improvement, and Rapak is strongly committed to working towards tackling the main challenges related to recycling. Investment in film and laminate recycling has been very low in the past and most recycling plants today still do not have the capabilities to process metalized flexible bags,” she says.

Bag-in-Box applications
DS Smith’s flexible packaging solutions seek to enable customers to reduce their total plastic footprint across a wide range of industries, and Rapak continues to advocate for high-quality recycling and early segregation of recyclables.

“Bag-in-Box is perfectly suited to protect a large range of liquids such as beverages, liquid food, industrial chemicals and household chemicals. It is widely used in retail, food service and B2B channels due to its logistics and sustainability benefits, as well as the extended shelf life that reduces product waste,” says Khodakova.

“In Rapak’s view, the job of the packaging industry now is to switch to more sustainable options that can deliver both financial and environmental benefits in the supply chain through source reduction, lighter weight and recyclability.”

Rapak has worked with a range of company’s in the industry. In January, family-owned Bavarian mustard producers Mari-Senf launched a new Bag-in-Box dispensing system with “huge plastic waste reduction potential,” designed by DS Smith’s UK Rapak division in collaboration with Swedish dispensing specialists Asept. 

By Laxmi Haigh