Amcor supplies Mediacor with refillable pouch for cleaning products

Amcor has equipped Mediacor, a Slovenia-based home care and food manufacturer, with a recyclable and refillable stand-up pouch for its cleaning care brand, Nana. 

Amcor’s AmPrima 2-Liter Refill Pouch reduces the amount of plastic used to package two liters of Nana products by 80%, according to the packaging company. 

“The refill pouch is lighter than the rigid option and both can be recycled where the streams exist. It is monomaterial and recyclable in countries where the PE stream exists,” Geoffrey Gendebien, marketing manager for Home and Personal Care at Amcor, tells Packaging Insights.

“Both the rigid bottles and our pouches for home care can incorporate PCR to further reduce environmental impact.”

The packaging solution is also said to have a 64% lower carbon footprint compared to two blow-molded one-liter PET bottles. 

Trivko Matovic, head of sales and marketing at Mediacor, says: “It is not only what is in the product that matters, but also what it is packaged in. From the very beginning, we have used 100% recycled PET bottles, saving raw materials that would otherwise be extracted from nature anew every year.”

Designed for durability

The Nana two-liter pouch is designed to be lightweight, durable, leak-resistant, and drop-proof. Gendebien highlights that the size of the pouch was a production challenge. 

“We had a range up to 1.5 L and reaching 2 L of capacity means that the pouch has to augment its mechanical performance. Resisting the drop test and standing tall when half empty, are two important challenges we had to overcome,” he says. 

“Keeping the product inside safe and protecting shelf life were parameters we considered when developing the structure.” 

The packaging is recycle-ready in Italy, Germany, and Austria and can incorporate PCR content, which aligns with EU PPWR regulations. 

Gendebien concludes: “We plan to scale as the home care market and some personal care segments are in need of refill pouches which can be recycled locally. This drives plastic consumption way down versus the rigid alternative.”

Recently, Elopak LCA found that its D-PAK carton offers a lower environmental impact than low-density polyethylene pouches. Meanwhile, Hyléance Beauté equipped 900 care with its refillable Pure Roll-on bottle for the company’s deodorant.