Elopak bids adieu to screw caps in Pure-Pak modernization

17 Jun 2020 --- Elopak has modernized its famed Pure-Pak carton with the launch of Pure-Pak Imagine in what the company calls its “most environmentally-friendly carton to date.” The new carton swaps the conventional plastic screw cap for a fold-back, top fin opening, which reduces the total plastic content by 46 percent. Pure-Pak cartons are made from renewable Natural Brown Board and a wood-based bioplastic barrier, using an estimated ten times less plastic than standard PET bottles.

“Consumers are increasingly making environmentally conscious decisions regarding their purchases, boosting the demand for sustainable packaging. Different packaging options have varying environmental footprints, meaning the choice of packaging we make is an important one,” Patrick Verhelst, Chief Marketing Officer at Elopak, tells PackagingInsights.

The Pure-Pak Imagine launch is the result of R&D investment in further plastic-reducing solutions to its existing Pure-Pak portfolio, he continues. “Elopak already offers CarbonNeutral cartons made from 100 procent renewable raw materials that are also recyclable. In 2018, Elopak launched Pure-Pak Natural Brown Board cartons. These cartons are 100 percent forest-based and have a lower CO2 footprint due to reduced wood consumption and the absence of bleaching chemicals from the process.”

Elopak's standard Pure-Pak cartons include a plastic-based screw top.“[Pure-Pak Imagine] builds on the success of Elopak’s Pure-Pak cartons with Natural Brown Board, which were very quickly adopted by brands such as Arla Foods, Thise Mejeri in Denmark, Almmilch from Erlebnis Sinnerei Zillertal in Austria, and Zumosol in Spain,” Verhelst adds. Pure-Pak Imagine is currently available for the fresh dairy category within the European market.

Convenience demands re-examined
To store the beverage for later use, the carton has to be placed in an upright position. A traditional screw cap circumvents this issue, but ardent calls for eco-conscious food packaging has led Elopak to rethink how to address consumer convenience needs and ultimately remove the plastic cap and ultimately remove the plastic cap.

“Pure-Pak cartons are designed with the environment, food safety and convenience front of mind. The new Pure-Pak Imagine carton is designed with a new easy-open feature. Its unique top fin feature helps guide consumers on how to open the carton and the easy-to-pour feature adds to the modern functionality,” Verhelst explains.

Elopak also underscores that its newly shaped top fin functions as a further point of product differentiation and communication tool. This taps into “The Language of Environmental Sustainability,” Innova Market Insights’ top packaging trend for 2020, as well as “Storytelling: Winning with Words,” the market researcher’s number one food and beverage trend for this year.

Brands are increasingly acknowledging the environmental attributes of packaging as a key selling proposition of consumer packaged goods. Moreover, product packaging has become increasingly integral to brand-consumer relationships.

The new carton forgoes the conventional plastic screw cap, which reduces the total plastic content by 46 percent.Accordingly, brands big and small are more transparent and informative about their packaging’s carbon footprint, end of life disposal, plastic-free and renewable material credentials and using more detailed and noticeable on-pack messaging to convey this.

In this space, Elopak refers to a 2015/16 study by the IFEU Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg when stating that beverage cartons already have the lowest carbon footprint among liquid food packaging today. The lifecycle assessment comparing the carbon emissions for one liter of fresh milk packaging showed cartons to be 83 percent more climate-friendly than PET and 77 percent better than reusable glass bottles.

Keeping the sustainability pressure on
When it comes to transportation, unfilled Pure-Pak cartons are shipped flat to customers, enabling more efficient transport and distribution with high pallet utilization. However, Elopak looks both to the short and the long-term for corporate environmental sustainability solutions.

Besides reducing the plastic content of its beverage cartons, all Elopak’s Pure-Pak cartons are made with FSC-certified wood. The supplier uses 100 percent renewable energy for carton production and is working toward a 55 percent reduction of internal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, as well as a 16 percent reduction in emissions across the value chain by 2030.

By Anni Schleicher

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