Huhtamaki launches polyolefin-based barrier laminate for recyclable shampoo sachets

08 Nov 2019 --- In a bid to address rising environmental concerns, Huhtamaki Flexible Packaging has introduced a recyclable, polyolefin-based barrier flexible packaging solution for shampoo sachets. A polyolefin-based barrier laminate for shampoo sachets is already commercially available while solutions for coffee, detergent, jams, ketchup, soaps and dry soups have passed trials and are ready for wider market adoption.

“Sachets use much less weight of packaging to pack the same amount of product, resulting in a lower carbon footprint. In many developing markets, sachets are used to pack shampoo as well as several other products to make products more affordable to a large group of customers to whom the price point of a whole bottle may be too high,” Ruturaj Kamthekar, Product Development Director tells PackagingInsights. He emphasizes that the company’s initial driver was therefore economic, rather than environmental.

Kamthekar tells PackagingInsights that the shampoo sachets are recyclable using mechanical and chemical recycling as well as pyrolysis processes.“Achieving a commercially feasible recyclable solution required a significant amount of R&D,” says Ashwini Singh, Associate Vice President of Innovation and Product Development at Huhtamaki India.

The pressure was on this recyclable solution to perform as well as traditional laminates on the company’s existing packaging machinery. “To reach the ideal solution, we collaborated with different teams in the packaging value chain, as well as with our customers. Time and technical resources were invested to ensure that our customers’ line efficiency is not compromised when changing to a recyclable material,” Singh continues.

Consumer convenience is also an important element in any functional packaging solution. The Huhtamaki R&D team added an easy-tear feature to the shampoo laminate to facilitate its opening. The shampoo sachets are already available on the market in India and the company is currently developing similar solutions with customers in other regions as well, states Kamthekar.

Research challenges
Kamthekar affirms that the R&D had to overcome two main challenges: establishing a comparable barrier to traditional laminates and guaranteeing their performance parameters.

Regarding the creation phase, Kamthekar says that this hurdle was bested in partnership with its suppliers. “We developed special films which provide equal or better barrier values to ensure product stability over the intended shelf life.”

To ensure that recyclable laminates run on similar performance parameters as traditional laminates on customers’ machines, Huhtamaki collaborated with its customers to guarantee that the new laminates run at same efficiency levels. We finetuned the running parameters on customer lines, says Kamthekar.

Blueloop platform
Previously, Huhtamaki’s R&D team in India established fully recyclable flexible packaging solutions for several product categories under the blueloop platform.

“The blueloop platform was made in order to help our customers bring recyclable solutions to the market and make them more circular. We engage with our customers to move away from PVT solutions and closer to mono-material solutions,” Michael Hahl, Director of Sustainability at Huhtamaki Flexibles, told PackagingInsights from the showfloor of CPhI, hosted in Frankfurt, Germany this week.

Huhtamaki India is ready to broaden and has already tested a range of sustainable packaging solutions for different applications under the Huhtamaki blueloop platform. Hahl notes that the company already offers recyclable solutions in tube form as well as the Huhtamaki PushTab, which is a blister replacement pack made out of film. These innovations also fall into the mono-material and PVC and PVD replacing categories.

In terms of packaging recyclability, Hahl considers the company’s product portfolio as an opportunity. “Closing the loop makes a lot of sense and provides consumer convenience. Closed loop solutions are opportunities in the recycling systems but also opportunities to engage with customers,” he concludes.

By Anni Schleicher, with additional reporting by Laxmi Haigh

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