Weekly Roundup: ALDI announces 2025 sustainability goals

05 Apr 2019 --- This week in packaging, ALDI became the latest supermarket chain to introduce ambitious sustainability goals. By 2025, 100 percent of ALDI packaging, including plastic packaging, will be reusable, recyclable or compostable. A supermarket taking a different approach is Rimping in Thailand. It has ditched plastic for banana leaves to package its fruit and vegetable products. Also this week, Argentine sex toy company Tulipán hit the headlines with the development of a functional condom box which requires two consenting parties to open it.

In brief: Supermarket sustainability
ALDI announced plans to ensure all of its packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. The sustainability goals also include a minimum 15 percent reduction of packaging material across all ALDI-exclusive products by 2025; the inclusion of a How2Recycle label on all ALDI-exclusive consumable packaging by 2020; and the implementation of an initiative to make private-label product packaging easier for customers to reuse by 2020. ALDI has the ability to influence how its products are sourced, produced and brought to shelves because more than 90 percent of its range is ALDI-exclusive. These new goals are an extension of the company’s existing sustainability initiatives. For more than four decades, ALDI US has never offered single-use plastic grocery bags, and shoppers have brought their reusable bags. By company estimates, this progressive business decision has helped keep approximately 15 billion single-use plastic bags out of landfills and oceans.

Rimping's banana leaves packaging. Source: Perfect Homes Chiangmai.Thai supermarket chain Rimping introduced banana leaf packaging for its fruit and vegetable products in a novel approach to minimizing single-use plastic use. The banana leaf is secured around the product with a flexible piece of bamboo. As the banana leaves are readily available in tropical regions of the world, they also offer a more cost-effective alternative to plastic packaging. Some plastic is still used in the label wraps. Rimping also offers cloth bags on deposit and reused cardboard boxes to pack groceries.

In brief: Innovative launches
Argentine sex toy company Tulipán announced a new condom packaging method that requires two consenting parties to open it. There are four buttons on the box, positioned in such a way that four hands are needed to access the product inside. Tulipán has begun handing out free samples at bars and events in Buenos Aires, with the product expected to go to market later this year.

WaveGrip launched WaveGrip Sleek: its latest carrier solution for slim, sleek style cans. At less than 2.25g per six-pack carrier, it offers significant packaging material savings and environmental advantages compared to standard six-pack rings, rigid plastic handles and traditional cardboard carriers. Each WaveGrip Sleek 6-pack carrier measures 171mm x 117mm, with the aperture designed for perfect fitting to each can during application. Due to the body of the sleek cans being smaller, the apertures are closer together, with the pitch adapted to ensure a suitable fit while providing enhanced strength and durability. It can be applied across the range of WaveGrip applicators, which are easily integrated by WaveGrip’s OEM partners into production lines by brewers and beverage manufacturers.WaveGrip Sleek carrier solution for slim cans.

Tri-Star Packaging has enhanced its stackable pot range with the addition of the 100 percent recyclable Spartan pot. Delivering on Tri-Star Packaging’s commitment to increase the sustainability of its packaging, the new Spartan pots are made from 85 percent premium, high-clarity UK-sourced rPET, made almost completely from recycled plastic bottles. The crystal-clear rPET material offers optimum on-shelf product visibility and is much more environmentally friendly than most competitor products. The more sustainable rPET material is made from plastic that has already been used, sorted, cleaned and transformed for reuse instead of going to waste. The new pot is also heat-sealable and available with different lidding options, which can eliminate leakage, promote longer shelf-life and reduce expensive waste.

In brief: New technologies
GEA launched a high-speed vertical bagger that increases production efficiency and reduces breakage of fragile candies for the UK confectionery and bakery sectors. After unveiling the SmartPacker CX250-S ahead of the ProSweets exhibition in Cologne in January, the packaging machinery specialist says this latest in vertical form-fill-seal packaging (VFFS) equipment builds on the success of its predecessors by incorporating a range of new integrated features that further improve pack presentation, offer zero downtime and reduce product and film waste. Capable of speeds up to 250 pillow bags per minute, SmartPacker’s new sealing jaws are almost twice as strong as the previous model and the low-drop design between weigher and the jaw-head, provides even greater accuracy, minimizing the chance of damage to brittle confectionery and snacks.

Tri-Star Packaging’s new Spartan pots, made from 85 percent rPET.Also in machinery, Emerson introduced the Aventics AF2 pneumatic systems flow sensor which monitors energy losses, helping to prevent machine breakdowns and costs associated with excessive air consumption. The sensor continuously monitors the air consumption in pneumatic systems enabling compliance with the Energy Management standard DIN ISO 50001. An Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display on the AF2 provides local indication of all relevant operating and diagnostic data. The flow sensor is available as a NO (normally open) and NC (normally closed) version. Analog outputs can be switched with a signal from 4 to 20 mA and these signals can be interpreted directly by many controllers.

Xeikon announced its digital printing solution for pouches in the food, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Pouches can be complex to manufacture because of the flexible nature of their multi-layers. Xeikon is helping to simplify the overall process to provide a fast turnaround solution. By first digitally printing the text and graphics on a thermal laminate, the outside layer of the pouch is prepared and ready for the next steps. A variety of different layers is then constructed by lamination with a series of barriers for protection before the pouch is finally put together in the manufacturing process. Xeikon’s printer has the ability to print variable data information in both single and full color.

By Joshua Poole