PACKAGING CONCERNS David Syrett FIMMM, APgkPrf Packaging Consultant - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

BSDA BOTTLED WATER TECHNICAL WORKSOP

David Syrett FIMMM, APgkPrf Packaging Consultant

PACKAGING CONCERNS

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

• Do you have any concerns?
• If so what are they, can we list them?

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

• We are an aging population,

so packaging functionality and ease of use have to be a consideration for not just new bottle and closure designs but perhaps the packaging you use for your products now?

Some general observations for you to consider as a starter

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

• We are all being encouraged to

consider a healthier lifestyle and bottled water has it’s place to play and that encompasses people of all ages not just the younger consumer

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

• Lightweighting has always been a key

factor for bottled water packaging but are we reaching the limit to met consumer functional expectations?

• Be that bottle weight reduction,

500ml @ sub 10g?

• Be that closure size (diameter &

height) reduction?

• You need to think about older people

with potentially reducing manual dexterity

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

• Is bottle to bottle recycling an economic solution or does there need to be support

for other uses of recycled bottles?

http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/environment/recoup-plastic-collection-quantities-slowing-20-10-2016

We need to consider Recycling Rates and the potential impact of deposits

• The subject is becoming more of a political issue and

likely to get increased publicity and prominence?

• Especially where products are used out of home or
• n the go. Along with the collection and sorting of

materials from public areas

• There is a need for standardisation of domestic

refuse collections for recycled materials such as bottles between councils

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

Production lines are getting faster, with increased complexity and more automated with less people on hand to deal with issues

• As line speeds increase the packaging

material requirements, specifications and tolerances are getting tighter

• This means equipment & material suppliers

along with convertors need to work more closely together and in consultation with the bottler to ensure that the development of materials and machinery requirements are aligned

Production lines like the one above are a thing of the past

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

• There is a need to ensure investment in

new equipment and processes involves all parties in collaboration with each

• ther and not one element doing their

job in isolation

• There is a potential risk that packaging

materials required to the specification and tolerances to run on new high speed equipment are not commercially available in the required quantities and timescales

Courtesy of PepsiCo

MELT POLYCONDENSATION Eliminate Glycol

QUENCHING/ CUTTING

OIL WELLS

LIQUID LIQUID

OXIDATION & PURIFICATION

Paraxylene Terephthalic Acid Ethylene Ethylene Oxide Ethylene Glycol Gas Gas Liquid (Antifreeze) Fine Powder

HEAT

Injection Molding PREFORMS PET Chips Monomer

HEAT CATALYST VACUUM

DIRECT ESTERIFICATION ~ Eliminate Water

REFINERY

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

• Before looking at technical matters in a little more

detail you should already be seeing a concern and its potential impact for bottle waters with both commercial and technical implications

• The price of oil is on the

rise, which will impact costs including those of resins & polymers for packaging right through the supply chain to the cost of vehicle deliveries of stock to your customers

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

• When thinking packaging in the widest sense are you just thinking about your

primary container?

• Be that a
• Plastic (PET) Bottle?
• Water Cooler (Polycarbonate) Bottle?
• Glass Bottle?
• Metal Can and / or Bottle?
• Bag in a Box?
• If so you are only considering a part of the packaging jigsaw puzzle that you

need to piece together to ensure it all works together and delivers consumer satisfaction

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

Therefore your answer should be NO

• You need to think about the product packaging as a jigsaw and piece together

the elements under 2 basic sections

• Your Primary Packaging
• Bottle
• Closure
• Label
• Adhesive
• Your Secondary Packaging
• Pack Format & Materials – 6, 12, 24 Pack - Corrugated /

Shrinkfilm?

• Palletisation – Format / Packaging Needs / Stretch wrapping

This can often be driven by your bottle design, think about it early in the design process

• Labelling / Barcoding

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

Let us look at each of the technical options in a little more detail

• Plastic Bottles (let’s specifically think PET)
• What elements do you need to consider or be concerned about?

The Bottle (Design)

1. Where are you in terms of bottle weight for each size, lightest possible or work in progress? 2. Do you have plans for further weight reduction, if so have you considered your target consumer and there requirements or is your decision driven by other factors such as cost?

The Bottle (Technical)

1. Do you know what resin(s) your preforms/bottles are being manufactured from? 2. Do you have tested and approved alternatives? 3. Do you have a notification procedure in place if a change of resin is required from your supplier? 4. If you use colorants in your bottles have you tested and approved them? 5. Do you blow you own PET bottles? If so, outside of routine QC testing, have you completed legally required testing and if so on what frequency?

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

The Closure (Design)

Where are you in terms of closures, thinking of changes too? 1. Design, Diameter, Weight, Use of Push Pull or Flip Closure? 2. Have you consider any impact of change on your consumer?

The Closure (Technical)

1. Do you know what polymers your closures are being manufactured from? 2. Do you have tested and approved alternatives? 3. Do you have a notification procedure in place if a change of polymer is required? 4. Does your polymer contain a slip additive? If so which one and to what level, do you know if the additive was changed if this could have a direct effect on your product? 5. If you use colorants in your closure have you tested and approved them all? 6. What could the impact of change on production equipment be or if considering a new production line is your existing closure manufactured to the standards required by any new machinery?

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

The Label & Adhesive

• Label materials may be down to what your equipment can

handle

• If you are thinking of a new line, if additional capacity to

existing, could there be a impact on the packaging?

• Adhesives often overlooked in terms of packaging
• Do you simply use the supplier recommendation?
• Are you sure that what your are using, recommended
• r not, has no impact on your final product when used
• n a plastic bottle?

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

Plastic Bottles (Large Format for Coolers)

• Really similar concerns and considerations as for a PET bottle but likely to be less

potential options in terms of alternative resins / materials for the bottle and closure along with other elements of packaging

• These bottles are typically returnable so concerns can in included the risk of

contamination had the hands of the customer, cleaning, storage, aging

• Additionally bottles can be polycarbonate, although some are PET then the question of

Bisphenol A may be a further concern to consider, if you use these do you know your status in terms of a BPA concern?

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

What about other primary pack formats? Glass Bottles are considered to be an inert material in terms of packaging a product, but have you considered the closure as part of the overall package?

• That closure could be a Tinplated Steel Crown Cork, a Roll On Pilfer

Proof Aluminium or Plastic Closure

• Each will have it’s own packaging considerations

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

Metal Can and / or Bottle?

• If packaging water into metal cans then compatibility testing with your

can supplier should be a must, otherwise the supplier will not offer you a warranty and thus they are likely to refuse supply.

• You will need to revisit the compatibility testing if there are changes in

your product or you switch source of supply.

• You need to ensure that you know what lacquers are being used and

does your warranty cover both standard and BPANI variants?

• Note
• Earlier this month MEP’

s moved to bring in an EU-wide ban of bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials (FCMs), remember this could have implications on other packaging in addition to can lacquers

https://chemicalwatch.com/50185/meps-call-for-ban-on-bpa-in-food-contact-materials http://www.bpf.co.uk/article/meps-call-for-ban-on-bpa-from-all-food-contact-material-1059.aspx

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

Bag in a Box

Be that for home use or as alternative to large format bottles for coolers then here are a set of fresh concerns and consideration for bottle water manufacture. Be that the choice of bag materials, there are special grades for water but different suppliers may not offer the same options It could the type of fitment system or its materials The outer corrugated packaging which has a greater technical influence on the overall package and its integrity

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

Secondary Packaging

Concerns

• Pack format by bottle size, some work others offer challenges and some

simple do not work. The issue here is that you are working with collations of cylinders that have to fit one standard pallet size of 1200x1000mm

• It can often be found that a diameter for say a 500ml bottle of say

65.5mm will achieve better pallet utilisation as a 12 pack format compared to a 24 pack

• What is secondary packaging material format for the collation pack?
• Shrink-wrap Film, plain or printed?
• A corrugated pad or tray with shrink-wrap film, again the latter could

be plain or printed

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

Secondary Packaging

Concerns

• Collation Pack and Full Pallet Barcode Labelling
• Are the selected formats for each element aligned to customer

requirements?

• Is the print quality of each maintained to the required customer standard,

remember if there is a false read once in the customers system there is a likely chance you will be charged by them for that failure

• Palletisation
• Are your pallet formats stable to work through the supply chain to the

end customer?

• Have you travel tested them?
• What about pallet stretch wrapping?

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

In Summary

There is a need to consider the packaging of your bottle waters in whatever primary packaging material and secondary packaging format as a bit a jigsaw puzzle. It is not simply a questions of finding all the outside edges and joining them together you have to find all the critical pieces of each packaging component and that will help complete the picture. Whilst it does involve you considering who your target consumer should be, however also remembering that others in the wider population could equally be users. We are an aging population which will bring new challenges and concerns in a ever changing market place.

PACKAGING CONCERNS FOR BOTTLED WATERS

THANK YOU

PROFILE

• I am David Syrett and now have my own Packaging Consultancy having retired from Britvic Soft Drinks in

April this year after more than 41 years with the business, where I was a Packaging Development & Project Manager within the Technical Operations Team. Delivering new packaging development projects, supply chain optimisation for packaging materials and supporting the delivery in conjunction with the engineering team the selection, installation and commissioning of new production facilities.

• I was Chair of the BSDA Technical Packaging Committee, a member of the Bottle Waters Committee and a

Board Member of CETIE (French based pre standards organisation) until I retired.

• I am still a member of the BSI Packaging Standard Committee (PKW/0), a member of the International

Society of Beverage and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (The Packaging Society). Contact Details

David Syrett

Mobile: + 44 (0) 7808 098152

dsyrett.pkgconsult@btinternet.com