Südpack wins two German Packaging Awards

The film manufacturer impressed the German Packaging Award’s jury of leading experts with a recyclable bag for cheese ripening in the “new material” category and with a recyclable film concept for blister packaging for solid applications in the “sustainability/recyclability” category.

What the two solutions have in common is that they are both based on recyclable mono-materials and have reduced carbon footprints. Valeska Haux, vice-president of strategic marketing, said, “We were able to also win over the expert jury with a recyclable blister concept for the pharmaceutical industry. After all, Südpack is not just a leader in sustainability with its pioneering packaging concepts in the food industry, but also in the medical goods and pharmaceutical industries.”

With the Tubular Bag PurePE …

The polyethylene-based concept, which has been certified with a recyclability of 96% by the renowned institute cyclos-HTP, is already established on the market.

Compared to conventional film structures, this solution reduces resource consumption by 23% by using a thinner film measuring 30-µm in thickness – all while maintaining the same functionality as well as maximum process and packaging reliability. Südpack has achieved a packaging revolution in the cheese ripening industry by reducing the carbon footprint by -52 g CO2 /m², or 19%.

“These results could indeed be of particular interest to milk processors who operate internationally and who are focusing more and more on sustainable packaging concepts,” emphasised Valeska Haux. At the moment, the film manufacturer is seeing an increasing
demand for PE-based film concepts, because these mono-structures are classified as recyclable in many countries.

Haux added, “With our Tubular Bag PurePE, we have an ideal substitute for conventional PA/PE structures because it maintains the same high requirements for product protection and functionality. This covers the individual barrier properties that are essential for cheese ripening, the maturation process and puncture resistance.”

PharmaGuard – for added sustainability when packaging solid applications, Südpack Medica’s PP-based and recyclable film concept for blister packaging has also already been launched on the market. The base and lidding films produced in a coextrusion process feature characteristics, including high transparency and barrier functionality. “What is worth particular mention is the excellent water vapour barrier, thanks to having PP as the base material,” added Valeska Haux. The perfectly matched films guarantee top sealing performance, which is reflected by maximum process reliability and packaging quality.

A life cycle assessment conducted by Sphera has proven that the packaging concept is associated with a greatly reduced climate impact (in CO2-eq) of up to 47% as well as lower energy and water consumption compared to other commonly used PVC/PVdC and aluminium blister solutions.

Recognition

PharmaGuard impressed the jury “with its use of PP as a successful alternative to conventional, non-recyclable blister packaging, making it a recyclable packaging solution. The shaping of the cavities of the blister and the balanced PP-based covering film, which showed a clear functionality, are particularly noteworthy in this development.”

The jury’s statement for the Tubular Bag PurePE concept concluded that it “succeeded in converting an existing PA/PE packaging into a mono-solution through successfully selecting and combining innovative granulates, whilst at the same time ensuring the functional barrier for cheese ripening as well as puncture resistance required for this product. On top of this, the material reduction of 23% compared to conventional cheese  maturing bags was impressive.”