Inside the box innovation

13 July 2015



Inside the box innovation


Inside the box innovation

According to the last market survey carried out by Pira International, global packaging production should reach €500 billion in 2016, with an average annual growth rate above 3%. This increase is mainly driven by the rise of purchasing power in the BRICS countries. Within this market, corrugated is expected to account for why it is lagging behind other types of packaging at only 30%.

The comeback of cardboard can be explained by how consumers and producers have changed their perception of plastic due to its main source: oil. When oil was still inexpensive, and was easily and peacefully available, producing plastic packaging seemed to be the obvious choice. This is no longer the case; people are more concerned with protecting the environment, and recyclable paper and cardboard have become popular again, all the more so with the emergence of newly developed bio-based barrier films.

Printing technologies
Corrugated converters now work with digital print specialists, to develop technologies that meet the demands of these types of interactive marketing tools. Digital printing technology has established a beachhead in corrugated packaging, but it is clear the output of these products is not yet sufficient to gain the wider market's interest. Digital printing is used by 10% of corrugated cardboard users, mostly by the high graphics sector.

Corrugated shelf-ready packaging
The success of corrugated packaging in the retail industry is most evident in the discount sector, where 90% of products have shelf-ready packaging (SRP), compared with 40% of non-discounters. Supermarket discounters, who are the fastest-growing European retail sector, use corrugated packaging's eye-catching designs and efficiency in the shelf replenishment process.
German discount pioneers Aldi and Lidl are the two frontrunners across the continent, enjoying an increasing market share. At Lidl stores, a whole cross-section of food and household items are displayed in corrugated SRP. Lidl also uses corrugated as part of its merchandising strategy, which involves printing a flag of the country of origin on boxes and cartons used for fresh produce.
Corrugated SRP provides significant cost savings: with canned foods, for example, shelf-refill costs are a third lower for products displayed on corrugated SRP than those displayed individually. Angelika Christ, secretary-general of the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO), says: "Corrugated has become an integral part of the discounter retail business model, because it's great for display and for reducing cost. That's why corrugated is, and will remain to be, the number one choice for discounters."

Decorative corrugated board
Digby Fine English Sparkling Wine has developed a new, elegant gift box for its range of products. The packaging was designed by agency Big Fish and produced by Boxes and Packaging using a combination of Smurfit Kappa's T-Flute Microflute corrugated board and Celloglas decorative finishes, including Cellotouch Lamination, embossing and a gold foil pattern. The corrugated board used to create this gift box offers exceptional characteristics in terms of strength, while remaining lightweight at only 400gsm (880 microns), offering a perfect packaging solution for bottles of wine and/or spirits thanks to its enhanced protective nature.

Lightweighting
Even though the industry has been focusing on reducing the weight of boards while not forfeiting strength, we are seeing also the introduction of new heavyweight products. The majority of lightweight boards are being used in western Europe, while eastern Europe has seen an increase in demand for heavyweight boards. Primarily targeted at replacing wooden packaging, some of these heavier products are also able to replace double-walled board with an overall lighter-weight single-wall material. The use of a suitably strong corrugated product as a substitute for wooden packs reduces weight significantly, which improves logistics and handling, as well as providing a cushion for sensitive heavy products, creating a more printable outer surface, and circumventing the regulations in place to control damage caused by pests and insects in wooden packs.

Internet shopping
As long as global internet use continues to rise, online sales will grow exponentially over the next decade. This presents a fantastic opportunity for producers, as the amount of corrugated material will increase, as well as for brand-owners, for whom the secondary distribution pack will provide with a second communication medium.
New equipment works by automatically measuring the product and adjusting the pack accordingly, which simplifies transport by reducing space.
Jori Ringman, sustainability director with the Brussels-based Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), says: "Paper-based packaging has a good environmental track record throughout its life cycle, starting from the fact that wood fibres are renewable and recycled to a high degree. Paper-based packaging is also biodegradable and compostable."
The latest report from the European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) shows that paper and board is the most recycled (81%) type of packaging in Europe compared with any other material (see graph below), and the members of the ERPC are working together throughout the value chain to improve this rate further in areas such as waste prevention, ecodesign, and research and development.
Ringman continues: "In Europe, all paper and board has a pedigree: we source from legal, sustainably managed forests and have traceability for the materials used in packaging. Paper-based packaging is really a product made in Europe, with more than 80% of the raw materials coming from the EU. In Europe, paper is leading the way for other materials in traceability of sources and recycling. We are also championing water recycling, which has led to a reduction in water intake of 50% in the past two decades and 93% of the water intake now returning to the source in good quality. In addition, global food wastage amounts to as much as 1.3 billion tons, or one third of all food produced worldwide. Corrugated is increasingly seen as part of a solution to alleviate this problem by minimising wastage and food damage along the chain."

Fruit box from tomato fibre
Duijvestijn Tomaten is one of the most sustainable glasshouse nurseries in the Netherlands. Established more than 50 years ago, Duijvestijn Tomaten's main mission is to grow tomatoes as sustainably as possible. The company is committed to developing horticultural innovations that will contribute to a more sustainable and healthy world. It has expanded its activities to include geothermal energy; hot water is drilled at a depth of 2,300m, which serves as a key heat supply for Duijvestijn's greenhouses. The latest sustainability statement is the company's packaging: its boxes are partly (about 15%) made from tomato plant fibre. The company worked together with the Dutch Centre of Expertise for Plant Compounds and the KCPK, the Centre of Competence Paper and Board.
Jan Smits, project manager at the Centre of Expertise for Plant Compounds, says: "The tomato box is produced using fibres from the tomato plant. Retailers and the international fruit and vegetable company The Greenery have started using the first batch of 200,000 tomato-fibre boxes this year."
Michiel Adriaanse, programme manager biorefinery at the Centre of Competence Paper and Board (KCPK), says: "Together with the Dutch paper and board industry, KCPK works on the application of regional available fibre sources in fibre-based products. Successful examples are: the abovementioned tomato box; egg packaging containing grass fibres; office papers for a local government containing Miscanthus fibres, (commonly known as elephant grass); and the replacement of cotton fibre by industrial hemp fibres in high-end graphical applications."

Recyclability
Corrugated packaging has become an integral part of people's daily life. A recent French study by Ifop showed that 94% of respondents said corrugated was preferred for packaging and protection, with 90% claiming they regularly bought products packaged in cartons. Most people emphasised the practical aspects of boxes (87%), finding them easy to open (81%), solid (80%) and reusable (69%). Between 70 and 80% of consumers claimed they included the green factor of a product in their buying choices. Some of these consumers were even willing to sacrifice performance for an environmentally friendly product.



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