Starpacks sponsor and Sustainpack

Pro-Carton - the Association of European Cartonboard and Carton Manufacturers - is an overall sponsor of the Starpack Industry Awards 2007 and supporter of the Best in Creative Cartonboard Packaging award. Chairman of Pro Carton UK Robert Davison told Converting Today: “We are sponsoring the Starpack awards for the seventh year. This shows that we value the showcase and publicity they provide for innovative carton packaging. Being involved in the awards also helps us to demonstrate the benefits of choosing cartons to packaging decision makers. The carton industry appreciates the importance of sharing a platform with the other packaging materials, to show its versatility and creativity together with the best of all types of packaging.”

Cartonboard and other forms of fibre based packaging are the subject of Sustainpack - the largest ever European funded packaging research programme, with a budget of around e27M shared across nearly 30 project partners.

Michael Sturges, head of strategic consulting at project partner Pira International, explains: “To meet the demands of tomorrow's marketplace, fibre based packaging must perform better with fewer fibres, have built-in barrier properties, be active/interactive and provide new structural design opportunities. Sustainpack addresses these needs. The main objective of the project is to ensure the future prominence of fibre based packaging through the development and application of micro and nanotechnology to deliver lean and added value sustainable packaging.”

There are several research streams, some which specifically relate to fibreboard/cartonboard manufacture. These are: lean and effective fibre based packaging - increasing the strength properties to enable cost efficiencies through lightweighting; protective coatings - including barrier coatings, and microencapsulation technologies; and the incorporation of communication technology into fibre based packaging.

“A great deal of emphasis has been placed on ensuring that the research outputs can be proven effectively,” Michael Sturges affirms. “This will be achieved in the final phase of the project through a series of seven demonstrator projects. These will include examples of how the developments might benefit cartonboard packaging. For example: a cartonboard box providing equivalent performance to current cartonboard by using lighter weight material; combining new barrier coatings and lamination films from Sustainpack with cartonboard to increase water vapour barriers; and incorporating communicative technologies, such as a 2D bar code that can be read by a mobile phone camera, to provide audible information for the visually impaired - or a moving brand logo image for marketing purposes.”

He concludes: “Although very much focused on market needs, the Sustainpack research is nonetheless still fairly fundamental in nature. As such, it is likely to be a number of years before the new materials are widely seen in the market place. Nonetheless, I very much look forward to the day at some time in the future when we see a Starpack award winning pack made from a material originating from the Sustainpack project.”

Pro Carton public affairs consultant Jennifer Buhaenko adds: “As a trade association, we are not directly involved in Sustainpack, although some of our members are. But we are interested in promoting knowledge about the future development of cartonboard and the possibilities that these innovations will open up for converters and end users. This links with our sponsorship of creative cartonboard packaging design.”

The Starpack Industry Awards 2007 also include a chance to win gold, silver or bronze for the Best Flexible Packaging Innovation - and for Best Printed Pack. Converting Today is the media supporter for the flexible packaging innovation award.

Flexible packaging has featured prominently in recent Starpack competitions, with many smaller suppliers taking gold. Excelsior Technologies, for example, won in 2005 and 2006 for its stand-up vented pouch for the microwave. The fact that entrants are judged by their peers “validates technical achievements”, says managing director David Moorcroft. It also helps win business and create credibility which is very important for a smaller company when sitting in front of the larger brand owners and retailers. “It gives them confidence,” he explains.

Another winner in 2005 was FFP Packaging Solutions' aluminium foil barbecue-in-the-bag. The gold star was won for a Marks & Spencer application and the self venting pack continued to be used during 2006. Sally Bowden, print technologist at M&S says: “FFP & M&S have always worked very closely together on innovative development and will continue to do so.”

Entry deadline for the Starpack Awards is January 26, 2007. The awards ceremony, dinner and cabaret will be held alongside the Total Processing & Packaging Exhibition 2007, on May 15, 2007, at the National Motorcycle Museum, situated close to the Birmingham NEC.

The awards programme is sponsored by the RPC Group, Total Processing & Packaging Exhibition 2007, WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), Pro-Carton, IOM3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) and is run in partnership with the Wilmington Group, publisher of Converting Today, Packaging Today, RFID Solutions, Manufacturing Chemist, SPC (Soap, Perfumery and Cosmetics) , ECM (European Cosmetics Market), and Blueprint Magazine (Design). The Starpack Industry Awards is supported by the MPMA and William Reed's Food & Drink World.