In recent years, small sachet formats have received a lot of attention in the media for the environmental challenges they present. These small plastic envelopes are widely used to dispense condiments, sauces, personal care creams and many other liquid products. While they are convenient for the consumers, they are often highlighted for the issues that they create at the end of their life.
Futamura
Estimates* suggest that approximately 855 billion sachets were used globally in 2018. Most of these packs are produced with complex multi-layered packaging that can withstand the nature of the ingredients and preserve the products during the supply chain for their required shelf life. They are usually produced from 3-layer structures including layers of polyolefin, aluminium and often polyester, making the packs extremely difficult to recycle as the components of the laminate structure are incompatible for recycling and not easily separated. Their very small size and the fact that they often remain contaminated by foodstuff, further add to the difficulties in recycling.
Compostable film producer Futamura, flexible packaging converter Repaq and machine producer GK Sondermaschinenbau have worked together to produce a compostable solution for this market segment. Today, they are delighted to launch a fully compostable solution based on NatureFlex technology for this application. This can wrap ingredients like ketchup or mustard, cooking sauces or hand cream, and includes a barrier cellulose film layer from Futamura as well as another biofilm to provide hermetic seals. The structures have been certified as compostable, both in industrial and home settings.
The new compostable packaging structures have been proven to make effective sachet solutions when produced on the newly designed GK Sondermaschinenbau machinery. The demonstration packs delivered have confirmed the required shelf life and protection for a range of sauces. The machineability of the new liquid sachet packs has been repeatedly proven, at scale, by the first brands implementing the compostable structure. There was no difference in efficiency when using this structure compared to a conventional one. That has been reported for all GKS machinery, whether small, medium or large.
Joachim Janz, Regional Sales Manager at Futamura stated: ‘This home compostable liquids sachet packaging is indeed a really exciting launch. Ultimately, it means a perfect match to the request for offering a full portfolio of demanding food and non-food items to be packed in compostable packaging choices. Small-portion sachets have always been the tricky ones for recycling, so this success in compostability is good news to be shared.’