Coveris has supplied its MonoFlexE flexible mono-material pouch to pet food manufacturer C&D for a key brand sold in Aldi stores.
One of C&D’s top-selling brands is a private dry pet food label sold in Aldi stores across Spain and Portugal under ‘Natura’ brand name.
Following the European Strategy for Plastics, by 2030 all plastic packaging in the EU must be recyclable or reusable
C&D Foods decided Natura would pilot the packaging project, working in conjunction with Coveris.
Mario Fuente, key account manager at C&D Foods, said: “Our number one concern at the moment is to effectively switch our production in next the five years to sustainable packaging that is fully recyclable or reusable. With the help of Coveris we managed to achieve this for our key private pet food brand without major design changes or production downtime”.
According to latest research, the retail value of the pet care market in Western Europe in 2019 reached approximately €26.6bn.
Despite the economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the experts predict the market’s value to exceed €27.7bn in 2020.
Designed using only polyethylene, Natura maintains Coveris films fetaures including enhanced convenience for opening and reclosing, as well a premium look at point-of-sale, but also offers full recyclability through its mono-material base.
“Redesiging from PET makes separation during recycling process a lot easier and more effective. However, the material change wasn’t the only challenge we had to overcome”, said Jérôme Detais, Coveris commercial manager.
Despite having a fully recyclable bag, C&D Foods also requested a more natural ‘look & feel’.
“Normally we would use a special varnish or an external OPP/PET layer to achieve this effect, but this would make recycling difficult. Therefore, we created the matt-finish effect directly on the outer PE layer, without affecting recycling”, said Detais.
Another challenge was the manufacturing process, because PE shrinks at 100-120 degrees Celsius, while PET has a stronger heat resistance of up to 200-250 degrees Celsius. “This was a particularly difficult step because it influenced the overall quality of the bags and speed of their production which the customer wanted to maintain at the same level. Eventually we managed to meet this criteria by perfectly measuring the material’s heat and avoiding shrinkage both on top and side seals.”
Fuente added: “The final result exceeded our expectations. The new four corner block bottom bag stands out on the shelf with its natural, matt finish and improved graphics which instantly catch the customer’s eye.
“Combined with full recyclability thanks to its mono-material base, the new bag meets all our needs for user-friendly, sustainable packaging for pet food both today and tomorrow.”
Source: PackagingNews
