Films, flex packs highlight 25th DuPont Packaging Awards

Wilmington, DE-based DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers today announced winners in its 25th Anniversary DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation. Among the breakthrough developments from global brand giants were several converted films and flexible-packaging products from companies around the world. Overall, four packages won Gold Awards and 10 won Silvers.

“Twenty-five years ago, we saw the DuPont Awards program as an opportunity to connect with this vibrant industry and to champion collaboration as a critical component in innovation,” said William J. Harvey, president of DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers. “Twenty-five years later – as we look back at breakthrough winners and celebrate this year’s winners – it’s clear that collaboration remains central to bringing innovation to market.”

Here are the web-processed and finished winners:

Diamond & Special Award for “Food Security” Winner — Excellence in Innovation, Cost/Waste Reduction and Sustainability: AidPod for ColaLife Delivers Life-Saving Medicine to Children in Remote Villages through Coca-Cola Distribution Channel (see above)
pi 3, (UK); ColaLife, (UK); Amcor Flexibles Europe (USA); Charpack Ltd., (UK).
Medicine remains difficult to obtain in remote villages in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, 15% of the mortality in this area for children under 5 years old is attributed to diarrhea, an easily treatable illness. Coca-Cola, however, is available almost everywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. ColaLife, an independent non-profit UK-based agency with the idea to leverage the vast Coca-Cola network, collaborated with pi global, specifically pi 3, who developed a structural, self-contained package for an anti-diarrheal kit to nestle into unused space surrounding crated Coca-Cola bottles. Called AidPod, the package is securely sealed with a strong film that can withstand severe impact, maintain pack integrity and prevent contamination. The AidPod also contains a soap packet separate from the rest of the contents to support hand-washing. The medicine is packaged in single-dose sachets to be mixed with water in the AidPod container, which doubles as a clean mixing and drinking vessel.

Silver: New Sausage Casings Speed Cooking, Smoking Times; Offer Better Protection
Atlantis-Pak Co., Ltd. (Russian Federation). The iCel® polyamide-based sausage casing challenges cellulose, collagen and natural sausage casings in that it retains the benefits of both permeable and barrier films.  iCel® combines the high smoke- and water-vapor permeability of cellulose casings with optimal mechanical properties while maintaining a thin structure. Smoking and cooking times are reduced.  The high mechanical strength and elasticity of the polyamide-based casings allow the meat-processing industry to use high processing speeds during sausage manufacturing.  The oxygen barrier and relatively high moisture barrier prolong shelf life, preserve flavor, and significantly increase product yield by keeping moisture inside the product during thermal treatment.

Silver: Formpack® Pharma Blister Pack Optimizes Cavity Design, Protects Contents from Moisture
Amcor Flexibles (Germany). Amcor redesigned its pharmaceutical blister pack to improve moisture protection. While aluminum-blister webs are made of layer laminates that are complete barriers against moisture, humidity can enter through open edges and through the perforation lines between each cavity. In its new design, Amcor reduced the size of the single cavities and removed the perforation lines so that moisture can diffuse only though the open edge of the blister.  This improves moisture protection by more than 40% and reduces material used to pack the same number of tablets by 33%.

Silver: Toyo Aluminum K.K. Uses Nature to Create Water-Repellent Packaging Material for Yogurt Lids
Toyo Aluminum K.K. (Japan); Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. (Japan). Inspired by lotus leaves, TOYAL LOTUS® is an innovative functional packaging material used for yogurt container flexible lidding. The inside sealing surface of the lid made with TOYAL LOTUS® offers extremely high water repellency. This material prevents the adhesion of yogurt to the inside surface of the lid, allowing it to stay clean and providing an added sanitation benefit, meeting the needs of consumers.

Silver: Folmex Reinvents Laundry Detergent Packaging While Improving Sustainability, Reducing Cost
Folmex (Mexico); P&G (Panama, Venezuela). Folmex met a need in the Mexican market for easy-to-open, high-gloss flexible packages for powder laundry detergent. The converter developed a PE-based, high-gloss package that delivers a gloss measurement typically achieved with oriented polypropylene (OPP). Furthermore, the structure was downgauged by 21%, eliminating 111 tons (or 245,670 lbs) of material/yr and saving 20 tons of CO2 that is directly attributable to the films’ extrusion process.  The downgauging has also helped the brand owner increase its product-to-package ratio by 27% and decrease CO2 emissions from transportation by 22%.

Silver: Pepperidge Farm Debuts Re-Closure Innovation to the Delight of Snackers Everywhere
Pepperidge Farm (USA); Campbell Co. (Canada, USA); Sonoco Flexible (Canada, USA). In its Baked Naturals® Cracker Chips bag, Pepperidge Farm is the first to use an innovative recloseable Seal Tab® technology.  The development significantly improves consumers’ experience while supporting a strong brand identity. The packaging features a large and visible reclose tab with a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) system incorporated into the film lamination. The result is greater surface area and better adhesion without obstructing brand messaging.

Silver: Campbell’s Go™ Soup Speaks to Young Consumers with Convenient Standup Pouch
Campbell’s Soup Co. (USA); C&K Propack (Korea). It’s not your Grandmother’s soup. New Campbell’s Go Soups feature exciting flavors in a bold pouch that speaks directly to a younger generation. Packaged in a flexible, standup retort pouch that stands out from other soups on the store shelf, it also offers greater consumer convenience; the pouch is microwaveable and enables a short cook time. The clear gusset on the pouch helps it to stand up on shelves and also allows consumers to have a peek at the unique ingredients that make up the product inside.

Silver: Streamlined CardioFocus Medical Tray Cost-Effectively
Protects Sensitive Equipment
Beacon Converters, Inc. (USA); CardioFocus, Inc. (USA); Dahl Packaging Associates (USA). Made from a single sheet of 100% high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the Heartlight® Balloon Catheter Die-Cut Tray is a 3-dimensional, functionally rigid tray that provides specialized protection to the highly complex and fragile HeartLight® Cardiac Ablation system. This tray features five different die-cut holds (finger tabs, carabineer closures, belt style tabs, U-shaped pop ups, and semi-circle end flaps)  designed to keep the different parts of the medical device secure during transportation while allowing for easy removal during use. The tray is shipped flat and is assembled when the product is loaded, allowing for greater transport efficiency; 40 empty die-cut trays can fit in the space of one of the original thermoformed trays.