interpack Magazine
Cooling@Packing: Innovative packaging solution for hot bakery products
Freshness is increased, shelf life is extended and the production process is optimized overall. Multivac has developed a packaging solution for hot bakery products: Cooling@Packing. This innovative system enables freshly baked products to be packed immediately without long cooling times.
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Craze for cans with alcohol-free beverages on the rise
Canned drinks are making a comeback: Demand for alcohol-free canned drinks is soaring in Germany, with energy drinks leading the way. The surge is being driven by young consumers, social media, and growing talk around sustainability. NIQ researchers say it’s a clear trend that’s showing up in both sales and product variety.
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Researching Sustainable Antimicrobial Meat Packaging
Bio-based meat packaging: sustainable, antimicrobial, and fresh. In the MATE4MEAT project, researchers and companies are developing innovative, bio-based packaging with antimicrobial properties that help meat stay fresh longer. Less waste, more freshness and a clear step toward sustainability.
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Wipotec and Coca-Cola Collaborate to Advance Circular Economy
Wipotec and Coca-Cola have jointly developed an innovative solution that is propelling the circular economy forward in the packaging sector. An exciting project with great potential for the future.
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DocMorris sends reusable packaging on its journey
DocMorris is turning the packaging world upside down: In the pilot project with Ravioli, reusable shipping packaging is going on the road instead of disposable cartons – for less waste and more sustainability!
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Long shelf life and sustainability: Knowledge transfer from research to industry
New technologies emerging from research help the food and packaging industries to combine sustainability, long shelf life and efficiency. Together with its partners, Wageningen Food & Biobased Research develops intelligent packaging, biobased materials and AI-based solutions that are already seeing successful application.
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Stemming the tide on ocean-bound plastic
The NextWave consortium has diverted over 20,000 metric tons of ocean-bound plastic—equivalent to 2.27 billion single-use water bottles. And SABIC, meanwhile, says Italian food-packaging innovator B!POD is using its OBP-based polypropylene in its latest range of food-preserving vacuum-packed containers.
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SAVE FOOD and SUSTAINABILITY Design Awards for sustainable packaging solutions
This year's SAVE FOOD Design and SUSTAINABILITY Design Awards were presented at the Shanghai World of Packaging in November 2024. The awards recognise innovative packaging solutions along the value chain with a positive environmental impact. The companies honoured are: United Caps (Malaysia), Koch Pac-Systeme (Germany), UBIS (Spain) and Multivac (China).
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Trends and developments in the pet food market
More and more, dogs and cats are considered as members of the family. The demands of pet owners in terms of nutrition are increasing accordingly. The pet food industry is reacting and promoting healthy products with functional ingredients and new dosage forms. The use of insect proteins could become a trend. Many pet food manufacturers are also switching to more sustainable, recyclable packaging.
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Think globally, act locally: a conversation with Nerida Kelton, WPO
The biggest challenge for packaging technology is to find a balance between functionality, economic aspects, consumer requirements and environmental criteria. "Inappropriate packaging is one of the main causes of food waste and is responsible for negative environmental impacts", explains Nerida Kelton, World Packaging Organisation (WPO).
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Foreign object detection and food safety – in search of the blue glove
Sometimes large quantities of edible food are disposed of for safety reasons, even though only a single product may be contaminated. To avoid this, manufacturers rely on detection systems that recognise foreign objects. Systems specialist Sesotec recommends combinations of sieves, magnets, metal detectors and X-ray systems for this purpose, and thus contributes to the reduction of food waste.
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Uhlmann Group: EU packaging regulations accelerate pace of transformation
Less packaging waste, more recycling and increased use of sustainable materials – these are the goals of the EU packaging regulations PPWR which will soon be implemented. For this, the packaging industry has already begun full-scale preparations. For example, the Uhlmann Group from Swabia – in the centre of a region that is one of the world's most important hubs for the packaging industry.
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Pact group & partners creating circular solution for pret tray-to-tray recycling
Australia’s meat eaters create a lot of waste with their PET meat trays. But thermoformed PET food packaging is very recyclable, with the right infrastructure in place. So Pact Group is working with Hilton Foods, Woolworths Group and Cleanaway Waste Management to close the loop on this by collecting, sorting and cleaning these PET materials, and remanufacturing them into more food packaging.
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Sustainable plastics on the rise
Consumers’ growing environmental consciousness leads to added pressure on the packaging industry to develop sustainable solutions. In this context, sustainability is not limited to bio-based or bio-degradable materials. Conventional fossil-based plastics can also be part of sustainable strategies – if they are designed for recyclability or produced using recycled raw materials.
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The role of adhesives in optimising packaging processes
Adhesives are the invisible backbone of the packaging industry – without them, cardboard, films and other packaging materials could not be held together. Particularly in the food industry, adhesives are crucial for product safety and shelf life. Following the trend towards sustainable packaging, the demand for innovative adhesive solutions like those offered by the Bühnen company is rising.
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AIMPLAS Working to Develop Valuable Packaging Applications From Fish-Processing Waste
AIMPLAS, a Valencia, Spain-based research and technology center, is participating in a European project designed to develop an eco-friendly barrier coating for food packaging from fish gelatin as well as cosmetics packaging from waste fishing nets.
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Woodly – made of wood, looks like plastic
Wood-based substitute material for plastic offers the food industry new sustainable options. Finnish start-up and SAVE FOOD member Woodly supplies wood cellulose polymers for various packaging solutions and products such as reusable cups. The carbon-neutral material is particularly useful in ensuring that bread is hygienically packaged while staying fresh for a long time and looking appetising.
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Sustainable packaging film for sleeving, stretching, shrinking and sealing
Plastic film is indispensable in the packaging sector. Used as sealing film, it can seal food trays, it can enclose beverage bottles in the form of sleeves and as stretch film, it lends stability to packaging during transport. Modern packaging films are sustainable, recyclable or are made from recycled materials. With a view to the European Packaging Directive, this is indeed a boon.
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Artificial intelligence for more process quality
Artificial intelligence (AI) will play an important part in the future in optimising processes within the food industry. It can lengthen the shelf life of food by allowing precise control of temperature and humidity, for example. AI analyses huge amounts of data in real time in order to guarantee optimum recipes and storage conditions and minimise spoiling.
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More transparency for hidden price increases
Shopping for daily necessities has gotten expensive. But some products have become more expensive without a change in price – there is simply less content per package. Customers often do not notice this practice, called shrinkflation, to begin with. France and Hungary are now combatting this practice and obligating supermarkets to indicate hidden price increases.
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Natural insulation from feathers
With their microscopically small hollow fibre structure, feathers are among the lightest natural fibres ever and provide excellent heat insulation. A British start-up utilises these properties and turns feathers, a waste product from the poultry industry, into an insulating packaging material for the cold transport.
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ALDI UK using AI to provide visibility to its flexible plastic packaging efforts
Aldi UK is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in its recycling of flexible plastic packaging. The supermarket offers front-of-store collection points for such packaging and then applies technology from Greenback Recycling Technologies to track and verify the flow of material using eco2Veritas system. The project is supported by the brand-backed Flexible Plastic Fund.
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Kombucha leather – packaging from the tea lab
The packaging industry is looking for creative solutions to package food both safely and sustainably. A young team of students and researchers in Istanbul is currently working on prototypes of SCOBY, a leather-like biofilm made from fermented kombucha tea.
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Sustainable coatings for packaging papers
Food is more and more often wrapped in paper. But this natural material is porous and has next to no barrier properties against humidity, oxygen, grease or oil. Paper producers like Sappi are now coating their packaging papers sustainably using water-based barriers which do not impact later recycling. In research, a common topic is the development of bio-based barrier coating materials.
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The Refill Coalition aims to take reuse and refill mainstream
The UK-based Refill Coalition, led by the GoUnpackaged NGO, has worked with molder Berry Global and supply-chain firm CHEP to create a system designed to vastly reduce retailers’ need for single-use plastics packaging.
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