Faerch Plast cuts CPET tray weight
Danish food packaging manufacturer Faerch Plast has reduced the weight of its CPET (crystalline polyethylene) containers by an average of 11% since 2008, putting it on track to meet its environmental objective of ‘achieving a general weight reduction of produced items of 30%’ by 2013.
“Clever design together with improved production processes has helped us reduce the weight of our packaging without compromising performance, quality or food safety,” says Joe Iannidinardo, managing director of Faerch Plast’s UK division. “Using less material during the manufacturing process has enabled us to further reduce our carbon footprint and produce less waste.”
The firm also attributes the weight reduction to on-going changes to tooling design. “Producing CPET trays is different to the normal thermoforming process. The soft pre-formed container has to be transferred from a hot to a cold mould. Making the pack thicker always helped with this process,” explains Iannidinardo. “Over the years, however, Faerch Plast has developed techniques that make it possible to safely and easily handle much thinner trays. It used to be normal for CPET trays to be manufactured from 800 or 900 micron sheet. Today, 500 or 600 micron is normal.”