Ecolean Is Making Waves In Lightweight Packaging

By Alec Italiano, contributing writer

New innovations from the packaging manufacturer are lighter and more sustainable than alternatives.

Lightweight packaging is no secret to the success of a company’s bottom line.  Lighter packaging means fewer raw materials are needed to create the package and it also makes the recycling process a more manageable task.  Lighter packaging also saves on transportation costs — providing the quality of that package is not compromised.

Ecolean, a company specializing in lightweight containers, has recently released an aseptic pouch being used for Orangina-Schweppes France’s P’tit Oasis — a fruit beverage marketed toward kids and teenagers. The package is equipped with an air-filled handle and attached straw, making the 200-milliliter pouch not only practical for the target market, but also gives it a very low environmental impact.

The pouch is made from a material called Calymer — derived from mixing plastic and chalk — with no chemicals added in the synthesis of Calymer. The Calymer pouch maintains its stiff properties while being flexible through calcium carbonate, which makes up 40 percent of the pouch, and plastic binding agents Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and Polypropylene (PP). These substances allow the package to be recycled as a plastic or converted into energy by an incinerator. The flexible package also creates fewer leftover contaminants from consumers. By creating less food waste inside the package, recycling the container becomes a more convenient undertaking.

This breakthrough technology is gaining a lot of attention in Western Europe and is being distributed in 80 percent of all retail stores in France and Belgium. From the manufacturer to the consumer, all the way down to the recycling plant, all parties benefit from lightweight containers — an aspect of the packaging industry Ecolean is helping to pioneer.

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