Photo by Alpla Award winning: foamed walls make for lighter bottles
Austria-based packaging firm Alpla has won PackTheFuture and WorldStar awards for its foaming technology in extrusion blow moulding. The shower gel bottles, which have been on the market since 2014, were the result of years of research and cooperation between Alpla, Unilever, and MuCell the developers of microcellular foaming technology.
Gas is injected into the middle layer of the bottle wall. This creates bubbles in the material, forming a honeycomb-like structure. As a result, the bottles are up to 15% lighter (as a consequence of using up to 15% less plastic). The process is entirely a physical one, which does not require any chemical additive and, therefore, the bottles are fully recyclable.
The shower gel bottles are produced in Lübeck, Germany and the company plans to install the technology in other sites soon for customers in the body care and household products industries.
