15 September 2009

M-REAL HELPS BIRDS EYE REDUCE PACKAGING

M-real Consumer Packaging has helped Birds Eye achieve significant savings in packaging weight for its frozen food product range, following completion of a project initiated in partnership with WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme)

An important criterion of the project was that weight reduction should be achieved without loss of stiffness and strength, vital for maintaining efficiency on the packing line and to avoid carton collapse in transit and distribution. Birds Eye’s total board usage of 3,500 tonnes per annum in the UK decreased by 54 tonnes (1.5%) as a result of the trial, equivalent to CO2 savings of 135-210 tonnes. M-real enabled this reduction following a rebuild at its Simpele Mill in Finland, allowing it to achieve extremely high bulk and stiffness in its upgraded Simcote board, and for its customers to realise improved yield over alternative packaging grades. The WRAP report concludes: ”The work shows selection of the board grade and weight is a balance between:
- Operational efficiency of the actual packaging line. This is particularly relevant when considering weight selection and hence board stiffness.

- Compression strength of the carton which must be sufficient to prevent any carton collapse in transit and distribution; again the board weight and stiffness have a direct effect on the compression strength.