featured in this issue - NZIFST - The New Zealand Institute of Food ...

PACKAGING
Chilltainers – improved packaging for
chilled, fresh products
A joint venture between Hellmann Worldwide Logistics Limited and Chilltainers Holdings Ltd looks set to achieve significant savings for
chilled produce transport.
Efficiency in logistics
The drive to build sustainability into the food chain impacts many areas
of food production. Among these are the needs to increase efficiencies
in the use of space, reduce demand for fossil fuels and enable better
access to new and more distant markets with chilled product. Not to
be forgotten is the need to recycle wherever possible.
Chilltainers tick many of these boxes. They are supplied flat, saving
significant volume in packaging storage. They are predominantly recyclable,
similar to most cardboard containers. Compared to expanded
polystyrene (EPS), Chilltainers’ direct competition in packaging for
chilled product, they take up significantly less volume in containers,
saving on space and fossil fuels. They can also be printed with high
quality graphics, or thermally printed with date/place-of-origin information
on packing lines.
Packaging technology
Chilltainers’ patented system utilises double-sided metallised laminate
bonded to corrugated board to form a leak-proof carton with the thermal
performance of polystyrene. It is already delivering major environmental
and economic benefits for producers of perishables.
Corrugated board has some thermal properties, but has little or no
wet strength. With the co-extrusion of 12 microns of metallised polyester
(MPET) onto both outer layers of Kraft on the corrugated board,
wet strength and thermal properties are achieved so that cartons made
from the board can be used to transport, for example, fresh salmon,
chilled meats and similar perishables, with equal or better results than
using expanded polystyrene boxes, the package of choice for many
years. Chilltainers Holdings Ltd holds the patent for this technology.
“Its competitive pricing and streamlined design enables higher density
freight and therefore reduced air and road freight costs when compared
to EPS. It is the environmentally-friendly perishable packaging of
the future,” says Chilltainers Ltd founder, Wayne Harrison,.
The co-extrusion application of MPET onto Kraft paper is, in itself, not
new. What is special about Chilltainers patented technology is the conversion
of MPET Kraft into corrugated board. When Kraft runs through
the corrugating machines at Carter Holt Harvey’s (CHH) carton board
plant at Mangere, a significant amount of heat is generated, even more
when using MPET coated paper. CHH engineer Vic Slade worked with
Wayne Harrison to develop the system in the late 1990’s. The breakthrough
came when a USA MEPT supplier was found that could supply
film which was treated to raise the laminate’s resistance to temperature.
Some adjustments were required to the corrugators to allow it
to run at the same rate as non-coated boards. The MEPT film is still
sourced from Scholle in the US and co-extruded onto Kraft by Stratex
(NZ) Ltd. All other raw materials for board converted in New Zealand
are locally sourced.
Currently the Chilltainers packaging system is being manufactured
under license in New Zealand and Australia (by Carter Holt Harvey)
and in North America with expansion soon expected in Norway, Chile,
South Africa and elsewhere.
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Food New Zealand