Spotlight on soap packaging

In his interaction with the WhatPackaging? team in Mumbai, Pankaj Poddar, chief executive officer, Cosmo Films shared his favourite packaging solution

11 Sep 2019 | By WhatPackaging? Team

The new package has a 25% reduction in laminate gsm

Pankaj Poddar, chief executive officer, Cosmo Films says the soap packaging solution is my favourite. He added, "The soap packaging solution that Cosmo Films provided has done very well. It looks a better packet than it was before, it became cheaper, lighter, looks attractive and is recyclable."

The traditional non-recyclable three-ply structure for soap wrapper consisted of BOPET, paper & hot melt adhesive (HMA). Poddar explained how Cosmo Films was approached by an FMCG giant to develop a recyclable structure. Poddar stated, “The company not only made the structure recyclable but also rationalised the structure and therefore reducing the overall laminate cost."

Important improvisations achieved with the new structure:

Enhanced moisture barrier attained helps maintain consistent soap weight for a longer time
25% reduction in laminate gsm over existing laminate
Enhanced aesthetic appeal
Cost-effective because of gsm reduction
No need of poly coating on inner paper stiffener; the stiffener paper gsm could be reduced
BOPP laminate requires less temperature for heat sealing on flow wrap machine hence cutting down electricity cost; also improving heaters shelf-life
Inner sealant white opaque BOPP film results in the elimination of applying white colour as a base coat to paper to save it from yellow titch on ageing
BOPP structure improved the runnability of laminate and therefore resulting in better productivity on high-speed flow wrap machines
New laminate eliminated the HMA coating operation; thus reducing the conversion cost; faster delivery of the finished product

In order to develop this laminate, clear BOPP was used for outer printing layer while white BOPP was chosen for the sealant layer. Also, the white film was a specially engineered film designed to withstand envelope sealing typical of a soap wrapping application.

Pankaj Poddar, chief executive officer, Cosmo Films

Poddar concluded, "The new 2 ply laminate not only matched the properties of the existing structure but also enhanced many other properties."

A comparison of laminates:

Sr.No	Property	Existing laminated structure	Proposed recyclable BOPP laminate
01	Laminated Structure	10 BOPET + 40 gsm paper + 15 HMA	Clear BOPP + White BOPP
02	Avg unit weight of laminate	74.5 gsm	57.5 gsm
03	Reduction in unit weight (gsm)		Around 25%