Bryce And Hazen Paper Receive Awards In The 2010 AIMCAL Sustainability Competition

The Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL) presented Bryce Corp., Memphis, Tennessee, and Hazen Paper Co., Holyoke, Massachusetts, with 2010 Sustainability Awards on Sunday, March 21, 2010, at an Awards Banquet during its annual Management Meeting, March 21-24, 2010, at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California.

The Sustainability Competition, now in its second year, recognizes equipment, materials or processes that reduce environmental impact, minimize energy usage or waste, and/or increase recycling. Its part of a larger awards program that includes Technology of the Year and Vacuum Metallized or Coated Product of the Year competitions.

Bryce took honors for a lamination with 33% bio-based content. It?s produced for Frito-Lay North America, Plano, Texas, for 10.5-ounce packs of five flavors of Sun Chips. The lamination relies on an outer layer of polylactic acid (PLA) film converted by SKC Inc., Covington, Georgia, from Ingeo resin from NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and is seen as a first step toward a fully compostable package. Bryce adjusted printing inks, web tensions, process temperatures, and bonding processes to deliver a lamination that would provide adequate barrier properties for the snack. Replacing the lamination?s outer layer, typically polypropylene (PP), with PLA, reduces consumption of petrochemical-based film by about 1 million pounds per year. It also saves energy since production of Ingeo resin consumes about 50% less fossil fuel than production of PP.

The judges liked the renewable nature of the corn-based PLA layer and characterized the high-barrier package as ahead of its time. It not only sets the stage for more widespread use of compostable packaging, but could spur the development of a composting infrastructure in North America where relatively few residents currently have access to composting programs.

Hazen Paper received a 2010 Sustainability Award for a film-free, transfer-metallized 0.026-inch solid bleached sulfate it provided for a windowed folding carton for Crown Royal 75 VAP from Diageo North America, Stamford, Connecticut. The heavy caliper paperboard not only protects the contents during distribution, but also is transfer-metallized on the uncoated side to provide a gold backdrop for a 750-milliliter bottle of Crown Royal and two glasses. Previous designs used a 48-gauge polyester/foil/paperboard insert, which had to be manually positioned. Replacing the film/paperboard laminate with transfer-metallized paperboard cuts material consumption by nearly one-third, requires substantially less metal, and increases production rates by eliminating hand-loading of the insert.

According to the judges the Crown Royal gift box represents a win/win/win effort for sustainability with roughly one-third less material, lower metal content, and higher production rates due to the elimination of the hand-loaded insert. "From a materials perspective, this is a simpler, more easily recycled package," conclude the judges.

The judging panel for the Sustainability Awards Competition included Vince DiTrolio, vice president/owner of DiTrolio Flexographic Institute, Broadview, Illinois; Travis Funk, senior packaging engineer, Diageo, Plainfield, Illinois; Jeffrey T. Weber, research principal, Kraft Foods, Glenview, Illinois; Stan Kopecky, principal, SJK Packaging Associates, Prospect Heights, Illinois; Mark Spaulding, editor-in-chief, Converting magazine, Chicago, Illinois; and Yolanda Simonsis, associate publisher/editor, Paper, Film & Foil Converter magazine, Chicago, Illinois. AIMCAL Awards Committee Chair Steve Sedlak, sales manager for ESK, Ceradyne, Inc., Costa Mesa, California, moderated the judging session.