New technologies are emerging every year in flexible packaging driven largely by the need to develop more sustainable packaging solutions and the pre-cut lidding market is no exception.  Dairy, food and beverage customers across our UK and European customer base are increasingly looking for packaging alternatives that offer sustainable value whilst at the same time maintain product integrity and safety.

One area in which we are seeing change is the type of material that customers are choosing for their containers or pots – we are seeing a number of customers testing rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or recycled PET) containers as a potential replacement for PP or even Paper PE ones.

With rigid PET being fully recyclable there has been less incentive for brands to use rPET materials however this is now changing. We are seeing growing consumer demand for recycled materials and big brands, such as Unilever and Danone, through the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment pledging to increase the recycled plastic content in all their packaging by up to 25 percent by 2025.  Furthermore, in the UK it was announced recently that the tax on plastic packaging containing less than 30 percent recycled content will come into force in April 2022, and will be set at £200 a tonne.

In response to these changes at Chadwicks we have ‘developed’ a new heat seal system specifically aimed at providing a comparable seal to rPET pots without the need for customers to invest in new machinery or even change machinery settings. Extensive testing has been carried out on both current packaging materials (PP pots and Poly co-ex lidding) and our new systems to ensure a smooth transition for customers wanting to switch.

Chadwicks also offers rPET lidding materials in 50mu in both white and clear specifications. The recycled content on clear rPET lids is 50 percent and 30 percent on white pre-cut rPET lids.

rPET lidding is suitable for all types of pre-cut lidding machinery. It offers excellent barrier properties and is equal to standard PET lids.

As always, our Technical Team are on hand for site visits and any product testing required by our customers.  We can advise same optical properties, barrier and machine functionality. To find out more please get in touch.