Use less plastic stretch wrap without compromising on strength

Nano33 is the thinnest pallet film on the market but promises equal, or better, outcomes than more traditional offerings. Adam McCleery writes.

Advancements in stretch wrapping are resulting in cost savings for manufacturers and producers through a reduction in the amount of stretch film needed per pallet.

And with the world slowly moving away from non-essential plastics, reducing their use will benefit a company, its customers, and the greater community.

This is where Favourite Packaging steps in with a viable solution to over-wrapping and pallet stability, with a touch of recyclability on top.

Nano33 is being touted as the next generation of stretch films, getting its name from its 33-layer design. Having 33 layers and still being considered ‘nano’ should indicate how thin the wrap is.

Justin Yates, Favourite Packaging managing director, said the progress in stretch film material is remarkable.

"A standard stretch wrap may have been between 20 to 25 microns thick and that used to be a standard for anything that was used," said Yates. "By coming down thinner, to 13 or 15 microns, they can still get the same strength using those thinner gauges as the 20 to 23."

Despite it being far thinner than traditional pallet wraps, Nano33 promises to match, and even exceed, more traditional solutions, with less plastic use.

Another indication of Nano33's toughness is the fact that even though the price per kilogram may be a bit more, through its ability to provide durability and stability the product still saves money for its user.

Nano 33 also touts excellent puncture and tearing resistance like that of the ‘plywood effect’, creating strength through layering.

Justin Yates, Favourite Packaging managing director, said there were to key drivers behind the development of the Nano33 stretch wrap.

"One is the obvious one, it uses less plastic per pallet wrap," he said.

"And the second driver, Australia is expecting regulation like Europe to be introduced in relation to stricter, more secure and safer loads. Such regulations require more effective pallet load control in transit.

"With a stronger stretch wrap like Nano33, pallet loads in transit will be more secure and will have less ‘sway’ at the top."

Engineered specifically for securing safer pallets while using less material, Nano33 can perform at higher wrapping speeds with ease and has excellent load retention which leads to a more stable and secured shipping.

This significantly reduces the risk of load damages under normal shipping conditions. Nano33 is also superbly suitable for products like bottled water, soft drinks, and any other beverages type.

The Nano33 will also meet the APCO guidelines for sustainable packaging which includes ‘design for recover’, ‘optimise material efficiency’, ‘design to reduce product waste’, and ‘design for transport efficiency’.

"Stretch wrap has always had the multi-layer process but it started as a three layer before a seven or nine layer became the standard," said Yates.

"That has since been blown out of the water and with Nano33, it goes to 33 layers.

"They can play around with different materials in each layer to produce a different result in how it stretches and the yield curve, which gives a lot of flexibility to customise how the film will perform.

"It's not just better materials, but by using them in different layer combinations it can make the film do things it never used to be able to do."

Apart from the Nano33 stretch film being recyclable, Favourite Packaging also offers a Nano33 variant made from 30 per cent recycled material.

While the recycled Nano33 doesn't offer exactly the same features as the main Nano33, it still provides the stability and durability needed.

And while the cost of Nano33 might be a little greater per kilogram than traditional wraps, that cost is covered through its innovative design resulting in up to 30 per cent less material being required per pallet.

"Because they are standardised pallets, customers can customise the tensioning on the system so while heavy pallets would normally be a standard 23 microns, coming down to 13 microns in some cases creates savings you don't see on alternative solutions," said Yates.

"For lightweight you can usually get away with something thin, this comes into its own with the heavier pallets."

Taking on a thinner stretch wrap is also an easy way for Australian manufacturers and producers to help meet, or exceed, sustainability targets set, as per the National Packaging Targets 2025.

"If you can get a 30 per cent reduction on pallets you wrap it will certainly make it easy to achieve or beat targets," said Yates.

There is also a flexibility of approach offered by Favourite Packaging in terms of what a customer needs, however Yates said it would require very large volumes of product for a customisation of the Nano33, but the option is there.

"There are two main types that are used," he said.

"Within those two the heavier products would use one type and the lighter products another. But if you have large volumes and need some customisation then you can play around with the layers and material to do that, but you would need decent volume to do that."

And for manufacturers and producers looking at an even greater level of sustainability, Favourite Packaging also offers Nano Green, which is made up of 30 per cent recycled plastic.

"When making all plastic products in a factory a lot of scrap is created, being clean scrap it's not post-consumer scrap," said Yates."We can then put that back in at a rate of 30 per cent into the Nano stretch. It doesn't give you the same stretch characteristic because there is a trade-off to using recycled material, but most people wrap with a machine wrapper can use the recycled version.

"It's 30 per cent now but looking to go higher as we improve the technology on that."

Favourite Packaging will continue to innovate and improve on packaging technology and the Nano33 is a great example of how packaging innovations can help shape the future of the food and beverage industry.

"Any organisation that wraps pallets in the hundreds every week is likely to benefit economically from using Nano33, in costs, compliance and in brand strengthening," Yates concluded.

"We offer an analysis and study so that a business case and design profile can be concluded and considered.