There’s a new kid on the tube block by the name of Bruce. PKN finds out more about this breakthrough tube containing 40 per cent rHDPE from Impact International’s MD Aleks Lajovic.
Over the last three years, tube manufacturer Impact International has released three sustainable tubes to the Australian and New Zealand markets, manufactured at the company’s Sydney converting and printing plant. The tubes, branded with popular Australian names Craig, Sarah and Margorie, are soon to be joined by Bruce.
The result of 12 months of R&D, Bruce is an HDPE tube containing 40 per cent post-consumer recycled (PCR) HDPE. The PCR resin is manufactured in Australia and FDA-approved for food contact.
“Sustainability is a journey and despite winning multiple local and international awards, the team at Impact International has not rested on its laurels. We have remained hard at work developing a new tube to join our sustainable tube family,” Impact MD Aleks Lajovic tells PKN.
“Around the world, different countries have different viewpoints on what is considered to be recyclable. HDPE is becoming a preferred material for recycling streams and is more globally accepted as being recyclable.”
Lajovic says the new Bruce tube has the characteristics and classification of an HDPE tube without the stiff properties usually associated with tubes manufactured out of HDPE.
The source of the PCR resin for the tubes is milk and fruit juice bottles used and recycled in Australia.
“An empty two-litre bottle (without the cap) weighs approximately 42 grams. We can manufacture ten Bruce tubes (100ml fill) out of one two-litre bottle – a great way to reuse Australian made recycled material and to participate in the circular economy,” Lajovic says.
“Over the past two years, we have seen a huge increase in companies who are working on understanding, and then reducing, their carbon footprint. Our new Bruce tube not only contains forty per cent PCR and is recyclable, it also has a thirty per cent smaller material carbon footprint compared to tubes manufactured using virgin polymers only.
“Customers can also partner with us in the Impact Forest, to help offset the remaining carbon footprint of their tubes, as well as provide a home for some of Australia’s most loved native animals. Impact International is the only tube manufacturer in the world which owns its own forestry infrastructure for these purposes.”
It is also the only tube manufacturer to generate its own green electricity. The company has also recently upgraded its 400kW solar farm, adding 123 more solar panels to the roof of its factory in Western Sydney.
Lajovic says Impact has designed the Bruce tube so that the PCR material is encapsulated by virgin material, ensuring that PCR material will not come into contact with the contents of the tube. He says this is especially important for pharmaceutical products.
“The Australian government has set ambitious targets when it comes to recycled content in packaging and the recyclability of packaging,” Lajovic says. “Our Bruce tube enables socially and environmentally oriented companies to not only meet but to exceed the 2025 National Packaging Targets now.
This article was first published in the January-February 2022 print issue of PKN Packaging News, p22.
