‘Chalk in packaging is not a new idea, but we feel we have a product that has a global appeal’
Ecolean to install one of Europe’s largest cast lines for packaging film production
The company has two production facilities; one in Tianjin, China and Helsingborg. It recently expanded its China facility in TEDA (the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area) as part of a €50m development for both sites including a warehouse, aseptic lab and training facilities.
Doubled production capacity in China
The two factories combined produce 3-4bn packs a year, in a total production area of 18,000m² with 90 staff.
Lars Rodman, director R&D, Ecolean, and ex Tetra Pak employee, told FoodProductionDaily it has doubled its production capacity producing 1.6bn packs in China a year in both chilled and aseptic segments.
“We produce material in three different stages from the production and manufacturing of the cast film, flexo processing and printing and package forming and sterilization, which is all developed in-house,” he said.
“Our strength lies in the high speed of our machines, at 300metres per minute, which is exceptional when it comes to these types of packages.
A cast-film line is more efficient than a blown-film line and the consistency of quality is higher.
“We start the material from granulate and powder, and using an extruder process, to extrude polymers, to mix them with calcium carbonate (chalk). We have developed some features ourselves on the cast-film line, but we want to keep that knowledge in-house. We cannot buy off-shelf machines to produce the material with our specific specifications.
“We use three types of material, which come in different thickness, for various packages, the aseptic clear material has no chalk in it. It’s a common misunderstanding to believe our environmental profile comes from the chalk ingredients because the main part is its lightweight factor.
“Chalk reduces cost, and adds whiteness and stiffness, but using less plastic to make it lightweight is more important than the chalk. If you go back 10 years ago when the history of the company was based on the chalk it’s an important ingredient but we want to drive the cost advantages now of the lightweight approach we see ourselves as a material systems supplier.
Mixing chalk in the packaging is not a new idea
According to Peter Nilsson, CEO, Ecolean Group, mixing chalk in the packaging is not a new idea.
“We make packaging systems for liquid food. We get requests for liquid soap and detergent but we only do liquid food, because our material would not suit some of these products as the material needs to breathe," he said.
“Our approach is minimalistic. There are lots of discussions about biopolymers and bioplastics today but it’s better to use as little raw materials as possible. Our packages weigh less than our competitors, some of it is plastic, some of it is chalk.
“In many cases, when manufacturers write that its product is ‘bio’ they have created an image that is ‘false advertising’. We are not saying bio is bad but we have to be careful about how we talk about it and make it fact based instead of emotional.
“We are not using bio-based polymers today because we cannot get them and they are not available, maybe in the future but right now they are not the right properties. We will not jump on that bio train just to be on it. It’s not possible to use it in our type of production today.”
