RKW Danafilms Touts Film Ratio

Published: April 23, 2014

WESTBOROUGH, MA | RKW Danafilms offers FPO filmstock, suited for use in butter stick wraps and wet wipe packaging. A filled polyolefin (from which the acronym FPO is derived), FPO film blends conventional polyolefin and calcium carbonate at a roughly 50/50 ratio.

Company says this sourcing of materials leads to a reduced polymer usage, reduced energy consumption, and the potential to downgauge or reduce film thickness compared to comparable conventional filmstocks, adding these sustainability benefits were at the heart of FPO’s 2010 International Dairy Federation award for Best Packaging Innovation. In that award-winning application, lidding for yogurt cups, judges commended the material's 30% lidding material reduction, which reduced the use of crude oil by up to 60%.

According to Steve Crimmin, US director of sales and marketing for RKW Danafilms, this esteemed example of sustainability delivers production benefits that simply make good business sense. "Looking at the wax paper butter stick wrap, you've got a two-step production: You've got to make the paper, then you've got to coat that paper with wax," says Crimmin. "With FPO, one advantage over paper is a one-step packaging production: You make the film, and next, you put the butter in it."

Additional benefits are said to include improved water and vapor barriers, good puncture resistance, excellent deadfold properties, and an inherently matte finish, which has the potential to distinguish a product on the store shelf.

"The current structure for wet wipes is reverse printed polyester laminated to a three-layer coex, the main component of which is high-density polyethylene," says Crimmin. "That provides a nice barrier for the lotions and isopropyl alcohol used in wet wipes. But a single ply of FPO, which is then surface printed with a varnish, could easily make a two-step into a one-step process."

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