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Berry Superfos has redesigned its 1kg UniPack container, currently packaging Milchwerke Schwaben’s Weideglück brand of yoghurt- and milk-based desserts, to reduce its weight to 35g; this change is thought to improve its efficiency on the filling line and streamline its delivery.

Due to a reduced headspace and improved indexation in the new containers, each pallet can now carry 594kg’s worth of packaging in comparison to the previous 540kg. These changes are not thought to have impacted the overall effectiveness of the tubs.

The redesign follows an initial reduction from the original 50g pack to 43g and retains the in-mould labelling decoration from previous designs for brand customisation.

“We wanted a weight reduction and we achieved almost 19% which we are very satisfied with,” explained Jakob Ramm, managing director at Milchwerke Schwaben. “The 1kg container now weighs 35g as opposed to 43g before. But happily, we got even more than that from the redesign project with Berry Superfos because, thanks to alterations in the design, we can now load more containers onto each pallet.

“In addition, after modifying our filling line slightly to fit the redesigned container, we have fewer handling costs and our filling line simply runs much better now.

“To achieve the lower weight, Berry Superfos made several small adjustments. They reduced the headspace, made the skirt shorter and the handles thinner, and changed the tamper evidence function.

“In this way, we were able to meet the demand from retailers and consumers to reduce the amount of packaging material without compromising the container’s great consumer appeal.”

Greiner Packaging previously developed a new solution for yoghurt packaging that achieved a material saving of 20% and reduced the weight of its predecessors whilst maintaining the appropriate functionality.

Meanwhile, Amcor Rigid Packaging’s Quantum lightweighting technology – expected to lower manufacturing costs and reduce carbon emissions – is expected to provide fully recyclable packaging for food dairy applications, alongside healthcare, home and personal care, and more.