The changing shape of beverage cartons

The trend toward non-alcoholic beverages is continuing. This is especially clear to German breweries, which for years have been adapting to a decline of 1-2% in the per capita consumption of beer by selling more non-alcoholic beverages. The Krombacher private brewery, for example, now generates about one fifth of its turnover with soft drinks and beers that contain no alcohol in response to the trend towards non-alcoholic beverages. This beverage group includes (carbonated) soft drinks, water and fruit juices as well as trendy drinks such as iced tea, coffee-based and iso drinks, smoothies and milk-based products that contain fruit. Innovative products and the new flavour alternatives that are continually being introduced are the reasons for the high annual per capita consumption of about 300 L of these drink products.

Closely linked to the success of non-alcoholic beverages, in terms of processing and packaging, is the trend toward the aseptic cold filling of drinks, which preserves the products’ properties. Among drinks and food products that are liquid or have a paste-like consistency, the market share of products that are aseptically filled or come in cartons, pouch packages or plastic bottles has been increasing by 5-6% a year.

Aseptic filling differs from conventional hot filling in many ways. The product and the package are sterilised separately, considerably reducing the thermal treatment time for products.

Drink cartons - predecessors of aseptic packaging

The benefits provided by aseptic filling have been proven above all in the noncarbonated beverage segment. Cold asepsis originated in the milk industry, which began early on to strive for longer storage times for its sensitive, fresh products. The pioneering aseptic packages were drink cartons. A key role in their success story was played by Ruben Rausing, the founder of Tetra Pak. In the 1950s, Rausing had the idea of filling milk not into glass bottles, which was the standard practice in those days, but rather into carton packages.

Today approximately 200,000 metric tonnes of drink cartons are produced by Tetra Pak, SIG Combibloc and Elopak for the German market. That corresponds to about nine billion package units. More and more drink cartons on the German market display the internationally recognised logo of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which indicates that the wood fibres for the package come from sustainably managed forests. Currently 40% of the cartons are FSC-approved, and by 2015 that figure is expected to rise to 85%. Modern aseptic carton packaging obviously does not consist only of cardboard material, which is the main ingredient (up to 75%) in the mix of materials used and the primary factor that ensures the strength of the packaging. Also used are polyethylene layers, which form barriers to liquid, and a paper-thin layer of aluminium which is nearly impermeable to oxygen and light.

The filling lines and automation concepts used are configured in line with the different types of drink cartons and beverages. The speed, production output and efficiency of a filling line are the criteria to which food companies are increasingly directing their attention. Modern filling machines can be adapted with a few simple steps and adjusted using a touchscreen monitor. Machines that can produce volumes of between 12,000 and 24,000 cartons per hour are not unusual today. The performance of these high-speed filling machines is possible thanks to servo motors and the use of up to six lanes.

Optimal pouring for greater convenience

Consumers like packages that are easy to open and re-close. For a long time, drink carton manufacturers focused mainly on the development and optimisation of features for easy opening and pouring. Back in 1993, SIG Combibloc launched ‘combiTop’ - a feature it called the world’s first cap closure for aseptic drink cartons.

Today there is hardly any drink packaging on retailers’ shelves that can only be opened with aids like a knife or a pair of scissors. Tetra Pak alone has about a dozen re-closable closure solutions in its product line-up. This development process culminated in solutions such as the ‘combiTwist’ and the ‘StreamCap’, to name just two examples. These are screw-caps of the kind that consumers know from bottles, which can be opened with one twist of the wrist. In contrast to the cap closure, these new developments not only offer ease of handling but can also be securely re-closed and re-sealed. This added convenience allows consumers to enjoy their drinks right from the package, so they are ideal for drinking on the go.

Back to the roots - a return to bottles

Since the introduction of drink cartons more than 60 years ago, designs, in terms of shapes and sizes, have changed continuously. But one thing hasn’t changed, the basic rectangular shape of the container. Developments that have emerged in the past few years aim to free the drink carton from its rigid geometry. This movement began with SIG Combibloc’s ‘combishape’, which was introduced at Anuga FoodTec 2003. Round, oval, crescent-shaped, octagonal - the new package type made possible a previously unattainable variety of shapes.

Moving even more clearly now in the direction of the bottle is Tetra Pak, which in May 2011 introduced the ‘Tetra Evero Aseptic’ carton bottle in cooperation with the Weihenstephan dairy company. This package is designed to combine the advantages of the drink carton with all the convenience features of bottles. The aseptic, one-litre carton bottle consists of a cylindrical carton body and a bottleneck made of high-density light-absorbing polyethylene with a large closure. In cooperation with Weihenstephan, testing is currently under way in Freising, Germany, to determine how consumers will respond to the carton bottle. The consistent improvement of carton packaging is a key reason why the volume of drinks offered in cartons is expected to increase by 4% annually by 2013.

Carton packaging will benefit above all from the growing demand for milk and milkshake mixes.

Anuga FoodTec 2012

Anuga FoodTec 2012 is an international trade fair for food and drink technology which is being held in Cologne, Germany, 27 - 30 March 2012 at the Cologne Exhibition Centre.