|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Our tray features built-in cavities to contain meat juices”
|
|
Monday, 26 August, 2024, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
|
 The Indian food and beverage packaging industry is going through transformational change in regards to type of packaging used, the food safety parameter and recycling. Sukhdeep Sethi, joint managing director, AVI Global Plast, talks about convenience of rigid packaging for food products with vast range of formats available like clamshells, trays and airtight containers. He also shares his insights on packaging trends design of recycling, optimising pack size, incorporating recycled content with Harcha Bhaskar. Excerpts:
How feasible is rigid packaging for food products?
Rigid packaging serves diverse food applications such as bakery, desserts, Indian mithai, deli or on-the-go foods, salads, herbs, dry snacks, fruits and nuts. Available in formats like clamshells, trays and airtight containers, most rigid food package offerings are made entirely from PET, making them fully recyclable. They offer pack transparency for shelf appeal and product visibility, enabling consumer inspections before purchase. High-barrier rigid packaging is also compatible with techniques like modified atmosphere packaging for shelf-life enhancement and preservation of food taste and texture. Overall, the versatility, sustainability, durability and protective capabilities of rigid packs make them highly feasible for many food product categories.
What are the various types of thermoformed packaging solutions your company offers?
Our key offerings for food applications include:
- Punnets, trays and clamshells for fresh produce: Designed in various sizes using up to 100% verified recycled PET content, these packs feature superior ventilation for extending the shelf life of soft fruits like blueberries, strawberries, kiwis and grapes, along with other produce.
- Airtight PET hinged containers: These offerings are designed to preserve the freshness, texture and quality of both dry and wet food products mentioned in the first answer. We offer over 100 catalogue designs ranging from 150 to 2200 ml, including features such as inner partitions for packing more than one type of food, or dome-lids for extra headspace.
- Tamper-evident clamshells: With an inward, airtight closure mechanism, single-point opening and in-built tamper-evident lock, AVI Secure clamshells help brands and retailers provide visible proof of food safety and quality assurance to consumers.
- High-barrier trays for modified atmosphere packaging (MAP): Supporting advanced food preservation technologies like modified atmosphere packaging, AVI offers co-extruded and laminated trays with or without EVOH. Depending on the product application, our MAP trays provide optimal moisture and oxygen barrier properties to preserve food freshness, taste and texture for longer periods.
What are your views on Modified Atmosphere Packaging?
MAP has helped in tackling the challenges of food spoilage and distribution. It replaces normal air in packages with a custom gas mixture, typically of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, to slow down microorganism growth and the natural respiration of food. This process extends product shelf life while preserving taste and texture.
Furthermore, MAP enables food producers and traders to expand their distribution presence—this was not feasible without MAP, as traditional packaging did not offer the desired gas and moisture barrier properties to maintain food quality and shelf life. By offering high-barrier trays for MAP food applications, AVI enables its customers to deliver high-quality, shelf-stable products to consumers, while minimising the environmental impact of food spoilage.
What are emerging trends noticed by you in the food and beverage packaging sector?
In the food and beverage packaging sector, we have observed several trends shaping the industry:
- Designs for recycling: With the circular economy concept gaining traction, packaging redesign has become a key trend. Selecting the right pack material ensures its recyclability post-consumer use. For instance, ready-to-eat food is majorly packed in Polypropylene (PP) trays with laminated lids. However, this is neither sustainable nor circular as PP lacks an established recycling stream compared to PET, both in India and abroad. Hence, AVI has developed mono-material PET trays and lids that ensure the same protection and functionality as PP trays with added sustainability advantages.
- Optimising pack size: There is a growing emphasis on reducing weight and material use in packaging without compromising performance. Manufacturers are focused on optimising pack designs through techniques such as downgauging (reducing pack thickness) or minimising packaging headspace (empty space between the food and the top of the container).
- Incorporating recycled content: The packaging value chain is also prioritising increased adoption of recycled packaging compositions. This is driven by consumer demand and government-backed regulations to tackle plastic waste pollution. Consequently, packaging solutions that utilise verified and traceable post-consumer recycled content, facilitate better recyclability, and have a lower carbon footprint are increasingly in demand.
What ongoing research and development is taking place in your company?
Our research and development efforts focus on aligning our rigid packaging solutions with emerging sustainability trends in food and beverage packaging. For instance, we have designed a fully recyclable PET tray packing solution for the meat and poultry industry. The novelty of this meat tray is that it eliminates the need for absorbent pads traditionally used to soak up meat juices, thereby preventing the non-recyclable pads from ending up in landfills. Our tray features built-in cavities to contain meat juices, ensuring extended shelf life, less packaging waste, and higher consumer convenience, with a clean product presentation.
We will be helping our customers meet their sustainability goals by identifying new packaging applications for incorporating up to 100% verified recycled PET without compromising pack clarity, performance, or food-contact safety.
The company is also expanding its thermoforming capabilities with PET-based freeze-grade and heat-resistant packaging solutions. These offerings are being designed to support temperature-sensitive food applications in dairy, ready-to-eat, and food service with fully recyclable and sustainable alternatives.
What is the company revenue for FY23? What are you expecting for next year?
FY23 revenue: ?260 crore. Next year's expectation: ?300 crore. This projected growth reflects the continued momentum and demand for our high-quality and trusted sustainable packaging solutions for fresh produce, food and other consumer-facing industries we serve.
Tell us about your plastic circularity and what recycling technology is used?
Our contribution to plastic circularity starts with collecting, sorting and mechanically recycling food-grade plastic bottles through partnerships with waste management agencies and recyclers pan-India. The bottles are granulated into flakes, which we use for developing high-quality recycled PET sheets and further converting these sheets into eco-friendly thermoformed packaging solutions. So far, we have recycled over a billion bottles.
We aim to help businesses minimise their environmental impact and maximise packaging efficiency through responsible manufacturing practices, increasing recycled content, optimising pack sizes, lowering carbon footprint, and delivering the best packaging and machine performance.
What contemporary technology do you use for process automation and packaging?
We leverage advanced technologies to ensure precision, automation, and predictive maintenance across our manufacturing operations.
In the area of process precision, we have integrated laser-based alignment tools to maintain precise coupling and pulley positioning across our production machinery. The coupling alignment tool helps minimise vibration, reduce stress on components, and prolong the lifespan of machinery. Similarly, the pulley alignment tool helps minimise cases of belt misalignment and associated issues for continued operational excellence.
Coming to process automation, we have invested in machinery that monitors and controls the intrinsic viscosity of our rigid sheets more accurately in real time, ensuring consistent quality and strength. We have implemented automated thickness detection and correction systems to achieve downgauged designs with assured uniformity. With the help of photoelectric colour rectification equipment, we ensure our offerings meet the desired colour specifications for enhanced appeal and marketability.
Additionally, we have deployed IoT (Internet of Things) sensors across our critical equipment to enable predictive maintenance, minimise downtime and enhance equipment effectiveness.
Which are the various food and beverage clients your company caters to?
In the food segment, our key customers include Amul, Ferrero, and Maliban Biscuits. On the fresh produce side, we serve prominent retailers and exporters across India and abroad.
What are your expansion, diversification and collaboration plans?
Over the past year, we have increased our PET extrusion and thermoforming capacity by 30 per cent. Moving forward, our focus is on global markets, particularly in Europe and USA, to help clients meet their ambitious targets for recycled content in plastic packaging.
In India, we are strengthening our backward supply chain by collaborating with more certified waste management agencies and recyclers prioritising ethical sourcing and ocean-bound plastic collection. Additionally, as active members of the India Plastics Pact’s Collaborative Action Group 4, we are committed to supporting the Pact’s objective of incorporating an average of 25% recycled content in food and non-food packaging. Together with the Pact, one of our key aspirations is also to promote and establish the concept of Tray2Tray recycling, which involves collecting and converting post-consumer thermoformed trays back into new trays. The idea is to introduce an alternative source for PET flakes, reduce waste sent to landfills, and ensure wide-scale availability of high-quality recycled materials as the demand for sustainable packaging continues to grow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|