How to get lighter packaging with blow moulding

Posted 2022-08-09

Blow moulding of plastic packaging provides many opportunities to influence the weight of the packaging. Good for the environment and good for your economy! Markus Porath, Product and Development Manager at Emballator Mellerud, shares some know-how.

Lightweighting is the art of making packaging as light as possible, without affecting the strength or the functionality of the packaging. As Product and Development Manager at Emballator Mellerud, Markus Porath is a specialist in the field and helps customers to find the optimal solution for their packaging needs.

“When it comes to blow moulding it is quite easy to influence the thickness of the material and thus the weight. Blow moulding provides great flexibility. A standard five-liter can for chemicals can be varied from 165 grams up to 280 grams with a maintained appearance. Therefore, it is important that we, in consultation with the customer, evaluate the possibilities. There is no need to choose a heavier can than necessary.

In addition to the fact that reduced weight results in less material consumption and lower transport costs – and consequently better economy, it is also a question of sustainability.

But it is still very important to be aware of the various influencing factors that determine the weight, Markus Porath points out:

“Stacking of the product during storage and transport, as well as the chosen mode of transport, is decisive for the thickness of the packaging. It must have sufficient strength to allow stacking. The thickness of the material is also controlled by its content as different contents affect the plastic. Some substances make the plastic soft or brittle, and this you must take it into account. But of course, we help the customer with all such considerations. We have extensive experience and test methods where we can work with content, stacking and transport to produce a blow moulded packaging that is super-optimized for the purpose.”

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