EP2114782A1

EP2114782A1 - Improvements to packaging

Info

Publication number: EP2114782A1
Application number: EP20080709498
Authority: EP
Inventors: Richard Page
Original assignee: Wagg Foods Ltd
Current assignee: RTGP LIMITED
Priority date: 2007-02-27
Filing date: 2008-02-21
Publication date: 2009-11-11
Also published as: GB2447108A; GB2447108B; GB0724289D0; GB0703700D0; WO2008104749A1

Abstract

A retail pack (2) comprising a packaging bag and contents such as animal foodstuffs in a cavity (4) therein, the panels of the bag including at least one layer of paper based sheet material (20) and at least a further layer of a plastics sheet material (22) said materials provided so as to allow the packaging bag to be compostable for disposal purposes once the contents have been used.

Description

Improvements to Packaging

The invention to which this application relates is to an improvement to packaging in the form of bags and, more particularly, bags which include one or more ply of paper or paper based sheet material.

The provision of bags, such as square or rectangular base bags known as SOS bags, which includes one or more ply of paper based sheet material, is well known. It is also well known to provide these bags with an outer layer of plastics material laminated to the paper based sheet material, and to use this outer layer to receive ink to provide a particularly attractive external appearance as the plastics material is more susceptible to receive and retain ink patterns printed thereon. Typically, the ink patterns are applied to the plastic sheet material and the plastics sheet material is then subsequently laminated to the remainder of the bag.

For certain products which are retained within the bag, such as for example, pet foods, the same incorporate oils and/or fats, which have a tendency to migrate through the paper based sheet material and form externally visible dark "spots", of fat and oils. This is regarded as being unattractive to potential purchasers of the product and therefore there is a tendency to provide, on the inner layer of the paper based sheet material, a further plastics sheet material which acts as a liner and serves to prevent the oils and fats in the pet food product held within the bag, from reaching the paper base sheet material and hence prevents the same from migrating through it.

An alternative form of bag packaging which is used, for items such as pet products, is to form the bag entirely of plastics sheet material whether that be in one or multiple plys. In each of these prior art types of bagging, there is a problem in that the same cannot be easily disposed of and, with increasing environmental concerns about the disposability of waste packaging, the applicant has identified that there is a significant disposal problem now and in the future with either of the conventional bag formations. This problem is that the bags cannot be easily disposed of as, typically, the same are not formed of biodegradable material and certainly are not provided to be compostable.

It is known to provide bags which can be provided empty and then filled with waste by a consumer and then the bag and the waste is compostable. However that is a different problem to that addressed in the current invention which is to provide a retail pack, i.e. a bag which is initially filled with contents and in which the contents are required to be held in a predefined condition for period of time during which the bag cannot start to compost or the integrity and strength of the bag would be adversely affected. The problem is therefore how to provide the retail pack with the required shelf life and which can subsequently, when empty, be composted.

At the same time, the applicant is aware of the need to ensure that the outward appearance of the packaging can still be of a form to suit both customer expectations, and to provide the packaging in a form which, if the same is used to package materials which have components may migrate through the packaging, to take steps from preventing this from occurring. There is also a need for the packaging, with content therein, to form a retail pack which can be placed on display for potential purchase and remain in a condition over a period of time, such as for example 12 months, during which time the contents are maintained in the required condition and the packaging is sufficiently robust so as to protect the contents and form the retail pack which can be carried, and subsequently used, to dispense portions of the contents over time.

An aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a packaging bag which is of a form which is at least biodegradable and preferably compostable. A further aim is to provide a packaging bag which is compostable and which allows promotional and/or information material to be printed on the outer surface of the bag and also to prevent the migration of oils and fats therethrough and to provide the packaging in a form which allows a robust retail pack to be provided.

In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a retail pack comprising a bag with panels including walls and a base and defining a cavity in which the contents of the retail pack are held, said bag having an opening into the cavity, and said panels including at least one layer of paper based sheet material and at one further layer of a biodegradable and/or compostable plastics sheet material and wherein the retail pack is provided so as to be maintained substantially in its original form in the ambient environmental conditions in which the same is to be displayed and used and to be compostable when exposed to specific environmental conditions.

The provision of the retail pack in a form which allows the integrity of the same to be maintained in the predicted environment for display and use of the contents means that the integrity and life of the retail pack can be many months and therefore match the life of conventional retail packs with the same contents such as pet food packs. However by providing the retail pack so as to be compostable under certain conditions, so the disposability of the retail pack is achieved. In one embodiment the specific environmental conditions to which the retail pack is exposed to render the same compostable is at least 50% humidity and a temperature of at least 50 degrees Celsius. Typically under these conditions the retail pack is compostable within 60 days.

In one embodiment, the at least one layer of plastics sheet material, is preferably formed of Poly Lactic Acid (PLA), or derivatives thereof, or alternatively cellophane. PLA is obtained from corn starch and cellophane is a wood based product, thereby making both alternatives, fully compostable. It is found that PLA is preferable to be used when the contents of the retail pack are required to be protected from the effect of moisture. The PLA is particularly effective in preventing moisture emissions or leakage from the contents of the pack through the pack walls.

In one embodiment, the plastics sheet material is adhered to adjacent paper based sheet material to form at least a 2-ply bag panel. In one embodiment the plastics sheet material is used to form the inner surface facing into the cavity and hence in contact with the contents of the pack. The provision of the PLA Lining prevents the passage of moisture therethrough and therefore allows certain contents such as pet food, to retain the required moisture content and hence achieve the required lifespan of the retail pack. Typically, the lining is provided when the items to be held within the bag, are known to include components which may migrate through the paper based sheet material. Thus, the plastics sheet material, is provided of a thickness and type so as to prevent or minimise, the possibility of contact of said components with the paper based sheet material. In one embodiment, the outer layer of the retail pack is formed of paper, typically white Kraft paper, and has water based inks printed thereon to provide an externally visible display. Typically a second paper layer, perhaps of brown Kraft paper is provided which lies intermediate the outer paper layer and the layer of plastics material.

In one embodiment, the ink is applied so as to provide information relating to the items held within the bag and/or promotional material.

Typically, the plastics sheet material is laminated to a face of the adjacent paper based sheet material using an adhesive which is known to be compostable or at least biodegradable.

In one embodiment, the bag is of a type which has a base, side walls depending therefrom and, at the distal ends of the side walls, there is defined the opening.

In one embodiment, the opening is selectively sealable using heat sealing means on the plastics material inner layer to thereby trap the items held in the bag therein, typically for subsequent transport of the retail packs and display of the packs for purchase. Thus, the items held within the same can have the required shelf life on display and still be provided in a compostable bag. Typically the at least one layer of plastics sheet material is used to achieve the sealing of the opening by heat sealing methods.

In one embodiment, the contents within the retail pack, are animal foodstuffs and are therefore sealed within the retail pack until purchased and opened for consumption. In one embodiment, the paper which is used to form the paper based sheet material, is virgin or non recycled paper. However if in due course recycled paper is available which is of sufficient strength this could equally well be used.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a retail pack for animal feedstuffs, wherein said packaging bag of the retail pack is compostable.

By compostable is meant that the sheet material used to form the walls and/or base, is capable of being composted as well as the other components used to form the bag. The bag may also, in one embodiment, meet industry standards so as to be classed as compostable. Preferably the pack is of a form so as to be certified compostable to BS EN 13432. In particular the retail pack is broken down within 60 days in a commercial composting process. Typically in this process the temperature is maintained at at least 50 degrees Celsius and 50% humidity. There is therefore provided in accordance with the invention a bag which is certified by the Composting Association of the United Kingdom as compostable and which can be composted through industrial composting processes. It can therefore be stated to consumers, typically via printing on the bag, that the packaging or bag can be sent to local authority composting collection points for composting by the local authority. There are no other bags of this type known to be currently available.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of providing a compostable retail pack for an animal foodstuff , said method comprising providing an outer layer of paper based material, applying printing using water based inks to the external face thereof, attaching to the opposing face of the paper layer at at least spaced locations thereon, a further layer of paper material, attaching to the inner face of said further layer, a layer of PLA to line the interior of the pack, forming the multi-ply layers of material into a bag defining a cavity therein, at least partially filling the cavity with the foodstuff and heat sealing an opening into the cavity by applying heat to a portion of the PLA material to form the retail pack, said PLA, and first and further paper layers are all adhered to each other at said portion location and said glue used to adhere the layers is a compostable glue, placing the retail pack on display and using the same in ambient environmental conditions in which the condition of the retail pack is substantially maintained and wherein the pack is rendered compostable by exposing the same to environmental conditions in which the temperature is at least 50 degrees Celsius and at least 50% humidity

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a bag for animal foodstuff to be retained therein, said bag comprising a base and side walls, and the distal ends of said side walls define an opening, said side walls and base formed of a plurality of plys of sheet material, at least one of the plys formed of paper based sheet material and characterised in that at least one of the further plys is formed of a compostable plastic sheet material.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a packaging bag wherein both the inner and external faces of the bag are formed of compostable plastics sheet material.

In one embodiment there is provided at least one layer of paper based sheet material intermediate inner and outer layers of the compostable plastic sheet material.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a packaging bag for retaining items in a cavity defined by panels including walls and a base, said bag having an opening into the cavity, said panels including at least one layer of paper based sheet material and characterised in that the panels include at least a further layer of a biodegradable and/or compostable plastics sheet material.

Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 illustrates one form of packaging bag in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates a cross sectional elevation of a wall of the packaging bag in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 3 illustrates a cross sectional view through a side wall of a packaging bag in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

Referring firstly to Figure 1 , there is illustrated a retail pack 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In this particular example, the pack is provided for the packaging of feedstuff such as, for example, dog biscuits, therein. The pack is in the form of a packaging bag in which the contents are held in a sealed condition until portions of the foodstuff are required for consumption. An internal cavity 4 is provided into which the foodstuff is placed and then enclosed by the sealing of the opening 6. The bag is then transported for display at a retail outlet and it should be appreciated that the bag, in many instances, can be required to have a shelf life of up to one year during which the quality of the contents is required to be maintained. Once purchased, the opening 6 can be reopened and access gained into the cavity to remove portions of the foodstuff therefrom for consumption. The bag comprises a base 10, opposing side walls 12 and opposing end walls 14. This type of bag is known as an SOS bag. The present invention provides a bag which can be manufactured in accordance with the form shown, or indeed other forms, which is wholly compostable. By compostable is meant that the bag, when the contents have been used up and the same is to be discarded as waste, will form a compost without any residue being left. Thus, the bag can be passed, typically to a commercial composting environment in which the same can be composted along with other waste of this form.

The walls and/or base of the bag are typically provided in the first example with a construction which comprises a paper based sheet material 20 which forms the core layer and a second layer of paper based sheet material 18 which forms the external face 16 of the bag as shown in Figure 2 which is a cross section along line A-A of part of the side wall 12 of Figure 1. A layer of plastic sheet material 22, for example, cellophane or PLA is provided to form a lining inner face of the bag walls. One specification for a bag of the type as shown in Figure 2 is provided below:

Liner 22 comprises 20mu PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) extruded film. This film is applied to the layer 20 of brown Kraft ply, using a biodegradable and compostable adhesive at spaced locations. The PLA is certified compostable to EN13432/DIN 54900. This material provides a barrier against food, moisture and grease migration, and is heat-sealable, hence allowing the packs to be machine sealed on an automatic filling line.

Typically the layer 22 is adhered to the layer 20 via a series of portions of adhesive which are provided at spaced locations. Preferably there is at least provided a portion of the adhesive to attach the layer 22 to the layer 20 around the periphery of the opening 6 so that the layers are adhered at the location at which the heat sealing of the bag opening occurs by applying heat to the plastics material and hence providing an effective seal.

The outer ply 18 comprises 70gsm brown or white Kraft paper. White paper gives a more versatile printing surface, allowing for a greater spectrum of print colours using water based inks. In this example the layer 18 forms the outer face of the retail pack.

An alternative embodiment is shown in Figure 3 in which there is again provided a core layer 20 formed of at least one ply of paper based sheet material and the inner layer 22 is of a plastics sheet material which is compostable. Layers 20, 24 of paper based sheet material are provided and the layer 24 is laminated to a plastics sheet material 26 which forms the outer face 16 of the walls of the bag. A specification of a bag of this type is now provided.

Liner ply 22 comprises 20mu PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) extruded film which has the properties of a polymer. This film is applied to layer 20, using a biodegradable adhesive. PLA is a certified composition to ENl 3432/ DIN 54900. This material provides barrier against food, moisture and grease migration and is heat- soluble - allowing the bags to be machine sealed on an automatic filling line.

Inner ply 20 comprises 70gsm brown Kraft paper. Ply layer 24 comprises 70gsm brown or white Kraft paper and the outer laminate 26 comprises 12mu PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) extruded film which is used as an outer laminate for the bag.

A full colour design can be reverse printed onto this film, which will then be laminated onto the outer Kraft ply. This creates a "glossy" finish to the bag look, whilst retaining full compostability.

The outer face, in both embodiments, is provided to receive ink printed thereon so as to provide the required information and/or promotional visual appearance on the external face 16 of the bag. The internal sheet 22 of plastics material, acts as a liner so as to prevent the passage of oils and fats which are typically present in the foodstuff, into the paper base sheet material or indeed through the walls of the bag. This is found to prevent the formation of stains or dark spots on the external face of the bag and therefore maintains the pleasing visual appearance of the bag to potential purchasers. It also acts to maintain the moisture of the contents within the pack as the PLA is resistant to moisture leakage. This .therefore means that for certain products, such as, for example, foodstuffs which are sensitive to moisture content, the required shelf life of the products can be achieved with the weight and condition of the feedstuff meeting the required standards.

In one embodiment the method of forming the retail pack starts with the provision of an outer layer of paper based material, and applying printing to the same as appropriate using water based inks to the face of the outer layer 18 which will ultimately form the outer face 16 of the bag. To the opposing face of the paper layer 18 there is attached a further paper layer 20, typically attached at least spaced locations to the layer 18 using a compostable adhesive. To the inner face of the layer 18 is attached a layer of PLA 22 which will act to line the interior of the subsequently formed pack. The PLA layer 22 will typically be adhered to the inner face using spaced portions of compostable adhesive with care being taken to ensure that there is a strong join around the periphery of the opening 6 for the sealing reasons stated previously. The multi-ply and joined layers of material can then be formed, using standard apparatus as appropriate, into a bag defining a cavity therein. The cavity is at least partially filled with the items to be held therein, such as a foodstuff and the opening is heat sealed by applying heat to a portion of the PLA material and hence form the retail pack.

The retail pack can then be placed on display and during display and subsequent use of the contents in ambient environmental conditions the condition of the retail pack is substantially maintained. The retail pack can be rendered compostable at any time, but typically once the contents have been used and only the bag is left, by exposing the same to environmental conditions in which the temperature is at least 50 degrees Celsius and the humidity is at least 50%.

Thus, there is provided in accordance with the invention, a compostable retail pack including a packaging bag is provided which can be used to retain items therein on a short or long term for, if required, display and retail purchasers . The compostable bag is provided in a form which allows the maintenance of foods held within the bag in the required form, allows the provision of promotional and/or other information on the external face of the bag in an acceptable manner and allows the integrity and use of the retail pack to be as that of a conventional non compostable pack in normal usage environment conditions. However by providing the pack as described, when the bag is to be discarded the same can be exposed to composting conditions which are significantly different to the normal usage environment and thereby render the bag to compost. The applicant has therefore recognised and provides the means for ensuring that a retail pack can be provided which meets the requirements of the sellers, in terms of shelf life, attractiveness and integrity; is sufficiently robust to allow use by the consumer and furthermore, allows the packaging to be wholly regarded as waste in a compostable manner.

With the bags in accordance with the invention being compostable, then the same can, it is believed, be discarded along with normal garden waste and other compostable materials thereby providing significant advantages to the consumer and, as a result, making products which are packaged within this type of bag more appealing for purchase than products which may be packaged in the other conventional form of packaging.

Claims

1. A retail pack comprising a bag with panels including walls and a base and defining a cavity in which the contents of the retail pack are held, said bag having an opening into the cavity, and said panels including at least one layer of paper based sheet material and at one further layer of a biodegradable and/or compostable plastics sheet material and wherein the retail pack is provided so as to be maintained substantially in its original form in the ambient environmental conditions in which the same is to be displayed and used and to be compostable when exposed to specific environmental conditions.

2. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the plastics sheet material is formed of polylactic acid (PLA) or cellophane.

3. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the environmental conditions to render the pack compostable is a temperature of at least 50 degrees Celsius and at least 50% humidity.

4. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the plastics sheet material is laminated to adjacent paper based sheet material to form at least a 2-ply bag panel.

5. A pack according to any of claims 1 -0 wherein the plastics sheet material is used to form the external faces of the bag and receive thereon, ink to provide an externally visible display.

6. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the external layer of the pack is formed of white Kraft paper to which water based inks are applied.

7. A pack according to claim 6 wherein a further layer of paper is located intermediate the external layer and the layer of plastics material.

8. A pack according to any of the preceding claims wherein a layer of the plastics sheet material is used to form the internal face of the panels of the bag to act as a liner.

9. A pack according to any of the preceding claims wherein the plastics sheet material is laminated to a face of the adjacent paper based sheet material using a biodegradable and/or compostable adhesive.

10. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the opening into the pack is seal using heat sealing means to thereby trap the contents the bag therein.

1 1. A pack according to claim 0 wherein the plastics sheet material is used to achieve the sealing of the opening by heat sealing means.

12. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the paper based sheet material is re-cycled paper or includes a portion of re-cycled paper.

13. A pack according to claim 1 wherein the items to be held within the bag are animal foodstuffs

14. A pack according to claim 1 wherein there is provided at least one layer of paper based sheet material and an inner layer of the compostable plastic sheet material.

15. A bag for animal foodstuff to be retained therein, said bag comprising a base and side walls, and the distal ends of said side walls from said base define an opening, said side walls and base formed of a plurality of plys of sheet material, at least one of the plys formed of paper based sheet material and characterised in that at least one of the further plys is formed of a compostable plastic sheet material.

16. A retail pack for animal teedstuffs, wherein said packaging bag of the retail pack is compostable for disposal once the bag is empty.

17. A method of providing a compostable retail pack for an animal foodstuff , said method comprising providing an outer layer of paper based material, applying printing using water based inks to the external face thereof, attaching to the opposing face of the paper layer at at least spaced locations thereon, a further layer of paper material, attaching to the inner face of said further layer, a layer of PLA to line the interior of the pack, forming the multi-ply layers of material into a bag defining a cavity therein, at least partially filling the cavity with the foodstuff and heat sealing an opening into the cavity by applying heat to a portion of the PLA material to form the retail pack, said PLA, and first and further paper layers are all adhered to each other at said portion location and said glue used to adhere the layers is a compostable glue, placing the retail pack on display and using the same in ambient environmental conditions in which the condition of the retail pack is substantially maintained and wherein the pack is rendered compostable by exposing the same to environmental conditions in which the temperature is at least 50 degrees Celsius and at least 50% humidity

18. A bag for animal foodstuff to be retained therein, said bag comprising a base and side walls, and the distal ends of said side walls define an opening, said side walls and base formed of a plurality of plys of sheet material, at least one of the plys formed of paper based sheet material and characterised in that at least one of the further plys is formed of a compostable plastic sheet material.

19. A packaging bag for retaining items in a cavity defined by panels including walls and a base, said bag having an opening into the cavity, said panels including at least one layer of paper based sheet material and characterised in that the panels include at least a further layer of a biodegradable and/or comoostable plastics sheet material.