Amcor Flexibles has been awarded three Alufoil Trophy 2015 awards, at the annual awards organised by the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA).
In Product Preservation, Amcor Flexibles and partner Sandoz International, won an Alufoil Trophy for AirFluSal Forspiro, a new respiratory inhaler for people suffering with asthma/COPD.
Amcor Flexibles was asked to design a blister strip to ensure a longer shelf life of the powder in the AirFluSal Forspiro inhaler.
The seal layer, placed between the Formpack base and blister lid foil, protects the inhalation powder from moisture by 50% and also improves performance during transportation and release of the powder from the cavity. By removing the aluminium blister strip in the feedback window, the patient can also check whether the prescribed number of inhalations has been taken.
Head of the judging panel, Jean-Paul Duquet, global packaging eco design manager of Bel Group, noted, “This is a complex device and all the components had to be carefully combined to achieve the required performance. It is clear that the protection of the active ingredient – a hygroscopic powder – is entirely due to the innovative use of the aluminium foil in the blister strip.”
Andrea Della Torre, R&D pharma director at Amcor Flexibles Europe and Americas added that the award, “emphasises how an early and close collaboration in the packaging development process contributes to launching an innovative product for patients”.
Amcor Flexibles’ Alufoil Trophy 2015 for Technical Innovation was awarded for a new range of aluminium wine closures and liners for Stelvin Inside, that can double wine maker’s oxygen transmission rate (OTR) choices.
Each of the four new liners has a different OTR target, which ensures a controlled level of oxygen dispersion allowing wine makers and consumers’ consistency from one bottle to the next. Liners are highly complex and play a pivotal role in aluminium closures for wine. They guarantee absence of cork taint, consistency from one bottle to another, preservation of aromas, flavours and freshness and controlled OTR, which is critical to the wine ageing process. All of the films used in the liners are produced by Amcor and are PVDC-Free. Two of the four new liners also contain layers of aluminium foil. OTRs are offered between 1 O2 and 7 O2.
The judges stated, “A great deal of research and development has gone into the making of these closures. The absence of tin in any of the liner formulations means there are no issues about stability or recyclability. Further, they take aluminium closures into new segments of the wine market, such as aging red wines, which can only add to their popularity in the marketplace.”
Amcor Flexibles was awarded an Alufoil Trophy in Resource Efficiency for Canseal Pro, a direct-seal aluminium membrane for can ends.
The membrane reduces total packaging material and cost, because it is directly sealed onto a can. No additional metal ring is needed. Canseal Pro offers a safe and convenient closure, with excellent seal integrity, outstanding barrier properties, easy peelability and highly efficient processability.
