Packaging maker Hoffmann Neopac (Thun / Switzerland; www.neopac.com) will later this year launch “Polyfoil” tubes that are recyclable while providing premium protection for cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical products. The Polyfoil products are more than 95% polyethylene based, and the company labels them as mono-material barrier tubes – containing less than 5% foreign materials (inks, adhesives, among others) to avoid disruptions in existing recycling processes. Neopac is aiming to apply new barrier technologies, including highly oriented PE barrier films (machine direction orientation), thin film EVOH layers, barrier lacquers and ceramic barrier films.

Multi-layer, aluminium-barrier packaging poses recycling problems as it is incompatible with mechanical sorting techniques. Packaging comprised of multi-material plastics generates a huge amount of waste, says Hoffmann Neopac.

Polyfoil’s new tubes are available in metallised, white and transparent versions. Their weight is 40% less than the standard Polyfoil tubes with aluminium barriers. Neopac is also conducting tests with the goal of converting caps from PP to PE.

The group produces metal and plastic packaging, with Hoffmann manufacturing tins in Thun and the Netherlands. Neopac produces Polyfoil and plastic tubes in Switzerland, Hungary and the US, and 3D Neopac is in India. Neopac has around 1,250 employees and a capacity of 1.3 bn tubes.