Swiss packaging manufacturer Hoffmann Neopac (Thun; www.hoffmann-neopac.com) has introduced what it says is the market’s first fully recyclable polyethylene-based tube with HDPE flip-top caps. The company noted that the tubes are ideal for health, beauty, food and pharmaceutical packaging applications.

The product is said to overcome the last hurdle to fully recyclable tube packaging, namely the ability to form functional closures from the same material as the tube body and shoulder. These components were previously made mainly from polypropylene. Mono-material plastic packaging is preferable to products with multiple materials as it offers full recyclability in mechanical reclaim plants.

In addition to the new HDPE flip tops, Neopac said it is launching a portfolio of PE screw caps. They are commercially available in 16-40 mm diameters and for all Neopac’s PE, co-extruded, ecodesign and “Polyfoil” ranges. From November 2020, the recyclable fully mono-material PE tubes with flip-top caps are scheduled to be offered with the new printing service “DigitAll360°“, a direct-to-shape digital service that provides graphics and text on the surface of cylindrical containers.

Neopac added that it is currently developing “Polyfoil MMB”, which are next-generation, HDPE-optimised high-performance barrier tubes with PE screw tops. The company said the products have already received excellent ratings from the German institute for recyclability and product responsibility cyclos-HTP (Aachen; www.cyclos-htp.de).