Constantia Flexibles Wins Alufoil Trophy

Published: September 01, 2015

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY | Companies from every part of the aluminum foil industry embraced the opportunity presented by the  European Aluminium Foil Assn., which organizes the Alufoil Trophy. With the diversity of the 57 entries, the judges had a demanding task but finally selected 12 worthy winners.

In the category Resource Efficiency, Constantia Flexibles Labels Div. won the trophy for Chang Beer for its next generation neck foil.

“Constantia Flexibles Labels Div. has created a remarkably thin neck foil label for Chang Beer which uses an 8.8my, soft tampered, aluminum foil alloy. This not only offers material savings, but also downstream advantages during the wash process of returnable glass bottles.” (Alufoil Trophy Jury)

Since the 1990s, the thickness of foil has been continually reduced from 13my down to 9.5my. Now Constantia Flexibles Labels Div. has further reduced it to 8.8my with Chang Beer’s neck label.

“The Thai Beverage Company takes environmental issues seriously and has developed sustainability programs throughout the value chain…. It is our pleasure to be a part of this initiative program with Constantia to pioneer such a sustainability development to the aluminium foil industry,” explained Dr. Pisanu Vichiensanth, director and executive VP–Technology and Engineering.

In addition to material savings of 8% the new neck foil has a positive impact on wastewater used during the returned bottle cleaning process. The thinner foil completely dissolves in the caustic bath, extending the caustic wash efficiency by up to 10%. This leads to lower hydrogen emissions and thus less heat dissipation from the washer.

Head of R&D Gerd Blecken comments: “Material efficiency is a fundamental part of our and our customers’ business focus. From a business perspective, this Alufoil Trophy emphasizes the importance of sustainability even in a niche market such as aluminum bottle neck foil usage.”

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