India-based flexible packaging materials firm Uflex is focusing on resource optimized packaging for staples foods such as pulses, wheat flour, sugar, salt and oil.

Recently, the company developed a 2 ply laminated packaging for wheat flour comprising a specialised Polyester (PET) / specialised Polyethylene (PE) structure.

Uflex packaging and new product development joint president Jeevaraj Pillai said: “With steadily increasing demand from urban consumers for branded high volume commodity food items, we are now getting a lot of enquiries from popular food brands for developing cost effective packaging particularly for the essential staples category.”

Designed for 5Kg wheat flour bags, the new packaging has been downgauged in order to restrict the pricing to within 2.5% to 3% of the total MRP of the pack, while retaining the functionalities and strength of the packaging.

The company changed both the polyester film and the sealant PE layer for optimizing the entire characteristics of the packaging.

Both the layers were rendered special high dart impact resistant to pass 5 drops from 1.2 m height as per the ASTM standards.

The modification has resulted in reduction of the PE thickness by almost 38%, thus making the packaging light-weight/resource optimized and more sustainable than its previous, the company said.

The company said it has also integrated nano-perforation into the laminate to help dispel air while filling the flour inside the pack.

In addition to ensuring that no infestation by mites and other micro-organisms takes place, the nano-perforation on the pack impart anti-skid properties to the bag.

For the integration of nano-perforation on the package, the firm also installed a new machine with the most contemporary software.

Uflex chairman and managing director Ashok Chaturvedi said: “I am glad that my packaging engineers have been able to develop this packaging solution which is light-weight, sustainable and significantly contributes towards extending the use of flexible packaging for this volume driven food category.”

Image: The Uflex’s new resource flexible optimized packaging solution. Photo: courtesy of Uflex.