Neopac Wins European Tube Manufacturers Association Awards in Plastics, Prototypes Categories

Oberdiessbach, Switzerland – Hoffmann Neopac, a global provider of high-quality packaging for pharma, beauty and oral care, has won two awards from the European Tube Manufacturers Association (ETMA). One accolade recognized a current customer application housed in a sustainable yet sleek solution; the other awarded a groundbreaking sustainability solution on the verge of market launch in Fall 2022.

In the Plastics category, Neopac was recognized for a project with Swiss brand Liebwerk, which chose Neopac’s PICEA™ Tube with digital print decoration for its vegan botanical toothpaste. PICEA™ is the only sustainable tube solution that allows consumers to actually touch and feel the incorporated sustainable material due to the tactile saw dust and specially crafted surface.

Neopac’s PICEA™ tubes combine spruce saw dust waste with a plastic matrix of sugar-based raw materials. In total, the tube is composed of 95.8% renewable materials, and a CO2 footprint analysis revealed PICEA™ uses 38.9% less carbon dioxide over its lifecycle than traditional polyethylene (PE) tubes. The PICEA™ tube has attained Ecocert and Cosmos certifications, as well as EU Food Grade status.

For Liebwerk, the combination of the PICEA™ material and digital printing was a market first, and ideally suited its nature-loving brand presence. To add further flourish, the wood-containing tube is sold together with a wooden toothbrush – a sustainable oral care set that stands out on crowded store shelves.

Meanwhile, a polypropylene (PP) version of Neopac’s Polyfoil® MMB mono-material barrier tube won the Prototypes category. Featuring a high-performance PP laminate that provides superior product protection and is ready to recycle, Polyfoil® MMB PP can offer either a luxurious soft-touch coating or a shiny metallized body.

True to its name, the Polyfoil® MMB PP series also includes convenient PP caps, pumps and applicators, meaning the entire package is recyclable in common rigid PP streams. The result is a novel combination of product protection, user friendliness and appealing aesthetics that exemplifies a marked advancement in eco-conscious materials technology. In fact, the tube is the first of its kind to be approved by the EU’s discerning RecyClass sustainability verification organization.

Compared with Neopac’s conventional Polyfoil® tubes, Polyfoil® MMB PP tubes reduce carbon footprints as much as 40%. This is due to a combination of factors, including its aluminum-free recyclability and minimized tube wall thickness.