TricorBraun has introduced a new lightweight, low-profile tube and closure solution that aims to improve sustainability, logistic efficiencies and costs while reducing lead times –– all without requiring brand owners to change their filling operations or consumers to change their use behaviors.

TricorBraun partnered with Silgan Tubes to develop a unique, snap-on tube head weighing as much as 30 percent less than a similar-sized traditional tube heads. TricorBraun also has the exclusive rights in North America to Italian closure manufacturer Giflor range of products. Giflor developed a new, eco low-profile flip top closure that weighs 50 percent less than a similar-diameter traditional closure. The resulting Eco low-profile tube/closure solution is a minimum of up to 30 percent lighter than traditional combinations holding the same volume of product.

This low-profile tube and closure solution is designed to offer dramatic benefits to the brand owner, the consumer and the environment. Following the introduction of a prototype in 2013, the Eco low-profile tube/closure solution is now commercial in a two-inch diameter version, with other sizes to be added.

Cost savings plus environmental benefit

Silgan’s low-profile HDPE tube head reportedly use significantly less resin than traditional offerings. And, Giflor’s new low-profile PP closure uses up to 54 percent less resin than its traditional counterpart. Together, this combination delivers an overall material savings of 30  percent. This reduction in resin also translates directly into dollars saved, since marketers save up to 10,000 pounds of resin for every million tubes manufactured, according to the company.

The reduced tube length also can result in logistic efficiencies, such as being able to place up to 25 percent more tubes in a carton and more tube/closure solutions into a truckload, thereby reducing freight costs. Savings depend upon the selected tube length as well as the tube/closure combination currently used, but customers have calculated up to 20 percent savings (with the same fluid oz. package). And, the resulting savings are not only financial but also environmental: the new tube/closure combination significantly reduces the volume of fuel required and the amount of truck-generated CO₂ going into the atmosphere, TricorBraun reports.

On the retail shelf and in the home

Reduced package size is something consumers have become familiar with, for products from laundry products to household cleaners, and they have come to recognize that reduction as a benefit. Consumers recognize that the larger the package, the more stress it places on the environment –– both to make it and to recycle it after use.

On the retail shelf, standing next to competitors’ larger tubes that contain the same volume of product, the low-profile Eco tube offers consumers immediate visual evidence that the brand owner is committed to sustainability. Silgan Tubes’ eight-color offset and six-color silkscreen tube printing help enhance that difference.

In addition, where other packaging solutions created to benefit the environment have required consumers to change their behavior –– by adding water to concentrated product, refilling bottles, etc. –– the Eco low-profile tube solution requires absolutely no change in behavior. The performance of the low-profile tube is no different from that of a traditional tube –– flip the closure open and squeeze the tube.

According to the company, the only difference is that purchasing the Eco low-profile tube brings the consumer the added satisfaction that by choosing it over the traditional package the consumer is benefitting the environment –– a benefit that also reflects positively on the brand owner.

Uses

Any product that can be packaged in a similar size tube can be packaged in an Eco low-profile tube, but the Eco low-profile tube is ideally suited for personal care products such as skincare, sun care, cosmetics and haircare products. Other suitable potential products include baby care and health and hygiene products such as ointments, salves and insect repellent.