Pactiv, Rollprint team for Hefty improvements

Consumer and foodservice/food packaging giant Pactiv worked with film processor/converter Rollprint (Addison, IL) to supply Hefty Slide-Rite slider customers with an improved filling and opening feature for heavier (15-65 lb), bagged products. Pactiv's Hefty-brand products include waste bags, slider storage bags, disposable tableware, and disposable cookware. 

The challenge for slider bags that are bottom-filled is to minimize the fill force against the slider assembly during filling of the bags, while at the same time making it easy for consumers to open and access the contents. The established means of doing so has been to line the entire bag with a peel-seal film to provide a fill barrier on one side and an easy-peel seal on the other.

To help drive costs out of the bag and improve performance for both packagers and consumers, Pactiv and Rollprint developed their alternative. The end result is a 0.5-inch-wide strip which replaces several feet of the film. Rollprint's structure is a 2-mil nylon extrusion coated with 2 mils of its proprietary Allegro B peelable sealant. The nylon side offers puncture strength and toughness, while the Allegro B side eases opening and provides visual evidence of a hermetic seal. Rollprint says Alegro B offers a wide sealing window able to accommodate most process variations. 

In use, the strip is folded in half to create an inverted V. The outer legs of the inverted V are adhered to opposite sides of the Slide-Rite slider's seal area. (The peelable Allegro B side seals to the slider track sidewall; the nylon side is exposed to the product.) "On the product side, the geometry and performance characteristics of the nylon now can sustain more than 16-pounds per linear inch of force—which is sufficient to handle the fill weight of heavier products. On the consumer side, the Allegro B peelable sealant only requires about a pound-and-a-half of force to open, which enables consumers quick and easy access," says Dave Cameron, engineering supervisor, Pactiv.

Because the easy-peel assembly is now contained within the seal area of the slider assembly, packagers no longer need to line their bags with a peel-seal layer. The new structure is suitable for use on a variety of bag structures including multiwall paper, polywoven sacks, laminates, or composite plastic/paper bags.  Product applications include 15-65-lb bags of pet food, kitty litter, birdseed, rock salt, charcoal, rice and other grains, and more.