Unilever margarine tub produced using MuCell process wins award

The Unilever 500g Rama margarine tub has been awarded the 2008 Deutscher Verpackungs Preis (German Packaging Award) and a WorldStar Packaging Award. The innovative tub design was developed by Veriplast Solutions and uses Veriplast’s super light injection molding technology (SLIM), which combines the MuCell microcellular foaming process with Veriplast’s Extra Slim Label, an innovative down-gauged inmold label.

“The success of the SLIM program is a credit to Veriplast and Unilever who were able to understand the new design paradigms for thin-wall molding that become available through the MuCell process and to put them into effect,” says David Bernstein, president of Trexel.

SLIM technology uses MuCell, which involves the use of precisely metered quantities of atmospheric gases (nitrogen or CO2) in the injection molding process to create millions of nearly invisible micro cells in the end product. The gas nucleates cells during injection and allows the thin-wall cavities to be filled using reduced pressure and clamp tonnage, which permits additional thin walling. The micro cells replace their equivalent volume of plastic, resulting in a cumulative reduction of up to 10% in packaging weight without any perceptible difference in the final tub quality. Veriplast combines this with its own Extra Slim Label technology, which is significantly thinner than the market standard and provides an additional environmental benefit by reducing the CO2 footprint 30% compared to standard labels.

SLIM technology provides outstanding benefits in terms of packaging weight reduction and carbon footprint reduction. As a result, SLIM customers in Europe can save additional money by reducing Eco Tax costs. For example, in Germany, for a standard 15g tub, the 10% weight reduction obtained thanks to SLIM is a E200,000 ($265,248) savings in Eco Tax for every 100 million tubs.—[email protected]