Why Flexible Packaging for Water?
Few things can rival water on the list of most essential for human survival. In a sense, it’s everywhere, yet not always easily accessible or safe to drink. According to water.org, 844 million people across the world live without access to safe drinking water.
Here in America, studies show factors such as contaminated, leaky pipes, decades of industrial dumping and pollution, and lack of funding to upgrade aging infrastructure combine to create a complex problem, blocking access to safe drinking water in many areas across the country. During an emergency or disaster, even places with typically abundant access to clean drinking water can face a contaminated or cut-off supply.
While bottles can make clean drinking water accessible, current plastic options are taking quite a toll on our environment, with PET and HDPE plastic waste literally filling up our landfills and oceans. Not to mention that most 5-gallon water-cooler bottles are made of BPA-infested polycarbonate.
Why Flexible Packaging for Water?
While flexible bag-in-box packaging offers many superior benefits—including cutting costs while minimizing packaging waste and environmental impact—the industry faces a particular ongoing challenge when it comes to putting water into bag-in-box packaging. Kevin Bergenthun, Regional Commercial Director at Scholle IPN, explains, “Water has no real inherent taste or odor of its own, but is highly susceptible to absorbing taste and odor of whatever is around it. The plastics used in water packaging today create a sort of passive barrier, allowing the tastes and odors of both the polymers in the packaging, as well as anything stored beside it to migrate into the water. So it’s basically a screen door for off-taste and odors to enter the water. And a warm, unrefrigerated environment will speed up that process.”
With these challenges in mind, Scholle IPN developed 2Pure™—a new film specifically designed for flexible packaging of ozonated water. Unlike most polyethylene-based films, Scholle IPN’s 2Pure offers a taint- and odor-free water package.
“Unlike other water film offerings in the industry today, our 2Pure film technology absorbs and holds any unwanted off-taste and odors, preventing them from impacting the quality of the water,” explains Bergenthun. “The proprietary technology used in the film structure is what protects the pure taste of your water, without any off-taste from the packaging materials or the items stored near it.”
Sustainable and Secure Water Packaging
This film technology, combined with the many other benefits of flexible packaging for water, creates a strong and more sustainable alternative to water bottles. Scholle IPN’s bag-in-box with 2Pure protects and maintains water’s efficacy, allowing extended shelf life and provision of bulk quantities in a more sustainable way.
“This just makes more sense,” says Bergenthun. “You can store it for a long period of time and it will taste just as pure and fresh as the day it was packaged. This is unlike anything else that’s out there. Everyone should have a bag-in-box of water in their pantry to be prepared.”
Bergenthun continues, outlining efficiencies of bag-in-box vs. bottles. “Take the 5-gallon water-cooler bottles that folks use in offices today,” he says, explaining that the packaging must be shipped empty to the filling source. “We know that a full trailer load of these includes 2,680 bottles. Now, compare that to our similarly sized 20L bag, which ships flat. You can fit 100,000 bags inside the same size trailer load. It’s far more efficient because you’re not shipping air.”
Once the packaging is filled, increased cube efficiency of bag-in-box allows far more filled items per palate, and packaging materials are more lightweight than rigid options. Not only do these efficiencies offer cost savings, but also reduced emissions and energy used to ship and transport product. Plus the bags collapse as they’re used and are recyclable (wherever #7 plastics are accepted), leaving minimal package waste heading toward landfills.
Bag-in-box is also extremely durable since the reinforced film structure includes nylon. Scholle IPN’s flexible packaging materials are proven sturdy enough to handle the rigors of shipping and harsh environmental conditions. For shipping larger quantities needed to places like disaster relief zones, 2Pure technology has already proven effective in packages up to six gallons, and with Scholle IPN’s strong dedication to innovation and continuous improvement, this can only improve.
“Other companies out there are making bag-in-box packaging for water, but none have the superior 2Pure film we have,” says Bergenthun. “I know the value of this package, and I’m looking forward to seeing it out the market.”
Packaging Solutions You Can Trust
Whether water suppliers are looking to provide bulk amounts of safe water for first responders to disperse in times of disaster, or sustainable packages of drinking water for ongoing consumer use, Scholle IPN prides itself on customer satisfaction, and its innovative products have led and shaped the market for more than 70 years. “We’re known for offering quality, dependability, and peace of mind,” assures Bergenthun. “We give you confidence that your product will work as it’s meant to once it’s out on the market.”
Learn More
See how Old Saratoga, Inc. is using Scholle IPN’s 2Pure to provide “U-Need Water” bag-in-box drinking water designed to aid in disaster preparedness.