Thành Phú Packaging wins ERA Gravure Award

Thành Phú is a family-owned and operated flexible packaging manufacturer in Vietnam continuously working on recyclable alternatives to conventional laminated film structures, aiming for easy recyclability and full circularity. 

The winning mono-material packaging is a reverse-printed flat bottom pouch for dog food. It is a fully recyclable MDO-PE/PE structure suitable for large volumes up to 20kg. The pouch was printed with a haptic (sand touch) and a matte coating from Siegwerk in double-in-register. The sand touch effect was applied at the upper part of the pouch design to offer a better and safer grip to the bag. 

‘With our winner pouch, we have now been able to show that full PE structures can also be excellently printed with rotogravure, which provides our customers with a wide range of special effect varnishes and inks, together with consistent quality,’ said Alex Dam, executive vice president at Thành Phú. ‘We have created a premium look pouch with perfect double-in-register-printing results and good sealing capabilities with two coatings in different thicknesses.’

In June 2021, the same printed packaging has already received the Made for Recycling quality seal from Interseroh, one of the leading service providers for sustainability, underlining its good recyclability.

‘Independent from the printing process used, it is always about matching functionality and recyclability,’ adds Khanh Tran Thi Quoc, head of sales for flexible packaging BU, Vietnam. ‘Here, the right adjusted ink systems and coatings play an essential role to meet both technical requirements in terms of performance and recyclability as well as optical and haptic packaging requirements.’

‘The switch from multi-material to mono-material packaging is one important lever towards achieving full packaging circularity,’ added Ralf Hildenbrand, president for packaging Americas and global technology, PSR, and sustainability at Siegwerk. ‘But as this switch comes with many technical hurdles and challenges, we are more than excited that a customer project for mono-material packaging was honored with ERA’s Gravure Award for Sustainable Packaging now. We congratulate Thành Phú and all other award winners: Your contributions show that we as packaging industry are already on a good way towards improved recyclability and packaging circularity.’