Takeaways
1. Replacing plastic lid with sustainable PET 95-micron label material in wet wipes packaging enabled Ecowipes and Max Cool to achieve their sustainability targets
2. Production efficiency was improved due to easy automatic labeling of UPM Raflatac’s RAFCARE PET CLEAR TC 95/RRS3/WG 85. solution
3. The solution offers a better visual appearance of the wet wipes package, as well as convenient functionality
Wet wipes have numerous applications from baby wipes to personal and healthcare and from household wipes to industrial cleaning. The global demand for wet wipes has been growing steadily since they were first introduced in the 1950s.
While wet wipes provide us great convenience, there are also sustainability aspects to consider.
A sustainable mindset plays a crucial role in the future success of brands
The materials used in the production of wet wipes as well as their packages can have a strong environmental impact. Brand owners and consumers globally are increasingly aware of sustainability and responsible sourcing.
Nowadays, consumers expect more natural ingredients in their wet wipe products. The need for plastic-alternatives, biodegradable materials, is likely to increase and businesses are already making changes that appeal to the consumer’s demand for more sustainable materials.
Ecowipes is the pioneer in producing wet wipes with its modern production line in Vietnam.
“Ecowipes is supplying for many customers in developed countries who focus on sustainability,” says Mr. Le Lam, Chairman of Ecowipes.
Mr. Le Lam, Chairman of Ecowipes and Thanh Nguyen, Country Manager, Vietnam-Cambodia of UPM Raflatac
While Ecowipes have customers across continents, one of the local brands is Max Cool, a premium wet wipe brand, providing products for babies and teenagers. The ecological and environmental aspects of the products are at the heart of their businesses. Max Cool wanted to differentiate itself from the market as a sustainable, premium brand. They were looking for options to change the plastic lid in their product to a thicker and more sustainable label. At the same time, the cost had to stay effective, as the price is a fundamental factor in fast-moving consumer goods.
Increased efficiency in production and costs
Changing consumers’ traditional mindset from plastic lid to sustainable packaging is difficult.
“Consumers feel that products with strong and thick features can protect the product inside and have a more premium look than normal PP label,” Mr. Le Tan Tuyen, Director of Max Cool, refers to a customer survey they conducted recently.
Mr. Le Tan Tuyen, Director of Max Cool
UPM Raflatac’s expertise in wet wipes labeling is widely known. Ecowipes and Max Cool decided to partner with UPM Raflatac to find a solution to their need.
The result was to use materials specifically engineered for wet wipes, UPM Raflatac’s RAFCARE PET CLEAR TC 95/RRS3/WG 85.HBE face material (top-coated clear PET 95-micron), combined with the RRS3 adhesive (acrylic removable) produced an environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient solution.
With RAFCARE PET CLEAR TC 95/RRS3/WG 85., the production efficiency has increased significantly, making it easy to automatically label the wet wipes packages. At the same time, because of the reduced manual work to insert plastic lid and the labels on the package, significant savings are also achieved in labor costs.
Mr. Le Lam, Chairman of Ecowipes and Viet Spring manager Pham To Khuyen (printing company)
Premium wet wipes packaging is recyclable
Compared to traditional solvent-based adhesives, UPM Raflatac’s RRS3 adhesive contains no Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) and uses only a fraction of energy during label stock production. The face material can be recycled with plastic packaging. This helps both Ecowipes and Max Cool to achieve their sustainability targets.
In addition, RAFCARE PET CLEAR TC 95/RRS3/WG 85 also strengthened its premium product brand with the improved visual appearance of the wet wipes package, as well as easy and convenient functionality.
Ecowipes introduced the product to the Japanese end-users, and the feedback from the supermarkets was very positive. They are now planning to apply it to their brands and introduce it to more customers. Max Cool will also change its plastic lid to PET 95-micron step by step, and gradually change PP to PET to have premium, recyclable packages for their high-quality products.