Recyclable multi-talent for multipacks
Wepoba Wellpappenfabrik (Panther Group) presents an innovation for forming multipacks. The bottle carrier blank made of corrugated board, for which utility model protection has been applied for, combines beverage bottles into a saleable unit consisting of either 4, 6 or 8 individual containers. Thanks to the very low material input, the environmentally friendly, fully recyclable carrier offers itself as an alternative to existing concepts based on films or plastic carrying handles.
The blank combines several positive features that demonstrate the broad-based technical know-how of Panther's experts: Both the choice of material and the specifically positioned and neatly crafted cutouts reduce the amount of material used to a minimum. The blank is simply slipped over the bottle caps onto the necks of the bottles, where the bottle carrier locks into place and holds them securely together. Both manual and machine implementation are possible.
For comfortable transport, the handle area has been ergonomically designed to be very user-friendly. In addition, the sides of the handle provide additional space for marketing-specific messages and an attractive, appealing presentation at the PoS.
From a logistics point of view, the bottle carriers offer further options: The flat-lying handle enables stable palletizing of the multipacks. A circumferential wave cut simultaneously minimizes the risk of cutting and ensures improved transport stability on the pallet thanks to an interlocking effect. The selected combination of corrugations gives the bottle carrier a high load-bearing capacity despite the cutouts, thus enabling safe pack transport.
Depending on the number of bottles to be united with the carrier or the resulting total weight, a paper band can optionally be placed around the enclosure to further increase transport safety and additionally fix the bottles.
The bottle carrier design does not require any plastic reinforcements or other applications - this supports the simple disposal of the monomaterial solution via waste paper recycling. Up to now, 6-bottle packs have been shrink-wrapped, so the new corrugated board carrier is an environmentally friendly alternative to this type of packaging.