Page 24 - Packaging News magazine March_April 2023

FOOD & DRINK PACKAGING
Nestlé
invests in
recyclable
PP cup
Nestlé Professional’s multi-million dollar investment in its Smithtown, NSW factory will bolster local manufacturing and support collaborative product developments – starting with a new recyclable cup for Hot Chockee, developed in partnership with Wellman Packaging and 7-Eleven.
HOT CHOCKEE, A ready-to-go cup filled waste from entering landfill each year,
with hot chocolate powder, was
previously imported from Europe, making the project a big win for manu- facturing in Australia and specifically for Smithtown in regional NSW. The Smithtown facility, where popular prod- ucts like Milo, Nesquik and Nestlé hot chocolate are also made and packaged, will now have capacity to produce 4.7 million cups of Hot Chockee over the next twelve months.
Nestlé Professional Oceania general manager Kristina Czepl said, “The recent investment into the Smithtown factory has allowed us to collaborate on exciting new packaging solutions. It is a great example of working with likeminded partners to pioneer alter- native materials to facilitate better recycling.”
The new polypropylene (PP) Hot Chockee cup, including the PP label and foil seal, is accepted through kerbside recycling as verified by the PREP tool, and carries the Australasian Recycling Label with clear disposal instructions. This move could save up to 95 tonnes of
The Smithtown factory will now have capacity to produce 4.5 million Hot Chockee cups per year.
according to Nestlé Professional. 7-Eleven head of Sustainability, Fiona Baxter said, “We are incredibly proud to continue our partnership with Nestlé Professional and invest in innovative packaging solutions. Our new 7 – Eleven Hot Chockee still has the same delicious taste, made and packed in Australia, with approximately 68 per cent of ingredients sourced locally. This inno- vation helps both Nestlé and 7-Eleven to continue to work together towards
our packaging sustainability targets.”
THE PROJECT UNPACKED
Stephanie Rajczyk, Nestlé manufac- turing services manager for Product Technology and Development, told PKN about the technology installed to sup- port the cup production.
Rajczyk said two major lines have been installed at the Smithtown factory. One is a cup filling line which fills each cup with the right amount of product, and then seals the foil to the ledge inside the cup. The other is a flow wrapping machine which collates and wraps the
24 ❙ MARCH – APRIL 2023
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