Page 18 - Packaging New magazine Jan-Feb 2023

FMCG PACKAGING
In a global first for the KitKat brand, Nestlé is trialling a paper packaging wrapper on the KitKat four-finger 45g variant. A QR code on pack will allow consumers to have their say about the new pack. Lindy Hughson reports.
Nestlé’s KitKat in paper packaging trial
THE KITKAT PAPER wrapper trial will run for a limited period as an exclusive agreement with Coles Supermarkets across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. More than a quarter of a mil- lion KitKat bars will be wrapped in the new paper packaging – enough to stretch almost 50 kilometres end-to-end.
The company says it is exploring “every avenue to meet Nestlé’s goal of reducing its use of virgin plastics by a third by 2025, which includes using less plastic, recycled plastic, and alter- natives to plastic packaging”.
PKN spoke to Nestlé Oceania GM Confectionery and Snacks, Chris O’Donnell, who said that the wrapper has been 18 months in development at Nestlé’s R&D centre in York, UK, and was specifically developed for Australian market requirements, including meeting the high bar set by PREP* on the criteria for kerbside recycling.
“This is the ideal product to trial the new wrapper with,” he said, noting that the four-finger KitKat is a top selling chocolate bar in Australia, one of the biggest markets for KitKat globally. “The scale and reach of this brand in Australia means we’ll gain robust insights from this trial which will provide learnings for the global KitKat business.”
The project also required capex investment at the Campbellfield, Victoria production site to modify the flow wrapping lines (which had previ- ously been running with flexible film)
to run the new paper-based wrapper at the high speeds required. O’Donnell said getting this right was a crucial part of the project – the machines wrap 1000 bars per minute to meet annual demand; 30 million KitKat 45g bars are sold per year.
Apart from scale, Australia was chosen as the test market because of its estab- lished kerbside recycling infrastructure, and the vast geographical dispersion. “We’re testing markets with tempera- ture extremes and with long transit routes from the DCs, which will really show how well the wrapper performs in the supply chain,” O’Donnell said.
“Our intent is to understand the impacts of the new wrapper upstream, from material sourcing to production line efficiency, and its performance down- stream, in DCs, in transit and on shelf – including the consumer’s reaction.”
O’Donnell notes that, as with all packaging innovations, Nestlé’s prior- ity is to ensure product quality is not
Above: Flow wrapping machines wrap 1000 bars per minute to meet annual demand of 30 million KitKat 45g bars.
Below: Each trial paper pack carries a QR code to engage consumers’ opinion about the packaging.
compromised. With KitKat being a wafer- based product that draws moisture from the atmosphere, getting the barrier func- tionality correct was important; the trial wrapper integrates a thin metal barrier film to keep the chocolate bar fresh and maintain the crisp bite of the wafer. The PREP analysis confirms this bar- rier layer does not impact the wrapper’s recyclability in the paper stream.
O’Donnell anticipates that paper- based packaging will be well received by consumers.
“The tearable paper wrapper is rem- iniscent of the way KitKat used to be wrapped when it first came to market, bringing back the essence of the original KitKat, which I think will draw a favour- able reaction from consumers,” he said.
Consumers will be able to log their response to the paper pack via a question- naire accessed through an on-pack QR code. O’Donnell said the feedback Nestlé receives on this trial will inform the next steps. He expects the results to be avail- able by April.
O’Donnell commended the Coles Supermarket team for its willingness to take part in this trial, despite the com- plexity it adds to the retailer’s business for the period. ■
*PREP, the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal, is the verification tool which underpins the Australasian Recycling Label on packaging col- lected through the kerbside systems in Australia and New Zealand.
18 ❙ JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2023
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