With its Paperdent range, the Cologne-based retail company Luoro has set itself the goal of eliminating plastic waste from dental care as far as possible. Instead of plastic, wood from FSC-certified forests is to be used as the basic raw material for the manufacture of products and packaging.
For example, the new “Mild Herbs” mouthwash is offered in cardboard packaging. “We are convinced that sustainable solutions will only be accepted by society at large if they are also user-friendly and their added value is immediately recognizable. Thanks to our cardboard packaging, it is easy even for sustainability non-specialists to see how much plastic, in our case more than 80 percent, is saved compared to conventional mouthwash bottles”, says Dr. Louis Bahlmann, dentist and co-founder of Luoro.
Saving Plastic
Plastic remains the most used material for packaging, especially in the oral and dental care sector. This applies in particular to dental products, which are also classified as fast-moving consumer goods. There is, therefore, considerable potential for reducing waste in this area, explains Bahlmann. “Mouthwashes are a picture-book example of everyday products that are consumed in a short space of time.” They are usually sold in hard plastic containers. Although these containers are inexpensive to produce, the high use of plastic becomes a burden later on due to their long decompostion time in the environment.
This is why Paperdent has opted for packaging specially developed for non-food products by Elopak, one of the leading system providers of cardboard packaging, for its “Mild Herbs” mouthwash. The newly developed packaging solution consists largely of FSC-certified wood. The carton saves more than 80 percent plastic compared to the common plastic bottle and has a recyclability of 90 percent. The mouthwash is offered in the so-called D-Pak packaging, Elopak’s gable top carton for non-food products.
Further products in Elopak cartons are also planned and some have already been launched on the market, reports Dr. Laura Sulik, Senior Product Manager at Luoro. "Our sustainable hand soap XL with apricot fragrance has been available in selected Edeka stores since November and further hand soap variants will be launched in 2024."
No Risk of Confusion
When asked by FACHPACK360° whether hygiene products in carton packaging are not too similar to food packaging, such as milk packaging, Sulik says: “Product safety and a possible risk of confusion are of course an important issue. To visually distinguish the products, labels are attached above the label and a note is placed directly under the closure stating that the product should not be swallowed. Bitrex, a bittering agent, is also added to the hand soaps to further increase product safety and ensure that everyone can immediately see that it is not a drink and that the liquid is undrinkable. In addition, an additional pictogram with the corresponding information is printed on the top of the lid.”
The company is convinced that this type of packaging will continue to gain acceptance. “Not only in the hygiene and personal care segments – composite cardboard packaging is also a very interesting alternative for cleaning agents and detergents.” This is apparent in the example set by many European countries that already use this packaging. "We are therefore convinced that this will also become established in Germany, as the advantages for the environment compared to plastic packaging are very convincing.”
