Pro Carton Awards for CKB® 

The winners of the Pro Carton/ECMA Awards 2009 presented an impressive variety of different ideas for packaging concepts. Europe's largest independent folding carton producer Van Genechten took the victory of the Non Food category by its user-friendly and sustainable battery package made from Stora Enso CKB®.

Once again, the Pro Carton/ECMA Awards jury found ingenious packaging ideas that demonstrate the diversity of carton - probably the most sustainable of all packaging materials and therefore the future of packaging. Members of the jury covered the entire supply chain - designers, box manufacturers, brand manufacturers, the trade and consumers.

Big and sustainable packs for Duracell

Van Genechten has been Duracell’s packaging partner for years. Consumption of battery packs containing more than eight batteries has been increasing in recent years and Duracell hired Van Genechten to design a compact, reclosable pack for this new segment. The use of a single packaging material – preferably cartonboard – was stipulated due to environmental aspects. CKB® was selected because of its unique strength and tear properties.

To improve customer convenience the package had to be reusable after removal of some of the batteries – in contrast to many other packs which are destroyed when removing batteries. Made entirely of Stora Enso CKB® board, the new carton makes dispensing easy but also has a simple closure device that is easy and intuitive to use. It enables the users to close the package after taking out some batteries and not have the problem of the rest of the batteries falling out. The bold graphics reinforce the brand and this made for good attractive display in store. The new package was so well received by consumers that work has started on a second line - for up to 24 batteries and with a further improved closing mechanism.

Shelf Ready & Display winner

Also Lucaprint, the winner of the Shelf Ready & Display Packaging category, was using CKB®. Their client wanted to replace plastic packages of bicycle saddles with a new cartonboard package. The judges were impressed by the redesigned display pack: all the plastic had been eliminated with no loss of functionality. The use of CKB® printed on the reverse looks elegant and the judges were convinced that this would help make the pack stand out at the point of sale.

Photo: ProCarton