How Its Made; Packaging

This series of videos is incredibly interesting and valuable for designers. It covers the industrial manufacturing of packaging from cardboard boxes, metal tubing, Tetrapak, aluminium cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles. Cardboard box manufacturing goes through a number of processes from the creation of the three layered system of two flat pieces of card and one corrugated piece to being cut, creased and inked/printed on. Cardboard is completely recyclable and all of the off cuts are used again in the same process up to 6 times over. The series also investigates the manufacture of flexible metal tubing that stores items such as toothpaste and paint. These are made from a coin size of aluminium which is stretched to create a cylinder mould. This cylinder is then filled with contents and folded over to seal. Aluminium tubes are also recyclable as aluminium does not deteriorate, all excess material is sent back to aluminium factory where it is melted down to be reused. Tetrapak is an innovative packaging system that is comprised of 3 layers of material to keep the contents fresh without the addition of preservatives or refrigeration. The first most outer layer is made of a plastic which prevents any leakage while the middle is paperboard and the inner most layer is aluminium. This complex packaging is also completely recyclable making an incredibly efficient form of packaging. Aluminium cans are created much the same as aluminium tubing. A sheet of aluminium has holes punched from it which are then stretched to create the body the can is then processed to create the top before being sent of to the company that will use it. As with the tubing all excess material is sent back to aluminium factory to be recycled and reused. Glass bottles are created from 3 main ingredients as well as a small amount of recycled glass. The glass is melted into goo which is then cast into miniature bottle called a parison. The parison is then blasted with air to expand the glass to the actual size of the bottle. The bottles are then treated to create a thread at the top of the bottle. Glass like the other materials shown in the video is also recyclable. Plastic bottles are made from PET which is melted and injection moulded into performs which will later be heated and stretched using compressed air much like glass bottles. These will then be printed then tested to be sent to the companies that will use them. Unlike other materials only the new plastic left over from the manufacturing process is recycled for hygienic reasons.

Technical Drawings

Giving Packaging New Life

This series is all about the recycling and reuse of materials in the packaging industry. It covers everything from recycling paper, Tetrapak, tinplate, aluminium, glass and most importantly plastics. The series also covers innovations in the recycling world through new methods of sorting and separation. A video like this can be very useful for designers to watch as sustainability is becoming more and more necessary when designing and manufacturing. As a designer I will be more aware of how my product is constructed and what materials are used so when it comes to the end of a products life it may be easily separated and sorted for recycling. We see in this video the differences between recycling different types of packaging. The video on paper recycling shows us that ink and other impurities must be removed prior to pulping. While paper is recycled easily other materials such as Tetrapak must be processed to separate paper from aluminium and plastic. Some materials use innovative separation techniques such aluminium which is magnetised to sort them, this allows it to be easily melted down and turned into sheets which require only one twentieth of the energy needed for the production of new goods. Glass is also a material that has to be sorted and separated as coloured glass and impurities such as ceramic can hinder the recycling process. Innovations in technology have made this process much more viable, computer light readers can pick up coloured glass as small as 15mm and compressed jets blow these unwanted parts away immediately. Plastics are one of the most important materials to be recycled within the packaging industry and require the most sorting. Before technological sorting equipment majority of plastics ended up in landfill or were incinerated. With the aid of sorting innovations plastics can be separated into bottles, films, PET, expanded polystyrene and mixed plastics. These different plastics are then recycled individually. As a designer knowing these recycling techniques is very important, as they can be implemented into our own designs by using materials or manufacturing methods that make the sorting and separation of our products easier at the end of the life cycle. The three take home messages for this video series would be to design with recyclable materials, design with sorting and separation techniques in mind and try to minimize use of different materials within the one product. All of these are done to make the recycling process at the end of a products life easier, more effective and more efficient. Designing with these things in mind should make a more sustainable and more environmentally sound future.