Plastmore Case Study

As an in-mold labeling (IML) partner to a range of global food brands, Üstün Plastik, operating under the Plastmore brand, is known for delivering top-tier IML food packaging to transport and serve goods worldwide. This packaging helps keep food fresh, intact, and safe for consumption—making packaging an essential part of any food supply chain.

In 2023, Plastmore envisioned a new, more sustainable packaging for a Turkish chocolate brand that would ensure product integrity and reaffirm visual identity. In the process, the chocolate brand made new progress toward its ongoing sustainability commitment.

The Challenge

This chocolate brand used crystal-clear polystyrene (PS) packaging containers nearly as recognizable as the brand itself—and changing the packaging could compromise the brand loyalty millions of Turkish customers felt.

Both the brand and its packaging partner Plastmore knew that if they were going to consider a packaging alternative for the chocolate line, clarity and performance were key. The current packaging, utilizing PS, offers a clarity previously unmatched by other plastics. PS is a denser, more rigid plastic as well, which seems ideal for packaging applications. In reality, the density of PS, recorded at 1040 kg/m3, combined with its brittle attributes, created a heavier package that often broke in transit. It is also a difficult plastic to recycle, as it is classified as non-recyclable under the Association of Plastic Recyclers’ definition.

Thanks to Milliken’s innovative Millad NX® 8000 ECO additive, and supported by Milliken’s technical and processing expertise, Plastmore could put forth a polypropylene packaging alternative that checks the clarity box—and deliver far more in the process.

The Solution

Plastmore set to work with the help of its formulation partner, Milliken & Company. Over the course of 20 months, the development team formulated and trialed multiple iterations of a branded chocolate box made with PP. Through joint laboratory trials and evaluations, a resin formulation using Millad NX 8000 ECO would retain the clarity and physical properties of the current chocolate packaging when molded.

Millad NX 8000 ECO is an additive solution that delivers glass-like clarity at lower processing temperatures, enabling energy savings of up to 10%. Brand owners using PP resins clarified with Millad NX 8000 ECO can display a UL Environmental Claim Validation label on their injection-molded parts. Environmental Claim Validation provides independent validation that products live up to their environmental claims, helping increase consumer confidence and brand credibility overall.

The resulting chocolate PP boxes made using Millan NX 8000 ECO clarified PP resin offered the chocolate brand leading sustainability benefits for reworking their packaging:

• Thanks to its lower weight, less plastic is needed to create the PP packaging, leading to an overall reduction in plastic use. The chocolate brand reduced the plastic required for its packaging by 42% compared with its original packaging design.
• Thanks to lower energy consumption during production, PP packaging has a lower manufacturing carbon footprint than PS packaging. In addition, the lower weight of PP packaging—nearly 55% less than PS packaging—translates to lower transportation costs and impacts, continuing its lower carbon footprint throughout the value chain.
• Thanks to its higher resistance to breakage, PP packaging decreases in-transportation loss by about 7%.
• Thanks to its high recyclability rate, PP packaging is more readily recyclable for post-consumer use. The new PP box helps bring the value chain closer to a circular plastic packaging loop—a trend very much in line with RecyClass recyclability guidelines.

Plastmore’s PP packaging container was also compatible with the IML labeling preferred for the chocolate boxes.

The Results

The chocolate brand rolled out its new PP packaging in the spring of 2024 to instant success. The updated PP chocolate boxes reduced plastic usage by 42% compared to the original PS packaging and minimized in-transportation breakage by approximately 7%. Using PP opened the door for in-mold labeling (IML) opportunities during converting. This streamlined the process, reducing factory labor without added material complexity, as the label itself is made of PP. PP is also highly compatible with current recycling methods, allowing this new packaging to be easily recycled once it reaches the end of its intended lifecycle.

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