General, Innovation, Preformed Pouches, Spouted Pouch, Sustainable Packaging / October 15, 2018
Soaps and detergents have long been delivered in rigid packaging, as if only hard plastics could contain the fancy liquids and gels that make water “wetter.” But there is a better way (for so many reasons): flexible packaging.
Nothing makes a consumer more aware of how unwieldy traditional soap packaging is than that long journey from the car to the pantry after a shopping trip. Carrying laundry detergent, bulk hand soap refills, and even mega-sized haircare and body wash can certainly weigh a person down—not to mention taking up a large amount of valuable storage space. Then comes the challenge of wrestling heavy rigid containers, hoping to avoid messy (and costly) spills just to start a load of laundry or replenish an empty dispenser. Flexible packaging, on the other hand, addresses numerous pain points in soap packaging, including weight, rigidity, and volume.
Flexible fluids don’t sound like something heavy, but with water weighing around 8lbs per gallon, it’s no surprise that (somewhat denser and heavier) liquid soap and detergent gets quite hefty in bulk sizes. It’s more economical to buy large containers of liquid soap, but it’s also a chore to take it home and work with it. Flexible containers use less packaging and reduce overall weight, while pouring spouts make working with the packaging easier (and help to reduce messes).
Even the thinnest detergent formulation has a tendency to “stick” to the interior walls of its container, so pouring out the last drop of soap can be challenging. It takes time to wait on that last portion to drip down, and with some containers (like many rigid laundry detergent jugs), some of the product is guaranteed to spill unexpectedly—and exactly where you didn’t want it to go. Flexible containers, however, allow a more controlled dispensing of soap, and the packaging can be rolled up to squeeze out nearly every last drop.
Storage space in most houses is at a premium, so consumers have to choose which items will win a spot on the shelf. Large soap containers take up a lot of space for a product that will stick around for weeks or months until it’s all used up (and replaced with more). Flexible packaging reduces the footprint of bulk(y) soap containers, and more can literally be squeezed into a smaller area. It’s a great benefit for consumers, but also for manufacturers who gain retail shelf space and costly shipping capacity.
It’s no surprise that flexible packaging is gaining growing adoption by soap and detergent manufacturers. With its usability and storage advantages combined with its ability to safely and effectively contain the product itself, it is an outstanding packaging solution for laundry, personal care, and a variety of other cleaning products.
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