Greiner Ag is international plastic & foam converting company for food & non-food packaging, medical, furniture, sports and automotive industries.

Challenge Summary:

Currently available packaging solutions are not designed for reuse. For example, packaging for reusable systems (e.g., soap dispensers / shampoo bottles) is difficult to clean after the product has been emptied (industrial washing / disinfection) and therefore only parts of the packaging remain in the reuse cycle (e.g., soap dispenser – pump system is thrown away; only the bottle is kept). In addition, returning a reusable packaging solution should be as easy and convenient as returning a single-use solution, with no friction for the consumer once the product is empty.

We are looking for a solution that:

• Uses mono-materials instead of different combinations of materials (e.g., glass bottle and plastic pump system)
• Is easy / intuitive to use from the customer’s perspective – analogous to “single-use” packaging designs.
• Is usable for numerous reuse cycles.

Focus applications: Packaging designs and business models for shampoos, creams, soaps (cosmetics’ beauty care industry). If needed, the solution can be targeted to a specific product or product part, e.g., a pump.