The metal food can has a 200-year history, but it is in the midst of a revolution that is shoring up its long-term prospects. That is the contention of a packaging trends report issued by the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), Washington.
“We’re in the midst of a revolution in metal packaging design,” says CMI President Robert Budway. The report touts new packaging designs as well as the recyclability and tamper-proof and tamper-evident design of steel and aluminum cans as vital selling points.
On the design front, easier opening lids—some of them resealable—are the innovation garnering favorable public reaction. In food cans, the Hirzel Canning Co. of Toledo, Ohio, is packaging some of its tomato products with non-sharp, pressure-release lids that can be re-sealed. The can was awarded at a recent packaging event in Germany.
Beer and soft drink purchasers have responded favorably to drinks packaged in releasable aluminum “bottle cans.” These containers offer the coolness-retaining benefit of aluminum while also offering the resealable tops that consumers prefer with plastic bottles.
While aluminum beverage cans are fighting to regain market share lost to plastic bottles, the steel food can has largely held its own against attempts at plastic food packaging designs. However, some types of processed food—such as tuna—are also being packaged in multiple-material pouches.
The CMI contends that steel cans remain viable against the pouch because they are from 10 percent to 50 percent more affordable to produce than the pouches. Plus, pouches must run on food processing lines at speeds from 50 percent to 80 percent slower than steel cans.
Additionally, “while metal cans are fully recyclable, the laminated structure of pouches and brik paks have very limited recycling potential,” the CMI report states.