Sustainability, Circular Economy, Material reduction, Thermoforming

Functional packaging is a perfect fit for functional dairy products

03.05.2021 | 2 min read

Josef Zicha

Olma has significantly reduced the amount of plastic it uses by working with Greiner Packaging.

Greiner Packaging started working with Olma in 1993 and over the past 28 years has helped the Czechian company launch many innovative products.

Olma is the leading producer of fresh milk in the Czech market, and second in other dairy products, from yogurt and fermented milk products to cream and butter. Olma was the first to produce organic (bio) products in the Czech Republic and has recently added the probiotic BIO Bílý to its fruit-flavored BIO yogurt range.

Towards the end of 2020 it launched a low-fat, functional probiotic range, Florian Active+, in four flavors, plus one featuring BB-12^® probiotic bacteria.

Olma’s focus on organic and functional products is great fit for our functional packaging. We have helped Olma in its mission to help the environment, lower its carbon footprint, and reduce the amount of plastic it uses. Working across Olma’s product ranges from yogurts to desserts, we have successfully transitioned over 130 million yogurt pots to our dry-offset printed recyclable K1 packs, and over 35 million cups to our fully recyclable K3^® cardboard-plastic combination. So far, through this weight reduction project, we have achieved savings of approximately 70,000 kgs of resin and 80,000 kgs of PVC in sleeves.

Josef Zicha, Sales Director at Greiner Packaging

“We began working on reducing the weight of Olma’s packaging two years ago and the project is ongoing. The challenge is to find optimal weight reduction for cups, while ensuring that they remain stable in the production and filling process and during transport to retailers, and then into consumer’s homes across Czechia, Slovakia and Poland.”

Greiner Packaging’s light-weight K3^® thermoformed cup uses up to 33% less polypropylene (PP) than a conventional direct-printed, thermoformed cup of the same size. To enable separation for recycling, the cup is wrapped with a removable cardboard outer layer, which can be produced with virgin or recycled board produced from sustainably managed forests.

“Olma is taking advantage of the printable reverse of the K3^® wrap to communicate with consumers with special offers and kid’s games,” says Josef. “The next step, which will make separation for recycling even easier, will be the implementation of our new, improved tear-tab, which will be introduced very soon.”

Olma has benefited from Greiner Packaging’s ability to offer complete and reliable turnkey solutions, from a local supplier, which are lighter in weight and use less plastic than alternatives.

Greiner Packaging has worked closely with us for the past few years to help Olma reduce its carbon footprint and save plastic. We have introduced the 100% recyclable K3^® cardboard-plastic combination for several product ranges, including: our successful children’s products Olmíci and Olmanek; our organic Bio yogurts; our Gluten-free probiotic Cavalier deserts; our vegan Green Day yogurts; and our new Florian Active+ range. We are proud of our sustainability successes and Olma is pleased to be able to share the story with consumers by including information on the reverse of the K3^® cardboard wrap.

Olma CEO Ing. Martin Kristián