Packaging

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The packaging sector is one of the largest markets for aluminium and is also one of the few markets where only flat rolled products - foil and low gauge sheet - are used. 

Aluminium packaging solutions deliver freshness, convenience, and security for food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and other products.

Packaging converting companies make an enormous variety of aluminium foil based products by coating and laminating aluminium with other materials and printing and embossing them. Using plain foil in thicker gauges, specialist manufacturers produce containers for fresh and cooked foods.

Plain foil, commonly known as household foil, is known and loved in domestic and professional kitchens. The unique combination of attributes qualifies aluminium foil for a wide variety of uses.

Key Features:

These key features of aluminium make it a winner in the packaging industry:

Thick or Thin

Whether used in an aluminium can, a screwcap or the thinnest (6 micron) foil, aluminium can be rolled to any thickness required.

Barrier Properties

Aluminium foil provides a complete barrier to light, oxygen, moisture and bacteria. For this reason, foil is used extensively in food and pharmaceutical packaging. It is also used to make aseptic packaging that enables storage of perishable goods without refrigeration.

Recyclability

Aluminium cans are the most recycled packaging on the planet.

 

Hulamin in Packaging

Our foil and narrow gauge sheet is used in many applications, including

Fast Facts: Did you know?

  • Almost 90% of the 250 billion beverage cans consumed annually worldwide are made entirely of aluminium. 
  • Aluminium foil was first made in France in 1903. In 1911, the Swiss company Tobler began wrapping its chocolate bars in foil. Their unique triangular bar, Toblerone, is still widely available today.
  • Why is foil shiny on one side?   Aluminium foil has a shiny side and a matt side. The shiny side is produced when the aluminium is rolled during the final pass on the rolling mill. It is difficult to produce rollers with a gap fine enough to roll a single sheet of foil and so for the final pass, two sheets are rolled at the same time, doubling the thickness of the roll. When the sheets are later separated, the two inside surfaces are matt, and the two outside surfaces are shiny.