T3 PLASTIC PACKAGING was the joint winner of the 2023 IPSA Gold Pack Trophy and a Gold medal in the Health, Beauty, Medical and Pharmaceutical Packaging category for its 100ml Nativechild Hair Dye Combo bottle. The converter also won the Polyco Award and a Silver medal in the Household Products category for including 95% post-consumer recycled HDPE (rHDPE) in the 750ml and 1.5-litre bottles for Checkers’ All Purpose Cleaner.

The team developed a two-piece HDPE extrusion blow moulded bottle for Nativechild to provide an aesthetically pleasing and practical hair dye pack that conveniently stores all the required components in the clip-on storage base, eliminating the need for additional display boxes or secondary packaging.

According to t3 Plastic Packaging’s co-owners Richard and Leonard Rovetti, the key to this pack’s success was ensuring there’s a suitably effective and positive clip-on engagement between the bottle and storage compartment. ‘It had to be able to withstand the rigours of transport without the two parts separating, while being easy for consumers to use.’

Leonard notes: ‘The customer was previously working with a different supplier and the packaging’s engineering was proving very problematic. After listening to this entrepreneurial brand’s requirements, we connected with our design, in-house toolmakers and engineering teams who had to go above and beyond in terms of the development and innovation to ensure that we pulled together within a four-week period so that the customer didn’t lose the on-shelf listing space.’

Richard adds that they also had to ensure that they didn’t compromise on the combo bottle’s functionality, practicality, design or the facility’s ability to reproduce the required number of units per day. ‘This required lots of overtime, to and fro consultations as well as sampling. We all shared in the jubilation when the project came together,’ he shares. ‘In addition, we really didn’t expect that the bottle would receive these awards, so we’re truly blessed.’

Leonard reveals that one of the challenges posed by the tight tolerances was having to run at precise weight to optimise production functionality, otherwise the bottle wouldn’t be strong enough to hold the contents in the under-void. ‘If we were 2g under- or overweight, the base wouldn’t clip to the top of the bottle.’

According to Leonard, t3 has never considered itself as just a bottle or packaging provider. ‘Innovation is in our DNA,’ he states. ‘We enjoy pushing boundaries, looking for opportunities and holding our customers’ hands as we partner on these developmental journeys. The moment that we stop being innovative is when we’ll lose one of our core values.’

The judges also recognised t3’s 400ml Playgirl Body Wash and 1-litre Playgirl Foam Bath Bottles for Amka Products as finalists in the same category. These PET bottles have been created with soft lines, high clarity and consistent wall thickness. Leonard explains that because Amka adds quite a bit of colour to the body wash formulation to make it pop on-shelf, bottle clarity was essential. ‘Its metallic label finish, which fits in with line extensions, was a bit tricky initially.

The machine sensors pick up quite a bit of refraction,’ he reports. ‘Additionally, the flip-top cap on this 400ml bottle follows the flow and shape of the design, ensuring a seamless transition from bottle to closure.’

Celebrating the Award Finalist status of the Playgirl 400ml Body Wash and 1-litre Foam Bath bottles are Amka Products’ Mohammed Kalla, Nadia Carrim and Jack Kruger as well as IPSA’s national secretary Bill Marshall (second from right) and t3 Plastic Packaging’s Richard and Leonard Rovetti.

Cleaning up with recycled HDPE

T3’s 750ml and 1.5-litre bottles for Checkers’ All Purpose Cleaner were awarded a Gold medal by Polyco for including 95% post-consumer recycled (PCR) HDPE material, which helps build valuable markets for plastic recyclers, giving much-needed incentives to their development.

The bottles also received a Silver medal in Household Products category for their ergonomic design – which promotes ease of holding and pouring thanks to the generic flip-top cap – and for including a 6% white masterbatch dosage to maintain the white appearance of the PCR HDPE, a critical component for consumer acceptance in this product category.

Richard explains that the masterbatch dosage was necessary to overcome colour deviation and variation issues as well as black spots and speckles. ‘It was also vital to find the right supplier of rHDPE content who could source and supply our customer’s 95% content demand successfully.’

What’s interesting about this bottle, Leonard continues, is that the previous version consisted of four colour variants in the range: pink, purple, white and mint green. ‘Once we incorporated the 95% rHDPE content, we changed to just a white bottle, with the labelling acting as the variant differentiator.’

Chairman Jeremy Macintosh (second from left) presenting the Polyco Special Award to Richard (left) and Leonard Rovetti (right) for incorporating 95% recycled HDPE content in Checkers’ 750ml and 1.5-litre All Purpose Cleaner bottles.

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