Paper Cup Transformation: Appreciation of the Winning Works of the 2021 Japan Packaging Competition
“Why is the paper cup next door rolled so badly?”
How hard can it be to throw away a piece of trash in Japan? Before the implementation of garbage sorting in China, it seems that the Chinese people can’t imagine it, but the simple action of “one collection, one throw” and then saying goodbye actually uses brain power, understanding and memory at the same time. For example, a common roof type milk carton, you usually need to empty the milk and separate the plastic nozzles, straws and other non-paper packaging materials on the paper container, compress them, and then put them into different garbage bags and wait for the garbage The arrival of the recycling cart. If you happen to come across such a carton lined with aluminum, you can only watch your partner leave… The handling of green paper cups is still the same, not to mention more troublesome packaging such as plastics and spray bottles.
The tedious cleaning process is annoying, and Japanese islanders can’t help but imagine: Is there any paper cup carton that can skip the dismantling step and can be directly flattened and thrown into the garbage bag? This is not only convenient and fast, but also responds to the national call to reduce carbon emissions, so as to achieve a “win-win” result once and for all?
As the so-called “lazy is the source of driving innovation”. The strict packaging recycling system has also become a catalyst for packaging design inspiration. In the 2021 Japan Packaging Contest, Foodaily was pleasantly surprised to discover a variety of interesting and “inert” paper packaging. These products, which were born to meet various consumer needs, are cleverly conceived and perfectly solve consumer demands such as the pursuit of convenience and sustainability. They have good reference significance and considerable commercial promotion value.
Today, the world is working together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Designers use packaging to show their low-carbon ideals, and we, as connoisseurs and consumers, also feel this love and persistence more and more in the process of exploring the secrets of packaging.
Next, let us use three award-winning packaging to start the advanced road of paper cup transformation!
01 Advanced one: Strawless school milk carton
School milk is a unique commodity in Japan that dates all the way back to 1946.
At the time, child malnutrition was a serious social and educational problem across Japan. To address this challenge, multiple organizations collaborated to develop a nationwide school lunch program in Japan. There was a brief hiatus after that, but the introduction of carton packaging to ensure food safety and standardized nutrient rations allowed the school feeding program to pass legislation, as it could actually improve child nutrition and support the local dairy industry. To this day, it has become an inseparable part of Japanese society.
As the developer of the roof box, Nippon Paper グループ (Nihon Paper Industry Co., Ltd.) aimed at this potential stock. It is not easy to say that the industry leader maintains stability, but Nippon Paper Industry Co., Ltd. has been breaking through itself: in the summer of 2020, Xile Dairy, a subsidiary of the group, developed a milk carton SchoolPOP® that does not require straws. The “roof” notch of a regular roof-top carton is so narrow that it is difficult for fingers to insert. The difference is that this mini carton has the lower part of the roof mould carefully designed for easy finger insertion and easy opening. At the same time, the inclination of the water outlet has been adjusted by a unique grid line, so that customers can pour out the liquid smoothly and drink it directly. What is even more gratifying is that the product does not need to install a new filling machine. It can be put into production only by replacing or adjusting some parts of the existing filling machine, and the packaging line does not need to take special measures.
SchoolPOP®, which promotes “straight drinking”, has a huge demand in the market for small containers such as school lunch milk. In addition to being convenient to use, it also reduces the use of single-use plastics and spreads the concept of environmental protection to students.
Take the school in Kochi prefecture, which adopted the carton for the first time, as an example. It distributes about 6 million packs of milk in lunch paper packs every year. If each straw weighs 0.5g, it means that about 3 tons of resin will be consumed every year. Considering that younger students still use straws, SchoolPOP® also retains the straw holes. But even then, the number of straws used in the region would be reduced by a third, reducing the consumption of about 1 ton of resin, which is equivalent to making about 100,000 standard-size PET bottles.
Such considerable social and commercial benefits also enabled SchoolPOP® to win the Japan Star (Japan Star Packaging Award) in one fell swoop, the Minister of Manufacturing Industry Award of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
It is reported that since its release, the strawless milk carton has been adopted by several district schools. In addition to frequent inquiries from direct customers (schools), dairy product manufacturers, it has also received a lot of favor from local governments, education boards, environment-related NPOs and other institutions. SchoolPOP® is marching all over Japan with great momentum and unstoppable momentum.
Nippon Paper Industry Co., Ltd. takes “Opening the Future Together with Trees” as its corporate slogan. It has been deeply involved in the field of paper packaging for many years. Adhering to the concept of “what paper can do, it can be solved with paper”, and has established a basic technology research institute and packaging research. Several R&D departments such as the Institute and Fuji Innovative Materials Research Institute aim to continue to explore more possibilities for producing paper containers from renewable resources “wood”. In addition to the SchoolPOP laboratory, the “Laboratory” series also includes the NSATOM laboratory (a new concept of aseptic paper container filling system), the SOPS laboratory (replaceable cartridge-type paper packs) and the mouth plug laboratory (without inner lid). hooded carton). Ordinary cardboard boxes have become “practical works of art” in these “laboratories”.
It is worth mentioning that roof box packaging is mostly used for pasteurized milk. Such products require cold chain storage and transportation, with short shelf life, but less nutrient loss and strong freshness. In China, glass bottles, plastic bottles and plastic bags (single-layer polypropylene materials) are generally used for filling. From the perspective of sustainable development goals alone, the former is indeed slightly better.
02 Advanced two: no straw + no plastic cover
Remove the straw, the transformation of the paper cup has just started.
Originally referring to the golden combination of skin care, “morning C and evening A” became a topic of public ridicule because of the new solution. Relying on coffee in the morning to prolong life, and alcohol in the evening to help you sleep, the daily life of urbanites is perfectly summed up in simple words. But it has to be said that coffee is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of the younger generation. According to iiMedia Research, 95% of the respondents in China have consumed coffee, 19.7% of them consume coffee every day, and 60.0% of them consume coffee every week. And it is expected that the market size of China’s coffee industry will reach 381.7 billion yuan in 2021.
The domestic coffee market continues to expand, and huge development space and consumption potential are emerging. But with the rise of coffee culture, the desire to drink rich and mellow coffee easily has encountered obstacles.
With the promulgation and strict implementation of the domestic “plastic ban”, paper straws have gradually banned plastic straws and stepped into many offline stores of tea and coffee. However, although the “regeneration” of straws is in full swing, the noise is also parallel. The doubters believe that there is pollution in the production process of paper straws, not only the production cost is higher, but also the degradation time after recycling is not ideal; and for customers who use it directly, the paper straws are “difficult to poke”, “easy to soak soft” and “affect the taste”. “The Tucao also rushed to the hot search list several times. Businesses and enterprises are suddenly caught in a dilemma.
Japan is also studying the replacement of PET/resin straws, but on the other hand, plastic cup lids, which also have a greater impact on the environment, have not received active attention yet. Based on this, paper trading company Takeo, paper cup maker Japan Dixie and Jimbocho GLITCH COFFEE & ROASTERS, one of the main promoters of Tokyo’s third wave coffee, have come together to collaborate on previous exhibitions by product designer Fumie Shibata , and created StackingPaperLid.
It is said that most of the taste is affected by the sense of smell. In order to maximize the aroma and flavor of coffee, the coffee served in the dine-in is served in an open glass or ceramic cup; and for the convenience of carrying, the coffee taken out can only be limited to under the lid of the cup. But this standard “folded paper lid” has changed this situation: when drinking, remove the lid and enjoy the aroma; when carrying, cover with a paper lid without a spout to prevent coffee from overflowing. In addition, the type of cigarette holder is also convenient for drinking with a lid, and the purpose is to let customers feel the taste and taste of coffee as delicately as possible.
A product that looks so stylish, simple and extremely functional was actually born 14 years ago. But at that time, it was just a work of art for exhibition.
When the StackingPaperLid prototype was shown at the Takeo Paper Fair in 2006, there was not as much backlash against plastic as it is today. Instead, it was an era when paper cups were priced high just because they had plastic lids. When Shibata Fumie (product designer) wanted to make paper from something other than paper, he came up with the idea of making paper cup lids into paper.
The results of actual attempts are not optimistic. Although the pulp mold can be realized, the cost is high… After repeated trials, the person in charge accidentally found that the paper cups stacked together are often difficult to pull out, so the inspiration of “stacking paper lids and paper cups” emerged immediately. After the exhibition, Shibata Wenjiang wanted to continue promoting it in physical stores, but unexpectedly encountered a series of closed doors.
But the work survived.
In 2019, when the designed capsule hotel decided to provide paper cups with lids for guests to drink water, Shibata Fumie and Mr. Takeo chatted about this work again. After discussions between the two parties, Mr. Takeo introduced paper cup maker Japan Dixie to Shibata Fumie. The work of art is transformed into a commodity that enters the assembly line.
However, when an exhibition work becomes a product that people actually use, its design must also be translated into a material, size that is convenient to produce, and as little pollution as possible. At first, Shibata Wenjiang wanted to symbolically use colored paper to convey the brand’s characteristics, but the dyes used were not conducive to food hygiene; he also imagined using thinner paper with less smell, but he gave up considering the forming process of the paper itself. Such an idea… After many failed attempts, Shibata Fumie felt that it was really difficult to implement the designed product into actual industrial production.
But fortunately, the hard work pays off. After continuous improvement, this product won the award from the packaging department in the 2021 Japan Packaging Design Competition, which is indeed a great affirmation of its efforts.
“Now is the time to want everyone to use items that do not create waste. Although it is difficult to design something that has never been available in the past, it is possible to achieve environmental goals just by changing the way the original items are used. Therefore, also I hope this work can be an opportunity.” Shibata Fumie said.
The official website shows that there are still some problems in mass production of stacked paper cups, but the person in charge of the company said that it is considering using new equipment for production. At the same time, researchers are also developing a paper cup that can be recycled as a single material, aiming to replace the currently used polyethylene waterproof “cup base paper” paper cup.
03 Advanced 3: Edible Coffee Cups
How can paper cups be transformed when straws disappear and stack paper lids replace plastic lids?
Just eat it! Completely change the “one-time” consumption behavior, kill three birds with one stone!
Previously, the signature “Oatmeal Cookie Latte” of the specialty coffee “M stand” was very popular in the magic capital. The cookies baked with natural grains are eaten together with the rich and mellow latte, and the novel operation attracts an endless stream of customers who come to check in. But the sweet and greasy biscuits are eaten with coffee, and the feeling of fullness is naturally unnecessary; and in order to facilitate access, the biscuits cups still have to be covered with a layer of plastic cups. This novelty coffee mug is more creative than practical after all.
However, もぐカップ (Mogu Cup) has the slogan “Eat well, zero waste!”, which not only combines creativity and practicality, but even achieves the goal of sustainable development.
The もぐカップ (mogu cup), which won the prize in the packaging department, is a beverage container made from domestic potato starch. By continuously baking under high temperature and high pressure, the cup maintains water resistance; at the same time, the developer also uses shrimp, chocolate, etc. for flavoring, and designed S (50ml for wine and whisky), M (100ml for wine and sake) and L (200ml suitable for beer and juice) in different sizes, designed to provide customers with a variety of taste matching options.
In addition, the application scenarios of “Mogu Cup” are far more than restaurants. In addition to serving drinks, it can be used for a variety of occasions such as outdoors, barbecues, events and family gatherings. It can even reduce water consumption by a certain amount because there is no need to wash.
On the official website of the product, through vivid and interesting cartoons, we can see the birth story of the mogu cup: Mr. Furuhara of Asahi Beer wanted to design an environmentally friendly cup that does not need to be discarded after use. But considering that some consumers may be resistant to carrying the used container with him, he thought: “How about designing a cup that can be eaten directly?”. Of course, since they can be eaten, the material must be delicious and water-resistant. Later, after collecting a lot of materials, Mr. Furuhara discovered an edible plate called イートレイ (eat tray), and then contacted Maruben Seika, who made this product, to jointly develop new products. Finally, after months of hard work, the Mogu Cup was born.
Maruban Seika is a technology company that manufactures and sells original edible trays and ice picks. So far, the company has developed and manufactured a number of edible products including edible trays, and plans to develop edible products such as forks and spoons. Similar to the tray, the production of the mogu also goes through three main steps: mixing of raw materials, stirring and sedimentation – pouring – moulding – high temperature firing and molding, and finally a product suitable for the intended use is obtained.
The もぐカップ (mogu cup) aims to solve social problems such as the climate crisis caused by the increase in carbon dioxide emissions and ocean pollution caused by single-use plastics. By developing the Mogu Cup, the company conveys a new way of life from “disposable containers” to “edible containers” and creates a sustainable corporate image.
Before that, Mori no タンブラー (forest tumbler) was also Asa ヒビール Co., Ltd. (Asahi Beer Co., Ltd.
Another initiative of the company). This eco-cup, jointly developed with Panasonic, is the world’s first eco-cup made from plant fibers. Also adhering to the concept of “reducing one-time consumption”, it is not only conducive to cleaning and repeated use, but also has high strength and heat resistance. Also, its raw materials come from discarded resources such as thinned wood, food scraps, etc. Asahi Beer can be said to have achieved the ultimate in green environmental protection.
Just to remind you, though, that the mogu cup is not like a forest tumbler, don’t use it to hold a hot drink, or you’ll end up with a chocolaty mash!
04 Summary
The three types of packaging introduced above all use paper as the core material. On the basis of retaining the basic characteristics of low-carbon environmental protection, the use performance (such as firmness, waterproofness, etc.) and convenience have been improved.
Maybe they don’t have stunning looks, but they are impeccable in practicality. Behind every package, the unremitting efforts of designers and developers in pursuit of “excellence and ultimate” are condensed.
Packaging creativity is not only to attract attention, but also to impress people. Taking user needs as the starting point is a commonplace point of view, but it is also a topic that enterprises should always study.
How to make the world a better place, how to make life more pleasing to me? Let’s start with the packaging transformation around you!
About Japan Packaging Contest:
Japan Packaging Contest (Japan Packaging Contest) is held annually by the Japan Packaging Institute (Japan Packaging Technology Association), covering products from individual packaging to outer packaging, namely consumer packaging and shipping packaging, with the aim of developing and disseminating products that can Excellent packaging products and technologies that meet the needs of the current era and society. The winning works of the competition can not only be displayed at the exhibition of packaging goods sponsored by the association, but also allowed to use the GP logo (the Japanese excellent packaging certification mark), and will also be eligible to participate in the Asia Star Competition (organized by the Asian Packaging Federation (APF) Sponsored) and the World Star Competition (sponsored by the World Packaging Organization (WPO)) to shine on the world stage.
