Tube of the Year 2015

Etma competition demonstrates European tube industry’s innovative capability. In focus this year: design and decoration, closures and applications, sustainability and environmental protection.

The winners of the Tube of the Year 2015 award were chosen during this year’s conference of Etma, the European tube manufacturers association. From the entries submitted, a qualified jury from the ranks of the association’s member companies selected winners in the Aluminium Tube, Plastic Tube, Laminate Tube and Prototype categories. «The competition is an impressive demonstration of the creativity, innovativeness and capability of the European tube industry and provides important stimuli for further development and the acceptance of the tube as a packaging material in the market place» says etma secretary general Gregor Spengler explaining the significance of the award. «It is a valuable source of inspiration for packaging professionals and customers and allows them to recognise important trends. The tubes submitted in general and the winners in particular have proven once again that the opportunities for designing and decorating tubes using innovative technologies are far from exhausted. This year’s competition provided impressive evidence once again that the tube offers an alternative form of packaging that is sustainable and eco-friendly. I was particularly pleased, though, that innovative and intelligent tube solutions were able to open up new fields of application; especially where the tube can benefit from its specific beneficial properties, such as safety and hygiene and precise and easy application».
Besides tubes that are eco-friendly and produced in a sustainable manner, the particular trends this year were novel application systems and closures together with really unusual and stunning developments in design.
The winners in the following.

Aluminium

Awarded a tube for mint flavoured toothpaste from Marocco by Tubex for Buly 1803 (Paris suppler of perfumes and other luxury items), that won over the jury for its striking graphics: the super high quality reproduction of a snake thanks to six color printing. On the shoulder, the wording “Buly 1803” in relief becomes a visual and tactile distinguishing trait for a premium product. The hefty metal top combines with the effectiveness of the printed image in expressing luxury and exclusiveness.

Plastic

There were even two winners in the Plastic Tube category.
- It was also the application system that convinced the jury with the Marionnaud Hydra & Sublim BB Eye Cream tube produced by Albéa of France. A special sponge pad made from a material that offers a long life and smooth application in equal measure ensures very precise and comfortable handling. At the same time, a special spike in the cap ensures complete air tightness and prevents the contents from escaping inadvertently. The applicator is also a success visually and in interplay with the elegant tube with its silvery screen-printed highlights on a beige-coloured background ensures that the overall appearance exudes harmony and luxury.
- The Candalie’s Spa Object tube produced by French manufacturer CTL Packaging scored with its environmental and sustainability aspects. The production of this tube uses 50 per cent post-consumer recycled (PCR) polyethylene.
The manufacturer’s expertise in the PCR process and a method of decoration that involves screen printing in three or four colours are crucial for the tube’s perfect surface finish with its excellent look and haptics, which embody and convey the ‘Spa’ theme in an ideal way. For this product, the company has also developed a very special cap in which the inner plastic part is covered on the outside with a special wooden finish. This enables the closure, which is also very attractive and appealing visually, to be opened and closed particularly easily and reliably.

Laminate

The Laminate Tube category was won by a Polyfoil® tube with a so-called «Twist ‘n’ Use”™ applicator that is produced by Hoffmann Neopac of Switzerland for Safersonic. The sterile ultrasound gel was previously supplied in small pouches. This medicinal application involves small needles for anaesthetisation being positioned precisely using ultrasonic technology. Safersonic chose a tube solution that offers the highest possible safety standards because the packaging and the gel both have to be perfectly sterile; a special laminate is used for absolute sterility and good barrier properties, tamper evidence provided by an internal twist-off pin, special canulas for precise and hygienic single-dose application and easy opening thanks to two small wings on the cap.

Prototypes

CTL Packaging also took the award for prototypes. In this category the French tubemaker impressed the jury with tubes that combine in-mould-labelling production technology with special holographic effects. Additional finishes are possible by combining matt and shiny surfaces. The interplay between these technologies offers designers undreamt-of opportunities and a broad spectrum of fascinating ways to create unusual and unique tube designs.