Speaker: Martin Krause

Company: HARKE Chemicals GmbH

Title: Formulating Personal Care and Detergent Products into Water Soluble Film

Language: English

Abstract: Water soluble packaging is a rising trend in the personal care market and well established in the detergent market. There are many advantages to using soluble packaging such as reduction in single use plastic, unit dosing to reduce overuse of products and minimising any risk of exposure to chemicals.

Soluble packaging is the future for a sustainable market; in terms of energy savings, soluble packaging allows for products to be transported easily within a concentrated format. While plastic will not disappear from use overnight, products in soluble film are one significant step towards reducing single use plastics.

To produce these products in a concentrated form that is compatible with water soluble film brings many challenges such as water content, thickening on dilution, aesthetically pleasing formulations, preservation, stability and compatibility of raw materials in a concentrated form. The technical team at Harke Group have found a few ways of producing a fully formulated products on dilution from a water soluble pod, where the concentrated base is also compatible with PVOH film.