Cheerio Japan invests in Ecolean’s co-packing capabilities

Cheerio Corporation Japan has been manufacturing and selling beverages in Japan for over 50 years, and is known for adapting to new and innovative concepts quickly.

The choice of investing in Ecolean’s EL6 filling machine, which can fill portion-sized Ecolean packages for ambient production, was made based on innovation and sustainability credentials.

“Ecolean is the best existing beverage package for sustainability”

Global packaging supplier Ecolean offers lightweight flexible packages for both chilled and ambient distribution. The packages stand out both in terms of their innovative packaging concept and format, but also by saving nature’s resources.

One of the reasons Cheerio chose the Ecolean format to be offered as a co-packing venture is its lightweight approach. When producing the Ecolean packages, a minimal amount of raw materials and resources are used, less resources than most other types for liquid food and beverages.

”To be able to reduce resources in such an effective way is the most important thing. From that point of view, we believe that Ecolean’s solution is the best existing beverage package for sustainability. Ecolean’s whole concept is based on the idea of reduction, so it can be considered an immediate effective solution just by using it,” said Daisuke Ishido, senior managing director at Cheerio.

“When manufacturing and offering beverages, safety and security, quality and deliciousness are first required as basic values, but I think that the role of packaging is very important in order to provide customers with joy that exceeds expectations,” Ishido added. “Furthermore, in the coming era, not only individual customers but also manufacturing that considers society and the environment more than ever will be required. Ecolean has been adopted as a solution that can satisfy both Cheerio’s manufacturing requirements today and for the future.”

The EL6 filling machine is one of Ecolean’s latest equipment launches, filling up to 18,000 packages per hour. The update saved up to 30% less air, water and energy during both production and cleaning compared to its previous version.

“When launching these higher capacity machines for ambient distribution, we put a lot of effort into lowering the cost per pack for our customers,” says Christian Olsson, director filling lines. “It makes a difference, not only on offering an even more competitive total cost of ownership, but also on reducing the environmental impact further. We can now offer an easier machine to operate with higher capacity for our customers, all within the same footprint.”

One of the launches done through Cheerio’s co-packing opportunities is the Radioe Eva and Evangelion anime brand packaging juice drinks in Ecolean packaging. Read more here.