A leading UK manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging has invested in new stretch-wrapper machines that will help the firm slash film costs by £41,250 (€51,000) in the first 12 months.

Sharp Interpack, which supplies rigid packaging to fresh produce, baking, confectionary, meat, poultry, fish and ready meals producers, traditionally used an old style wrapping machine with little lay-on force adjustment for palletised products.

But this often resulted in crushed products and while switching to a pre-stretch film addressed the problem, it increased costs.

Now the company has introduced three Rotoplat 506 PFS pallet stretchwrappers, which use less wrap at a cheaper cost.

Only 200g of film is used per pallet, compared to 300g under the old method. The film cost, per tonne, also stands at £1150 (€1440) compared to £2366 (€2963) per tonne previously. Film cost per wrap has also fallen from 78p to 23p (97 to 29 centime).

In addition, the system achieves a lighter but secure hold with no crushing and reduced packaging waste.

The changes were made following a review by Aetna UK, which advised on the best machine for the application.

Karl Traynor, Sharp Interpack's logistics manager said the investment will have a payback period of six months. He added: "The results were so conclusive that I couldn't afford not to make the investment. The financial and environmental benefits were crystal clear."