Extrusion blow moulded polypropylene bottles help European consumers get a clear look at new surface cleaner

WREXHAM, UNITED KINGDOM – October 21, 2002 – For a recognized innovator like Inblow Form Ltd., a blow moulding specialist based in the United Kingdom, the challenge was irresistible: develop clear, affordable and environmentally responsible containers for a new cleaning product.

That request from MPM Consumer Products Ltd. began a 12-month engineering effort that culminated in the production of high-quality handle bottles made of clear polypropylene (PP) in one liter and 750ml sizes for the surface cleaner. Now stocked on the shelves of a major supermarket chain, the clear PP bottles were created with the help of Milliken Chemical and its MILLAD® 3988, the world’s most widely used polypropylene clarifying agent.

According to sales director Ken Mitchell, Inblow Form investigated a number of plastic resins and formulations before settling on MILLAD-clarified polypropylene. “We ruled out PVC for environmental reasons and PET because it would have been extremely difficult to create a handle with it,” he said. “Clarified PP offered the best all-around option: transparent and lower cost than either of the other resins. It is also viewed more favourably by environmental groups.”

But of the available PP resins, only those clarified with MILLAD 3988 offered the best optical performance and lowest plate out and processing issues.

“There was a definite variation in the optical performance of resins that didn’t use MILLAD 3988,” said Mitchell. “Just as important, since clarified PP is a more difficult material to blow mould at first, we found that MILLAD 3988 also helps reduce the downtime required to clean tools because it has low levels of plate out.”

Mitchell said the new clarified PP bottles have very high gloss and low haze, enabling the colour of the liquid cleaner to be clearly seen by consumers, an important factor in driving sales.

The 30-year-old Inblow Form manufactures plastic containers for household and car care products, wet wipes and medical products that are sold through Europe. Manufacturing centres are located in Wrexham for blow moulding and Slough for more complex technical blow moulding of items from 30ml to 50ltr. The company also offers extensive design and tooling services for customers.

The new bottles for MPM Consumer Products are made with new Uniloy machines modified to run clarified PP. Milliken Chemical provided extensive support, from educating Inblow Form’s engineers about the technical aspects of clarified polypropylene to advising the company on the best processing practices. Milliken continues to support the company’s efforts to further optimize cycle times and benchmark Inblow Form’s efforts against other, similar clarified PP bottles from around the world.

“Milliken Chemical helped us become technically confident in our ability to achieve superior product quality with clarified polypropylene,” said Mitchell. “Our extensive investment in tooling and equipment, combined with Milliken’s years of experience around the world in working with clarified polypropylene, enabled us to get a superior quality bottle on store shelves in a very short space of time.

“With a commercial product already on the shelves and others in the pipeline,” he added, “we’re confident we can offer clarified PP extrusion blow moulded bottles as a clear packaging choice to compete against PVC and PET.”