A bespoke butter tub from RPC Superfos has won an 'Award for Design Excellence' for a Norwegian food company for both its design and recyclability benefits. TINE, Norway's leading provider of branded food products, its subsidiary Fjordland and the design agency EGGS, were presented with the award by The Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture.

The pack, whose introduction by TINE has seen a 65% increase in sales of the company's spreadable butter and margarine products, was described by the award jury as 'an impressive achievement' and praised for meeting 'all requirements for overall design'.  Among the features highlighted were the pack's lid, which features an ergonomic tab for ease of opening, and the fact that the lid is the same for all product varieties, which entrails efficient production with only a few changeovers.

Equally important, the pack no longer consists of cardboard, aluminium and plastic but is made from 100% recyclable plastic material, which greatly simplifies the recycling process.

The injection moulded polypropylene tub is a thin wall pack (TWP) which offers excellent strength at light weight, and also incorporates a protective light barrier, which safeguards the butter or margarine from the damage that light exposure can cause to flavour and vitamin content.

Morten Aas, Leader of Research and Development for Packaging and Design at TINE, is delighted with the pack's success:

"Functional and contemporary packaging plays a big part in our commercial success and we are pleased with the design award. Our choice of packaging was based on user surveys, which revealed that people are more inclined to recycle packaging when they can avoid sorting several different types of material at once, such as cardboard, aluminium foil and plastic. As such, we considered it essential to change to a single-material pack and we are satisfied to have opted for the solution from RPC Superfos."