Child-Resistant Pouch Is Now More Sustainable

It’s not easy to make a stand-up pouch that’s child resistant, though it’s even harder to make a CR pouch that’s also more sustainable.

Which makes the result of a collaboration between The API Group and its subsidiary Accredo Packaging and the Fresh-Lock team at Presto Products, a business of Reynolds Consumer Products, all that more notable.

It’s the first-of-its-kind flexible stand-up pouch containing more than 50% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content that’s food-packaging approved.

It couples Fresh-Lock’s Child-Guard slider technology and the AccredoFlex range of recycled content in both the film and the zipper closure. The child-resistant track contains at least 25% PCR material while maintaining dependable protection and a recyclable child-safe closure.

"Collaboration is crucial in driving the circular economy forward, so we are thrilled to join forces with the Fresh-Lock team at Presto to introduce this flexible stand-up pouch," says Jonathan Quinn, vice president of marketing and sustainability at API Group and Accredo Packaging. “The future of the circular economy hinges on incorporating recycled content and being able to do so across all consumer packaged goods markets.”

“The PCR component is critical if true circularity in packaging is going to work,” says Todd Meussling, Fresh-Lock senior manager market development. “Flexible packaging continues to make great strides in sustainability beyond just the source reduction benefits from rigids. We’re seeing the shift from multi-material structures to mono-material options that can be recycled or composted.”

Accredo

PCR CR pouch status and options.

The packaging is poised for commercial release.

“This product partnership offering has been available officially in 2024 and we look forward to bringing this to a commercial state very soon,” Quinn says.

Multiple brands are evaluating the packaging with a first-to-market application expected soon.

The innovation pouch will be available with a menu of “wide-open options” such as size, according to Quinn. “Both sides are dialed-in so we don’t foresee any hurdles to meeting customer needs.”

As challenging as the undertaking was, hurdles were few. Quinn points to regulatory approval as the biggest.

“Our biggest delay was awaiting the extraction and regulatory testing,” he says. “Both teams coming together to make this possible with ‘all hands on deck’ was something I found inspiring.”

It’s the third collaboration between the two companies. In 2022, the two collaborated on a major rigid-to-flexible packaging success story while working with Costco, Quinn says. The project took a Kirkland branded laundry detergent pod package from rigid tub to a stand-up pouch with a PCR film structure.

“We also collaborated to bring a 100% renewable pouch to the market in 2023 with pouch and the zipper being made of renewable content,” Quinn points out.