Faraday investigates future of plastic electronics on packaging

Jill Park, packagingnews.co.uk, 22 June 2009

 

Ketchup bottles that dispense ketchup at the touch of a sensor could be the packaging of the future, according to a new report from Faraday.

 

The report, titled 'Plastic Electronics and the FMCG Consumer' by Dr Laurence Hogg of Faraday, investigates the possibilities of using plastic electronics on packaging.

 

According to the report, in the future RFID tags may be developed and applied to cereal packs that can send nutritional and recycling information to your mobile phone.

 

Hogg uses Stora Enso's Controlled Delamination Material (CDM), a form of electronic glue, to illustrate what is currently possible in terms of intelligent materials.

 

In the report, he encourages manufacturers to consider the benefits to consumers when using printed electronics on packaging.

 

"The research we've done shows how brand owners can get to grips with this in a structured, consumer-led way, rather than trying to use the technology in a pack or on the product just for the sake of it," said Hogg.

 

This is particularly important in light of the increasing popularity of online forums to discuss products, such as Amazon's frustration-free packaging website, he argues.

 

Hogg points out that at the time of writing the report, 39 separate discussion topics were active on the Amazon website.