Charcoal manufacturers have traditionally packaged their products in paper, most recently a type of multi-wall paper bag. But those bags lack integrity – and packaging integrity has become a huge issue in the retail environment. Paper packaging has become intolerable for retailers, including major retailers like Cosco and Sam’s Club.

The problem has been particularly troublesome for producers of charcoal. Traditional paper bags are easily damaged and susceptible to moisture, allowing charcoal and charcoal dust to escape in transport, in the retail environment and on the garage floors and patios where end users store their briquettes. Working with major producers Royal Oak and Duraflame, Anduro has developed charcoal packaging that resolves those breakage and spillage problems.

“A year of research and development, our engineers collaborating with our manufacturing team, and we got the structure we wante

d,” noted Anduro President and CEO Marc Datelle. “The bag delivers multiple benefits to the producers, their retail accounts and their end users—and protects their big box market share.”

The product is constructed of three layers: an interior layer of woven polypropylene fabric, an outer layer of reverse printed biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP), and a tie layer of polypropylene laminate. It looks like a traditional paper bag, but costs less, weighs less, and is stronger—and the producers’ products are more attractive as the surface of the bags allow for higher resolution graphics.

The bag was among the first to exhibit another technological advance, pinch-bottom closure. Anduro’s Durofab™ Pinch-Closure Bag offers an easy-open alternative to traditionally sewn closures. Bags are delivered to the client with one end secured, or “pinch-closed.” The other end is left open, either step-cut or flush-cut per customer order.

The new charcoal bag is much stronger and more durable than paper. So it holds up better during filling, in storage (a two-year-test showed no compromise in the bags’ integrity), in distribution and transportation, and in the retail environment.

“Even shipping costs are reduced by the new bags, as twice the number of the old bags fit onto a pallet,” Mr. Datelle added. “And like the pallets, nearly twice as many polywoven bags fit in a container or storage facility.”

The bags also provide charcoal producers a positive environmental step forward. “There is less of a carbon footprint than paper and the bag is recyclable,” Datelle noted.

Anduro Manufacturing is the leading producer of woven polypropylene packaging for pet food, animal nutrition, home-and-garden, pet and cat litters, and a variety of industrial products.