Aseptic brick carton laminate

Shelf-stable ambient drinks: oat and nut milks, juice, broth.

A white aseptic brick carton printed in sage-green and cream bands, with a cut piece of the laminate showing the white board and silver foil inside.

Best for: Shelf-stable drinks that live in a cupboard for months: oat and nut milks, juice, broth, coffee drinks.
Structure: ~70–75% paperboard, LDPE outer coating, LDPE tie layers, ~5% aluminium foil barrier, LDPE food-contact layer.
Print methods: Flexo · Offset on the board before lamination
Finishes: Matte varnish · Gloss varnish
After use: Collected as a carton in most of Europe. Paper mills pulp the board back into fibre. The thin polyethylene and aluminium left over is the hard part, and much less of it is recycled.
Formats: 200 ml to 1 L

How it's built

Outside to inside

Exploded view of an aseptic carton laminate: polyethylene films, a thick paperboard layer and a thin aluminium foil.

1Polyethylene outer coat (the print sits under it)
2Paperboard, about 70–75% of the weight
3Polyethylene tie layer
4Aluminium foil, about 5%
5Polyethylene
6Polyethylene food-contact layer

Look and feel

A crisp, square brick with a satin white face. A thin sealed fin runs up the back, and the top and bottom fold into flat fins with small ears tucked against the sides. Cut it open and the inside is silver.

Printing on it

Printed on the reel before the carton is formed, usually flexo, with an offset route for finer photography. Flat colour and bold type read best. Fine reversed type in a full flood is the risk. Foil stamping and embossing aren't part of the process: the board is sealed in polyethylene and folded on the filling line.

Barrier and shelf life

A foil layer thinner than a hair keeps out light and oxygen, which is why the drink keeps for months without a fridge.

Run sizes

Cartons are formed, filled and sealed on the drink maker's filling line, so the carton is printed on the roll that line runs. Minimums are set by the carton maker and your filler, and they sit far above a box or label job. We design the artwork and prepare press-ready files for your carton maker or co-packer.

After use

Collected as a carton in most of Europe. Paper mills pulp the board back into fibre. The thin polyethylene and aluminium left over is the hard part, and much less of it is recycled.