The government, through the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), said it is currently constructing the country’s first Simulation Packaging Testing Laboratory (SPTL).
The SPTL will be the first performance testing lab for transport packaging in the Philippines, which aims to assist the different Philippine industry sectors in the areas of packaging design and engineering, performance testing, and development of standards for transport packaging.
“The SPTL being established will be at par with other countries,” said Daisy E. Tañafranca, chief of the DOST’s Packaging Technology Division.
Tañafranca said the SPTL will help prevent or minimize product damage while in transit, reduce packaging cost by optimizing the design, and comply with regulations both in the local and international markets.
Aside from the SPTL, a green packaging laboratory (GPL) is also being established to serve as venue for R&D and technology innovations in the areas of alternative packaging. The GPL will develop materials from indigenous and renewable sources, as well as those from agricultural wastes.
The two laboratories will serve as venues for joint collaboration and partnership with the different industry sectors, private companies, and academic institutions.
“The SPTL will be useful to different industry sectors that produce agricultural products, food, beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, personal care, furniture and handicraft, delivery service, etc. from micro to multi-nationals,” Tañafranca said.
While the construction of the laboratories is still ongoing, the Packaging Technology Division (PTD) of DOST’s Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI) will provide performance testing of boxes using International Safe Transit Association (ISTA)-testing protocols.
“Currently, the establishment of SPTL and GPL was affected by the pandemic which started in March 2020. Major equipment were already purchased and delivered to the site, and the installation and commissioning will be done after the completion of construction,” Tañafranca said.
