Absorbent products having improved packaging efficiency

An absorbent product comprising:

• a package having height, width and depth dimensions, an interior space and an exterior surface, the package comprising a film;
• a plurality of disposable absorbent articles, which are tri-folded and arranged to form a stack of disposable absorbent articles, wherein the stack of disposable absorbent articles is compressed along a compression axis and disposed within the interior space of the package such that the compression axis of the stack of disposable absorbent articles is oriented substantially along the width dimension of the package, each of the folded disposable absorbent articles comprising a topsheet, a liquid impervious backsheet, a substantially cellulose free absorbent core located between the topsheet and the backsheet, a first waist region, a second waist region, and a crotch region extending longitudinally between the first and second waist regions;
• wherein the backsheet comprises a thermoplastic film having an inner facing surface and an outer facing surface;
• wherein the substantially cellulose free absorbent core comprises a nonwoven substrate having first and second surfaces and an absorbent particulate polymer material, wherein a first thermoplastic composition is disposed on the second surface of the nonwoven substrate such that the first thermoplastic composition is disposed between the nonwoven substrate and the absorbent particulate polymer material, wherein a second thermoplastic composition is disposed on the absorbent particulate polymer material such that the absorbent particulate polymer material is disposed between the first and second thermoplastic compositions;
• wherein more than 60% of the absorbent particulate polymer is disposed in a front half of each of the absorbent articles;
• wherein the absorbent product exhibits an In-Bag Stack Height of 72 mm to 80 mm wherein the In-Bag Stack Height is the width of the package divided by the number of the disposable articles per stack and then multiplied by ten;
• and
• wherein the disposable absorbent articles exhibit a longitudinal bending stiffness of 285 N/m to 355 N/m upon removal from the package.

A process for packaging a plurality of disposable absorbent articles, the process comprising:

• providing a plurality of disposable absorbent articles, each of the disposable absorbent articles comprising a topsheet, a liquid impervious backsheet, a substantially cellulose free absorbent core located between the topsheet and the backsheet, a first waist region, a second waist region, a crotch region extending longitudinally between the first and second waist regions, and wherein the backsheet comprises a thermoplastic film having an inner facing surface and an outer facing surface and wherein the substantially cellulose free absorbent core comprises a nonwoven substrate having first and second surfaces, an absorbent particulate polymer material disposed on the second surface of the nonwoven substrate and a thermoplastic composition disposed on the absorbent particulate material, wherein the first surface of the nonwoven substrate faces the inner facing surface of the thermoplastic film;
• bi-folding each disposable absorbent article of the plurality of disposable absorbent articles to form a plurality of folded disposable absorbent articles;
• arranging the plurality of folded disposable absorbent articles to form a stack of folded disposable absorbent articles;
• compressing the stack of folded disposable absorbent articles along a compression axis to form a compressed stack of folded disposable absorbent articles;
• placing the compressed stack of folded disposable absorbent articles in an interior space of a package comprising a film, the package having height, width and depth dimensions, and an exterior surface, wherein the compressed stack of folded disposable absorbent articles is placed in the interior space of the package such that the compression axis of the stack of folded disposable absorbent articles is oriented substantially along the width dimension of the package;
• and
• closing the package such that the package exhibits an In-Bag Stack Height from 72 to 80 mm wherein the In-Bag Stack Height is the width of the package divided by the number of the disposable articles per stack and then multiplied by ten, and such that upon removal from the package, the disposable absorbent articles exhibit a longitudinal bending stiffness of less than 355 N/m.