Packaging Europe Issue 14.8

VOLUME 14.8 – 2019

LIFTING THE LID ON PLASTICS: MOULDING A CIRCULAR FUTURE TETHERED CAPS • THE MONOPOLYMER CHALLENGE • DOW • PEPSICO • 2020 PREVIEW

Content Team Tim Sykes, Elisabeth Skoda Libby Munford, Victoria Hattersley, Fin Slater

Head of Studio Gareth Harrey

Production Manager Rob Czerwinski

Advertising Coordinator Kayleigh Harvey

Head of Commercial Operations Jesse Roberts

Head of Sales Kevin Gambrill

Senior Sales Executive Dominic Kurkowski

Sales Executives Alain Rizk, Alex Cheung

Executive Assistant

Senior Audience Development Executive

Amber Dawson

Andrew Wood

IT Support

Audience Development Executive

Syed Hassan

VOLUME 14.8 – 2019

Dominy Jones

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ISSN 2516-0133 (Print) ISSN 02516-0141 (Online)

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Editorial Libby Munford Dow sustainability Pillars of circularity K 2019 Plastics snapshot 2020 preview Anticipating key events Beverage closures Can tethered caps set plastic waste free?

Sustainability Awards Collectively finding a solution to the packaging waste issue Omnichannel The changing world of brands Innovation spotlight Coffee brands making the switch to renewable materials Personalisation The self-service experience Monomaterials challenge Addressing EU targets Smart inks Be a chameleon LabelExpo review Encompassing package printing Smart conveying Transforming conveying technology Supply chain efficiency Connecting the dots Innovation spotlight New solvent for efficient printing On second thoughts... Remember what packaging is hired to do

EDITORIAL |

WE

are closing 2019 with a crescendo of arguably one of the most debated and contentious issues, pivotal in driving the direction of the packaging industry over the last two years – plastics and the circular economy.

Drawing on insights gathered from K 2019, FachPack, and key focuses of the Sustainability Awards 2019, we aim to share with you the latest observations and objectives from the industry overall. Don’t miss our in-depth interview with Dow’s Tony Kingsbury; an evaluation of the monopolymers challenge; and an innovation analysis – can tethered caps for beverage closures provide an answer to a surmountable contributing factor to plastic waste?

Beyond this, we will also explore top drivers of the packaging industry: the omnichannel experience and the challenges this brings to the industry, personalisation, supply chain efficiency, and the latest on smart conveying systems.

I’m also pleased to welcome the newest member of our expanding editorial team, Fin Slater. Packaging Europe is going full-speed ahead in all respects, expanding in depth and breadth to match the fast pace of the packaging industry. With a growing team and audience, we’ll be navigating toward exciting new horizons next year. In fact, 2020 will be a watershed year for Packaging Europe. We’re branching out with the launch of our new magazine – Touchpoints – focusing on the consumer experience of packaging. In addition, the Düsseldorf shows interpack and drupa (where we’ll be hosting content over two days) are circled as significant dates in our diary.

We’ll also welcome you next year to our expanded Sustainable Packaging Summit. Taking place in Lisbon next October, the event won’t be a conference, but a summit in the true sense of the word, uniting attendees from across the value chain for discussions that move things forward. Join the conversation, meet the thought leaders and the winners of the 2020 Sustainability Awards in a luxurious environment and (for further enticement) a Pastel de Nata or two!

Libby Munford Editor

On that note, the 2019 Sustainability Awards and Sustainable Packaging Summit, hosted at FachPack, both met with unprecedented engagement. The competition winners selected by the independent jury provided a snapshot of the current sustainability preoccupations of our industry – which we can perhaps summarise as the pursuit of circularity without compromising efficiency. The competition bore witness to widespread advances in monomaterials and design for recycling in plastics, and winners included inspiring projects to raise deliver better sorting of polymer waste (HolyGrail) and stimulate collection and recycling in developing countries (Henkel’s Social Plastic collaboration). Meanwhile, Offmar deservedly scooped a prize for a protective envelope, recyclable in the paper stream, that was developed for the e-commerce market, which is desperately in need of sustainable solutions, and Nestlé took the inaugural Readers’ Award for its recyclable paper YES! wrapper. Check out our website for more on these and the other winners, BOBST’s DigiColorInk and Sulzer Mixpac’s collapsible adhesive cartridge.

We welcomed over 350 attendees to the awards ceremony and big debate on contrasting visions of circularity, featuring Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, Dana Mosora of CEFLEX, P&G’s Gian De Belder and PepsiCo’s Chris Daly, who in this edition shares his personal account of the Summit and his experience as a member of the Sustainability Awards judging panel.

We’re gratified by the engagement and discussion that these platforms and initiatives nurture – and we look forward to helping frame the discussions driving our progressive industry over the coming year.

Libby Munford Libby Munford lw@packagingeurope.com @PackEuropeLibby

Packaging Europe | 3 |

CONSTRUCTING PILLARS FOR A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Tim Sykes caught up with Tony Kingsbury, director of sustainability EMEA, Dow Packaging & Specialist Plastics, at K 2019 to discuss how Dow defines the environmental challenges facing packaging, and where it can insert itself to make a difference.

TS: Judging by your exhibit at K 2019, the circular economy appears to be the central driver for innovation at Dow right now. To what extent is Dow’s approach being driven top-down by the need to come up with solutions to the industry’s broad 2025 commitments and goals, as opposed to looking to the hundreds of expert chemists in your organisation and saying, “let’s see what our knowledge can do and how can it be leveraged?”

TK: In the ‘old’ Dow approach, it may have been more top-down, but since the integration of DuPont, our new Packaging and Specialty Plastics business has emerged, which is more polymer driven, more bottom-up.

It’s looking at what the solutions are required by the marketplace we’re selling products into, as opposed to ‘here’s the big sustainable chemistry goal’. Those headline aspirations are important but we’re seeing these much more driven by the needs of the value chain.

TS: The very concept of a circular economy is quite contested, with some arguing (just as substantive progress is made in recyclability of plastic packaging) that recycling as a model is inherently inferior to reuse. Brand owners are investing in concepts such as Loop, and also exploring bioplastic applications. In terms of channelling your R&D capabilities, would you say that Dow is agnostic in terms of these competing visions of the circular economy? | 6 | Packaging Europe

TK: Absolutely, we’re agnostic. We follow the marketplace and provide solutions. If reusability works, we can help our customers make reusable packages. We don’t necessarily see that as a huge piece of the business moving forward, whereas we do see a huge focus on recycling.

Our strategy emphasises design for recyclability, and offering all-polyethylene solutions. We’re witnessing a lot of uptake from brand owners in the marketplace as they realise they need to produce recyclable packages if they’re also going to incorporate recycled content. And obviously there’s real pressure to do so. China has shut the door on receiving all recycled plastics. There’s a recognition by the regulators and lawmakers in Europe that infrastructure has to change, so recycled content discussions are evolving for the first time. Over in the US, recycled content for non-food bottles has been in play for a long time.

Although new for the European market, we do see it spreading more rapidly around the world. Businesses such as Unilever and P&G are releasing strategies focused on using more recycled content. Our strategy aligns to that.

However, aside from this, we are developing solutions based on chemical recycling (the Fuenix partnership). We’re also partnering with UPM on renewable feedstocks, producing PE from naphtha derived from crude tall oil. Having explored various options for bio-based plastics, we feel this is the most bulletproof sustainable option, as it comes from wood waste, a byproduct of pulp making, and originates from sustainably managed forests.

“If the focus is only on recycling and circularity, then we’re not considering the carbon consequences of the decisions we are making. I know we can solve the plastics waste issue. However carbon footprint – I’m not as encouraged with our ability to overcome this.”

TS: I’d like to ask you about the wider task of constructing a circular economy. Dow can directly impact design for recyclability but it won’t work unless you have a coherent economy in place for PCR and infrastructure.

Can you give your perspective on how well the entire industry value chain is working in Europe, and what are the roadblocks?

TK: Compared to 18 months ago I think we’re moving rapidly forwards.

Everyone is figuring out that you can’t just point the finger at somebody else. It’s everyone’s responsibility.

Recycling involves a lot of infrastructure. Collection is in many ways the easy part. But then what? The struggle lies in the sorting systems. We are

Design for recyclability is a central pillar of Dow’s strategy.

witnessing a lot of infrastructure in that sphere and we expect acceleration of investment throughout Europe. The European Commission understands that and it’s also part of their initiative.

There’s a lot of movement for bottle recycling taking place in Europe, but we also need to take more notice of other packaging that is collected right now, but not commonly recycled. The solutions are there, but they need implementing. Different countries are approaching the issue in different ways, and some brands are moving more aggressively to make changes.

TS: Dow is a member of initiatives such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, CEFLEX and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. How is the ecosystem of value-chain collaborations addressing these challenges and how do you see Dow’s role in them?

TK: Collaboration is critical. We can’t do this alone, especially when tackling the big issues, but rather by working through the value chain, which is driven in turn by the public. As we look at moving from a linear to a circular model, we must also be engaged with stakeholders, NGOs, and governments. I’d say it’s more pertinent in Europe than in North America or Asia right now.

When we engage with any specific initiative, we see our role partly as ensuring they are headed in the right direction – that they are not just talking but are providing real solutions. And if they’re just talking, then we minimise our input and focus on the ones that are providing real solutions.

We all agree that plastic waste in our environment and the oceans is unacceptable and are particularly excited by The Alliance to End Plastic Waste. It is a global effort focused on infrastructure, joining not just the resin producers, but also the brand owners and waste management companies. With a commitment of $1.5 billion over the next five years, it is an alliance of over 40 global organisations actively participating.

Moreover, it’s not just collaboration from Europe and North America. It is a global effort involving countries such as China, India, and South Africa. In so many of these places, it’s not just about recycling, but waste management. We must start working on the infrastructure issues where the middle classes are emerging in these countries. There’s also a focus on innovation, education and data-gathering. We will see a lot more creative projects being announced over the coming months and years.

There is a unified agenda in the activities of The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, but also separate creative activities across countries and companies. Initially, there is a strong focus geographically on south east Asia, but I think we need to start projects in Africa too.

Packaging Europe | 7 |

Is non-recyclable packaging justified if it can prevent food, and associated carbon, waste?

TS: A year or two ago, we felt it was necessary to encourage our readers to think of plastic waste in a more nuanced way – not to forget about resource efficiency the crucial role that plays in addressing the climate crisis. As we get more design for recycling, better functionality from monomaterial alternatives and edge closer to realising a circular economy, are we potentially approaching a point where we no longer have to view this as a dilemma or a question of priorities? Can we start to think about neutralising waste vs carbon as a dichotomy?

TK: No. Frankly, I’m disappointed in what’s happening. If the focus is only on recycling and circularity, then we’re not considering the carbon consequences of the decisions we are making. I disagree with the assumption that if a solution is circular, it’s the best.

It could in fact be more harmful from a systems standpoint – consider for example packaging meats with a very high embedded energy. If that goes to waste because the package is under-engineered in order for it to be circular, then the meat may go to waste because it doesn’t have the optimum shelf life.

I’m disappointed that those discussions aren’t happening enough. We are so focused on circularity and recycled content, and I’m worried we are not looking at the bigger picture.

I know we can solve the plastics waste issue. However carbon footprint – I’m not as encouraged with our ability to overcome this. We can’t forget these broader issues. This world is too often being driven by PR and social media messages. If I try to talk about the benefits of plastics from a greenhouse gas systems standpoint, eyes roll. | 8 | Packaging Europe

We are focused on delivering the circular economy without compromising the carbon impact, but I’m not convinced everybody is keeping that same attitude. Thank you for driving that point home – those are the two big issues of our time.

But this is solvable. Society says we need to clean up the plastics in the ocean, and I say: no, we need to stop the plastics entering the oceans in the first place. ‘Cleaning up’ the oceans will create further carbon emissions, and plastic waste will keep on flowing in if that’s your approach.

Stopping it from entering is our role.

Dow is offering plastics made with renewable feedstocks.

K IS FOR PLASTICS

Düsseldorf’s giant K show is the world’s biggest plastics event, and its three-yearly cycle serves as a snapshot of how the industry is shifting. Tim Sykes visited K 2019 to pick out some key packaging trends and takeaways.

1. Big strides in recyclability At K 2016 the design for recyclability conversation was very different.

Initiatives that in today’s light might be dismissed as ‘downcycling’ commanding a lot of attention. Monopolymer strategies were still largely being discussed in theoretical tones. Fast forward three years and the range of mono-PE and -PP flexible packaging already on the market is truly impressive – with the properties of monomaterials extending all the time.

At this year’s K, solutions orientated toward enabling monomaterial packaging were on display across countless stands, beginning with the very top of the value chain. Dow is already offering a suite of high-performance PE-based polymers that contribute properties and production efficiencies in mono films that are comparable to existing multi-material packaging structures. ELITE™ resins, NUCREL™ copolymers, INNATE™ precision resins and AFFINITY™ sealants are all well established in the marketplace.

Meanwhile, Henkel introduced its new RE range of designed-forrecycling adhesives and coatings that aim to both improve recyclability of flexibles and facilitate use of PCR in new packaging. Solvent-free, the RE range is highly suitable for recycling and bonding of recycled plastic films.

At the same time, they give excellent results at efficient machine speed, optimal ink compatibility for high-quality printing, high initial tack and room temperature curing. The adhesives are also claimed to improve the quality of recycling of materials in every step of the value chain.

K 2019 also saw the introduction of Milliken’s Millad® NX® 8000 clarifier that reduces weight and adds transparency to polypropylene. In addition to energy savings in the injection moulding process, the clarifier is | 10 | Packaging Europe

BOBST boasted a selection of mono MDO PE, BOPE, BOPP and CPP stand-up pouches that were developed in conjunction with a full spectrum of value chain partners.

envisaged as a driver of more easily recyclable monomaterial packaging, such as a 100% PP bottle + label + cap. Milliken’s additives will also be utilised in the scaling up of PureCycle’s processing of virgin-like recycled PP, using technology developed and licensed by P&G.

2. Value chain partnerships are delivering results Collaboration has been a buzzword since well before the previous K but the evidence points to the fact that our industry has mastered the art of leveraging it. Messe Düsseldorf witnessed important updates from major pre-competitive initiatives such as CEFLEX and Sustainability Awards-winning HolyGrail, both of which will be familiar to Packaging Europe readers.

There were many other instances of exciting partnerships that are delivering prototypes, bringing solutions to market, and pushing the boundaries.

Dow, for instance, displayed 30 recyclable packaging prototypes that were jointly developed with over 20 partners (from Kellogg’s to Kuhne Anla-

genbau and Reckitt Benckiser to Reifenhäuser) via its Pack Studios network.

Meanwhile, Henkel flagged collaborations with ExxonMobil to develop a full PE laminated stand-up pouch with 30 per cent recycled SUP content (including recycled adhesive) and another mono pouch with up to 35 per cent PCR resulting from work with Borealis.

An intriguing project was announced between DOMO, Covestro and Circularise to explore the potential to apply blockchain technology to the circular economy challenge. The founding idea is that achieving traceability and transparency in the supply chain, enabled by blockchain, will enhance transparency.

The initiative intends to make it easier to choose traceable circular materials, creating incentives and providing critical information for reversed logistics and take-back of products and materials. This is an early-stage project, looking to attract new partners, and certainly a story to watch.

3. Feedstock recycling While design for (mechanical) recycling looks set to pluck a lot of lowhanging fruit in plastic packaging, there remain packaging applications and substrates for which this may not be a viable or appropriate model.

Chemical (or feedstock) recycling represents a possible alternative, and a potential source of secondary raw materials that are suitable for food contact, and K 2019 reflected a significant step forward in both technology and capacity investments since the last edition.

LyondellBasell announced a new pilot facility at its Ferrara, Italy site to further the development of its proprietary molecular recycling technology called MoReTec. This represents a step closer to potential commercialscale applications. In collaboration with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, LyondellBasell has shown that use of a catalyst in the pyrolysis of

plastic waste can reduce the temperatures and residence time required to break down the polymer chains into small molecules, making the process faster and more energy efficient, while improving feedstock quality.

Meanwhile, at K, Trinseo shared news of its groundbreaking polystyrene chemical recycling facility, due to be built in Europe to underpin a plan to offer 30 per cent recycled content to customers for PS packaging in Europe by 2025. In addition, Dow underlined its partnership with Netherlands-based Fuenix Ecogy to supply pyrolysis oil feedstock derived from plastic waste in order to produce new polymers at Dow’s Terneuzen facilities.

4. Bioplastics are coming If brand owners are vigorously pursuing recyclability and increased PCR content, many are also hedging their bets by simultaneously investing in renewables. Capacity in biopolymers is rising internationally, along with tonnage in the packaging market.

This trend was reflected at K, with Mitsubishi Chemical Europe introducing the first certified home compostable coffee capsules (by Golden Compound), while FKuR promoted its Terralene® rPP compounds, which combine bio-based and recycled credentials. Borealis discussed its cooperation with Neste, which from the end of 2019 will see Borealis using Neste’s renewable propane as a feedstock for bio-based PP in which it will be possible to physically verify and measure renewable content.

Meanwhile, Dow announced that its partnership with UPM Biofuels is resulting in commercialisation of bio-based PE based on UPM BioVerno renewable naphtha. The naphtha is produced from crude tall oil, a residue of paper pulp production, meaning no extra land is dedicated to the feedstock production.

“Collaboration has been a buzzword since well before the previous K but the evidence points to the fact that our industry has mastered the art of leveraging it.”

Packaging Europe | 11 |

2020 will be a big year for the packaging industry, and a busy one for Packaging Europe. We suggest circling your calendars to avoid missing four highlights of the coming year.

GET OUT YOUR DIARIES! interpack The world’s biggest packaging fair returns in 2020 to provide a crosssection of the innovation entering the market across the value chain. It’s also an opportunity to step back and take stock of the overall progress industry is making in rising to the big challenges.

We’ll be hoping to find answers to key questions, such as: How much farther is there to go for the value chain to transition to a fully circular economy?

Where are the break-out designs and technologies that are going to solve

Sustainable Packaging Summit Leaders of the international packaging value chain, sustainability and recycling will come together with regulators next October to share an innovative platform for discussion of how to reduce the environmental footprint of packaged goods.

Organised by Packaging Europe, the Sustainable Packaging Summit aims to be a ‘Davos’ for packaging: a forum for the big ideas driving the industry forward, but also a highly interactive event with fresh formats, panels, break-out discussions and a private setting for networking, in addition to high-profile keynotes. Defining objectives and mapping out the challenges we must face as an industry in order to meet them, the summit will also host the culmination of the 2020 Sustainability Awards – revealing the world’s most significant new innovations in greener packaging over a gala dinner.

The Sustainable Packaging Summit will be collaborating with key stakeholders and thought leaders, including CEFLEX and the NVC PUMA. Where? Pestana Palace, Lisbon When? 15-16 October

| 12 | Packaging Europe

headaches in e-commerce packaging and logistics? Who is unlocking new levels of value and efficiency through big data and smart machines? …and what will be the game-changing innovations that take us by surprise?

Drop by for a packaging chat at our booth!

Where? Messe Düsseldorf When? 7-13 May

Packaging Europe | 13 |

| 16 | Packaging Europe

Touchpoints Transforming consumer-brand engagements – a new magazine from the Packaging Europe team.

On the backdrop of the digital media, e-commerce, and a proliferation of the virtual and physical touchpoints between brands and shoppers, there has never been a greater emphasis on the ability of packaging to engage with consumers. Touchpoints magazine explores the opportunities for brands to harness technology and imagination to create meaningful packaging experiences. It’s the marketeer’s and brand manager’s indispensable guide to innovative ideas and technologies in design, customisation, smart and interactive packaging, helping readers understand how to forge connections with consumers through packaging while navigating the online/offline retail trends on the horizon.

Where? Online and in print When? Spring 2020

drupa Scarcely a month after hosting interpack, the world’s greatest packaging fair, Düsseldorf will welcome the world’s premier print event. The packaging segment is becoming more and more central for the challenging print market – meanwhile, packaging is looking more and more often at the opportunities coming from innovation in printing technology.

The special ‘touchpoint packaging’ focus at drupa therefore represents the intersection of two industries with a lot of insights to swap. Packaging Europe will be a content partner of touchpoint packaging, and will be hosting discussions and keynotes over two days, delving into the experiential drivers of packaging, from personalisation to unboxing to the nuances of the omnichannel ecosystem that will impact on the print strategies of tomorrow. Live content will be accompanied by special collaborations, customisation projects and commentary, spanning both the Packaging Europe and new Touchpoints magazines and digital channels.

Where? Messe Düsseldorf When? 16-26 June

Packaging Europe | 17 |

CAN TETHERED CAPS SET PLASTIC WASTE FREE?

There are copious ways the packaging industry is innovating toward higher levels of recyclability, from re-engineering materials to focusing on sorting and recycling technologies. But sometimes something as seemingly innocuous as a simple change to design can help save a significant area of plastic waste.

Libby Munford explores the increasingly important concept of tethered closures for plastic bottle caps.

Aptar and NCC

Richard Kirkman

A

mid widespread focus on plastic bottles themselves, detached bottle caps pose different sustainability dilemmas. There remains a lack of information available on how to recycle bottle caps and what the strategies are from the brand owners down to information guidelines on a consumer level.

With an inconsistent message, packaging companies are innovating and taking the lead by designing tethered caps – eliminating the problem from the brand owners and the consumers alike. EU Directive 2019/904 on single-use plastics requires beverage bottles to have closures tethered to the bottle for proper disposal, reducing the risk of plastic items dispersing into the environment.

Consistency is key As a first port of call, this investigation starts at the end of the value chain of rigid plastic bottle caps, with insight from Richard Kirkman, chief technology and innovation officer, Veolia (UK and Ireland), a leader in environmental Packaging Europe | 19 |

“If closures were to remain on plastic bottles, they are much more likely to be recycled.”

solutions, providing a comprehensive range of waste management services designed to build the circular economy and preserve scarce raw materials.

With the Plastics Pact being set out to reduce the plastic pollution, and the Waste and Resource Strategy aiming to increase recycling rates, the beverage closure business is aiming to follow suit. Richard Kirkman explains, “The SUP Directive clearly steered consumers towards reusable bottles. However, the big driving force for innovation in beverage closures is from the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment. This strives for a circular economy for plastic.”

When designing beverage closures consistency is key Richard Kirkman recommends “that the closures be fixed on by design and be made of the same material and colour. A trend here is towards fixing closures to the beverage container, for example, by using hinged closures. If not then advise customers to leave on the caps, or design in that influence.”

But why is it important that caps remain tethered to the bottle?

“We recycle bottles and closures in our MRFs. We also offer Deposit Return Schemes for plastic bottles, their closures and drinks cans. At our MRFs we find that when the bottle closures are separated from the bottles it’s much harder to process as they can literally fall between the gaps. If closures were to remain on plastic bottles when recycled, they are much more likely to be recycled,” urges Richard Kirkman.

He continues, “Surrounding any plastic products there will often be issues and challenges. Closures can be recycled and help towards a sustainable solution, however we all need to be educated on how to recycle. At Veolia we work to educate clients and consumers – and ourselves! – on recycling correctly.

“We believe the regulations on consistency being set out by the Waste and Resource Strategy will help people to recycle their enclosures properly. Let’s all remember this is about sustainable packaging not just plastic packaging; we need to reduce, reuse first then when we need a packaging we need to choose the right material and design it well!”

Remain united AptarGroup Inc. has partnered with Nippon Closures Co., Ltd to cross-license technology for tethered beverage closures. Aptar and NCC say that they are working to continuously improve the consumer drinking experience, while also creating solutions for beverage closures that are better for the environment.

Flip Lid by Aptar is a dispensing closure that is described as consumer friendly and is designed to promote post use recycling as the closure remains united with the bottle throughout its lifecycle, making it more likely to be collected and sent through the recycling stream with the container.

NCC’s StrapBand solution is also a tethered solution available for today’s flat caps which provides a hinge functionality with a wide opening angle and a click sound when tethered. The StrapBand solution can be applied to flat caps and sports caps, for both still and carbonated beverages.

Flip Lid and StrapBand meet the requirements of the single-use plastics (SUP) regulation in Europe, that introduced design requirements to connect caps to bottles, thereby increasing the number of closures which are collected and recycled, and the AB 319 California proposal in the US, which intended that plastic closures remain attached to containers.

ACT now Meanwhile, UNITED CAPS and LyondellBasell displayed the results of an extensive collaborative effort at the recent K 2019.

Following the EU Commission’s 2018 proposal for requiring tethered closures for single-use plastics, UNITED CAPS spearheaded the Alliance for Closure Tethering (ACT) to bring together segment leaders in the packaging industry to conduct an impact assessment of various tethering solutions on existing neck finishes and to determine finishing changes that might be required.

Tethered closures present challenges for the industry which are more effectively faced by value chain collaboration. According to Astrid Hofmann-Leist, chief marketing and innovation officer at UNITED CAPS, the challenges are both financial and design-orientated. “Cost of the closures themselves and integra-

United Caps and LyondellBasell collaboration | 20 | Packaging Europe

| 22 | Packaging Europe

tion into production lines were key considerations,” she told Packaging Europe.

“At the same time, it was crucial to provide solutions that are acceptable to consumers, and therefore to brand owners.”

This understanding led to a collaboration between UNITED CAPS and LyondellBasell (which developed new resin grades for the new directive, featuring high stress cracking resistance and enhanced organoleptic properties), engineering specialist Krones (ensuring compatibility with existing lines) and brand owner Spa. Together, the partners worked on specifications for a range of concepts and tested these on consumers across Europe to understand how they would be received. Successful prototypes included a snap closure, a standard screw-on closure with different slitting, and a screw-hinge-snap hybrid.

The entire collaboration, rather remarkably, proceeded from conception to multiple solutions ready for launch in ten months.

“Collaborating to turn a problem into an opportunity turned out to be highly effective, and thanks to the agility of this partnership and the learnings that have come out of it, we have an opportunity to influence the new industry standards that are not yet finalised,” commented Astrid Hofmann-Leist.

Adapting design considerations Closure design can also take in other considerations from a sustainable point of view, such as by reducing the need for new bottle sleeves and bottle dimensions (thus reducing material).

APTAR Flip Lid

SIG announces the launch of the new combiMaxx closure, which the company says will offer consumers a new level of convenience, while allowing existing customers to upgrade their packaging without a major investment or the need for new sleeves.

With a large pouring diameter of 25mm, combiMaxx offers an optimal product flow and perfect stream controllability. The large cap makes it easier and more comfortable for consumers to open and reclose the pack in one easy step. A highly visible, tamper-evident ring gives consumers the confidence that the package has not already been opened. Fully resealable and leak-proof, combiMaxx also ensures that opened packs can be stored safely in the fridge. The design of combiMaxx uses approximately 4.5 per cent less plastic than combiSwift.

“At SIG we’re committed to offering product innovation and differentiation,” says Hanno Bertling, senior product manager Closures at SIG. “With our latest convenient combiMaxx closure, we can now offer our customers a cap that will help to increase brand loyalty among new and existing consumers. combiMaxx guarantees unbeatable pouring action, easy handling and spill-free horizontal and vertical storage.”

Since the base plate dimensions and sleeves remain unchanged, SIG has made it simple for existing customers to switch from combiSwift to the new combiMaxx closure – without requiring a major investment.

Additionally, combiMaxx can be combined with all of SIG’s existing midand large-size carton formats, starting with combiblocSlimline, combiblocMidi and combifitMidi. Colour options include white, red, blue and green, with additional colours available upon request.

“The transition for our customers to use the new closure system is easy to implement without any significant cost,” said Bertling. “We want to ensure the food and beverage industry can adapt quickly to fast-paced consumer needs to guarantee ongoing competitive advantage.”

Can securing caps secure our future?

With small but intelligent changes to the design of plastic bottle caps, the packaging industry is highlighting how design is significant towards streamlining the overall journey of packaging throughout the value chain.

As well as providing convenience for the consumer, tethered bottle caps can solve a waste problem, and help towards sustaining our planet. One small cap at a time may make a mountainous change to our global waste problem.

“EU Directive 2019/904 on single-use plastics requires beverage bottles to have closures tethered to the bottle for proper disposal.”

Packaging Europe | 23 |

COLLECTIVELY FINDING A SOLUTION TO THE PACKAGING WASTE ISSUE This year at FachPack the key unifying focus explored on company stands and across the programme of seminars, lectures and events was of course (and rightly so) sustainability. In fact, the 2019 event adopted a key theme for the first time this year of ‘environmentally friendly packaging’. Packaging Europe hosted the Sustainability Awards 2019 at FachPack, and our coexisting Sustainable Packaging Summit zoned in on contrasting approaches to a Circular Economy, with thought leaders such as TerraCycle’s Tom Szaky drawing in the crowds. Chris Daly, VP supply chain, strategy, transformation and sustainability, PepsiCo Europe and Sub Saharan Africa, explored what a circular future looks like from the PepsiCo perspective and the challenges and opportunities around realising that future during his presentation. Here he discusses with us the importance of a holistic approach, and reflects on the experience of helping judge the 2019 Sustainability Awards.

IN

an efficient food system, packaging helps make safe, high-quality products accessible to all, extending shelf life and helping to limit food waste. But currently, less than 15 per cent of plastic packaging is recycled for future use. To put it simply, for packaging to have a role in a more sustainable food system, we must move to a more circular future. In my role at PepsiCo, this is exactly what I strive to do each day.

I’m very fortunate to work for a company where the challenges in making sustainability a reality are proactively embraced with a ‘can-do’ mindset.

Earlier this month I had the encouraging experience of meeting many others who share this same mindset in my role as a judge of the Sustainability Awards 2019. The awards are the most prestigious international competition for sustainability in packaging and turn the spotlight on innovations in the space that make a genuine difference – something that from a PepsiCo perspective we are exploring as part of our sustainable plastics vision.

The opportunity to see a broad range of sustainable packaging solutions that are being developed across the industry indicated that there are many Packaging Europe | 25 |

“To put it simply, for packaging to have a role in a more sustainable food system, we must move to a more circular future.”

Chris Daly

scientific and commercial explorations taking place. I want to share some of my key takeaways as a judge and share my perspective on how these innovative approaches may advance packaging sustainability.

We need to take a holistic approach From reviewing each entry, I could sense the same passion that my team at PepsiCo share for finding a solution to the significant issue of packaging sustainability. Each team was truly proud of their creations and held an honest belief that their entry has the ability to make an impact. The Awards are categorised into several areas to ensure a holistic view across the packaging chain.

The winning HolyGrail Project was a collaborative project, led by P&G and of which we were also proud to be a part of. It addressed recycling inefficiencies in flexible materials by improving packaging design to enable the item to be correctly sorted in the recycling process. This invention is particularly significant because recycling efficiency is the largest waste area in the plastics value chain. I predict that this remarkable project will have a huge impact.

A focus on flexible materials was a common theme throughout the Awards.

It was encouraging to see progress in this area and impressive to see several new solutions being proposed, which were appropriate for both dry goods and non-food. At PepsiCo, we’re working to develop recyclable solutions for our flexible snack packaging so this is an area that I’m very familiar with. This is progress in the right direction and it gives me confidence that there is a solution for flexible plastics.

Sustainability is an opportunity for material manufacturers In general, there appear to be two streams of thinking. On the one hand, brand owners and some material manufacturers are developing new solutions in order to de-risk their existing business by developing more environmentally friendly packaging. On the other hand, some are looking at the

“I left the Awards filled with a renewed sense of confidence that there are many scientific and commercial explorations taking place in the area of sustainable packaging.”

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sustainability challenge as a business opportunity, developing sustainable solutions to build growth prospects for their business. This was exciting to see as ultimately sustainable solutions which are also financial success stories will move the needle forward and are likely to have most impact.

Equipment adaptation rather than full replacement will bring success When I was reading the entries, I was struck by the fact that many equipment and material manufacturers really understood that solutions which required companies to adapt rather than fully replace plant machinery and equipment are more likely to succeed. Many of the entries focused on making it easier to implement with existing equipment, just requiring some modular changes, and this in itself creates a world without equipment waste!

The future is bright if we can harness expertise collaboratively Finally, I want to reflect on the quality of the judging panel – it was a privilege to be able to collaborate with such a knowledgeable group of experts, each with a real interest in sustainability. It reinforced to me that sustainable packaging is a nuanced and varied approach and it’s possible to see opportunities and possibilities where others do not.

It was especially pleasing to see my fellow judges highlighting that if material can be recycled, this does not necessarily mean it is recyclable. If the collection and separation systems do not exist for that material in market, it is unlikely to ever be processed. This is an issue that PepsiCo is very aware of as we work to our goal to design 100 per cent of our packaging to be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable by 2025. We do not consider something to be recyclable in a given market unless there are adequate collection systems in place to give a high probability of the package actually being recycled.

I left the Awards filled with a renewed sense of confidence that there are many scientific and commercial explorations taking place in the area of sustainable packaging. I believe that a world where plastic need never become waste is not far off and through collaboration with the many experts and other stakeholders we can work together to find and deliver the most effective solutions at scale.

PACKAGING IN AN OMNICHANNEL WORLD As we’ve discussed in Packaging Europe before, the concept of omnichannel is changing the way brands relate to consumers. But how is the industry meeting the challenges this presents? Victoria Hattersley reports.

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our new omnichannel retail environment, the consumer is at the centre.

Whatever they want to buy, however they want to buy it – increasingly the brand owner is finding their role is to cater to this; to offer a single, streamlined experience whether it’s bricks & mortar or online shopping. It’s not a case of either/or anymore – the customer wants the best of both. And the packaging, of course, needs to keep pace with this.

Today, brands are recognising that offering a consistent experience across every retail channel is the key to building a strong connection with – and understanding of – consumers. Previously, the only way to cater for the needs of multiple channels was co-packing, which is not the most resource-efficient approach. Omnichannel is a way of developing a single packaging solution for both retail channels, and thus eliminating the entire co-packing stage.

Part of this comes down to data collection. “There has been an epiphany in both retail and brand thinking over the past few years,” says Martin Orme,

creative designer, Equator Design. “Instead of focusing primarily on the product they’re selling, brands and retailers are leveraging an increased understanding of the customers they are selling to.

“Of course, market research, focus groups and buying habit data have informed product development and packaging design for years, but the difference now is the level of investment being made in encouraging customers to buy as a consequence of their customer experience across multiple channels, not just their product preferences.”

A coherent approach Given the new retail environment in which they are operating today, then, one of the key questions a brand now has to ask itself is: do we differentiate between bricks & mortar and online sales, creating specific packaging formats for each channel, or do we embrace a more uniform pack design Packaging Europe | 29 |

that encompasses both online and offline? If so, how do packs offer the same performance in-store, online and throughout the supply chain?

There are a number of considerations when it comes to pack design, including ensuring both in-store connectivity and connectivity customised to the e-commerce consumer; the ability to ship direct to the consumer or store, with no overbox required; adding easy-to-open tear tape strips for retail display, and so on.

Increased supply chain complexity is a major challenge to be faced, with new sales channels driving an increase in private delivery firms and extending the variety of delivery methods used. One widely-recognised issue is that often the packs used are too large, leaving a lot of empty space which impacts sustainability and also has issues when it comes to product protection (itself, of course, an environmental issue; as we have pointed out many times, product damage is the least sustainable option).

According to a survey conducted by Forbes Insight and DS Smith, on average, 24 per cent of every container sailing across our oceans is empty. This results in the equivalent of about 61 million TEU containers being shipped unnecessarily each year. Or roughly $46 billion in potential global savings.

Packaging producers such as DS Smith are working to help customers optimise their supply chains in various ways – to create a leaner, more efficient model in line with the needs of an omnichannel strategy. Its ‘Made2Fit’ system is designed to both lower order volumes and also prevent product movement, reducing damage and cutting the overall environmental footprint of a purchase.

Made2Fit includes an algorithm to calculate the dimensions of the product and help customers develop the best package to fit this. | 30 | Packaging Europe

Digitally printed tracking codes are also increasingly making a difference when it comes to improving efficiency along the supply chain. This would enable consumers to use an app to track the exact location of their parcel in real-time, choosing a point of delivery near their current location at short notice. But it’s not just about communicating with the consumer.

Smart packaging can also monitor perishable items to further reduce wastage, and counterfeit goods can be separated from the genuine article.

Sealed Air is another example of a brand embracing the twin challenge of reducing environmental impact while protecting the product across a single channel. Its TempGuard solution is an insulated recyclable paper pad that has been designed to protect temperature sensitive and perishable goods in transit for 24-48 hours in a complete curbside recyclable package. It is a customisable box liner that can be optimised through thermal modelling to meet the needs of one- and two-day shipping requirements.

Growing pressure on operations Then there is the increased pressure put on the back-end processes in warehouses and distribution centres. More and more, as the trend towards personalised order fulfilment increases, we see demands for small, one-off orders that can be delivered within the space of two days or sometimes even less. To achieve this, touchpoints have to be kept to a minimum – the fewer touchpoints, the less time it takes from production to delivery (and again, the fewer chances for product damage).

This naturally puts a strain on fulfilment operations. We have therefore been seeing a shift from traditional conveyor-belt technologies to what DS

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Smith describes as ‘automated beehive-like hubs… a well-oiled operation relying on algorithms, barcodes and expertly trained human hands’.

Increased complexity in the warehouse also has its consequences for secondary packaging. Before, items would have to be re-packaged in the warehouse but omnichannel has created more of an emphasis on bringing all the ‘last mile’ options together. As we know, Amazon – as a purely online player – has been ahead of the game here with its insistence on the need for ‘frustration-free’ packaging that is easy to open, recyclable and comes without unnecessary additional materials while also protecting the product inside.

The real and the virtual But owing to the increased emphasis on the convenience of the online experience, brands need to consider that if they truly want to profit from this approach they have to think about how to improve the in-store experience too. “In the multi-channel era, retailers are not only competing with e-commerce providers but also with their own online presence,” says Martin Orme.

“Consequently, this customer-focused, experiential approach is as evident in the retail environment as it is in the way products are packaged and personalised. Consumers increasingly need a reason to step in store because purchasing online has become the easy alternative. As a result, store environments have had to think strategically to consider the potential advantages of their high street presence and evolve the store and brand experience accordingly.”

One strategy is for brand owners to blur the boundaries between what is real and what is virtual. Mondelēz International is one company that has been embracing this kind of approach, particularly with its Toblerone brand. | 32 | Packaging Europe

A recent example could be seen at the TFWA World Exhibition in September this year. Here, the company’s World Travel Retail arm launched an interactive campaign with a mobile game that could be accessed by delegates through QR codes. The game required users to catch falling letters with a digital Toblerone bar. A personalised Toblerone bar, using the Toblerone sleeve printer which debuted at the show, could then be claimed at the company’s stand.

“With these online games, we would like delegates to experience what Next-Gen travellers can do throughout their trip; from mobile to store [Mondelez stand, in this case] to collecting sweet rewards to take home,” commented Mondelez WTR head of Customer Development Richard Houseago at the show. This omnichannel approach is integral to how we’re successfully tackling the channel’s key challenges. We hope these fun games will inspire the industry.”

In future, there is likely to be more emphasis on the kind of symbiotic relationship that can be achieved between in-store and online retail through augmented reality. Online consumer interfaces can be used to encourage consumers into store by giving them a virtual in-store experience or special offer they can then experience ‘in the flesh’ in-store.

Conversely, such technology can be used in-store to allow customers to ‘try before they buy’.

There is still much for the industry to do to catch up with the demands of omnichannel, but with the benefits it offers – enabling brands to cut costs by reducing the number of packaging formats they need to develop, and maintaining brand consistency across all channels, among many others – we can expect to see more FMCG brands adopt this retail ethos in the coming years.

BIO-BASED PACKAGING – COFFEE BRANDS ARE MAKING THE SWITCH TO RENEWABLE MATERIALS

Climate change is driving a movement toward more sustainable products, and coffee brands in particular are tuned into the topic. Many coffee brands already bear the labels of organic, responsibly grown, or Fairtrade. Now coffee makers are focusing their efforts beyond the coffee itself and finding new ways of reducing emissions and managing resources throughout the supply chain.

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urrently, climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the coffee industry. One of the ways coffee brands are tackling the crisis is by supporting communities of coffee growers around the world and contributing to their on-going development.

Though successful in creating a more sustainable supply chain, these measures can only partially address emissions. Moving to a more sustainable packaging alternative can contribute to completing the picture of carbon footprint reduction by phasing out depletable resources.

This can be achieved by replacing fossil-fuel derived plastic packaging with packaging made from renewable resources, such as sugar cane. Biobased plastics are recyclable and provide the same technical properties and product protection as traditional plastics, while lowering carbon emissions.

Not only is this better for the planet, it matters to consumers, too. The use of renewable materials can offer brands new opportunities to stand out on store shelves. Moreover, it’s an easy change to make, and a number of coffee brands have now made this switch as a next step in their sustainability journey.

cracking operation into ethylene. In packaging, both types of PE behave in the same way, and therefore both are recyclable, accepted in mono-PE streams, and in mixed polyolefin streams.

The difference between bio-based and traditional PE

For coffee brands it is crucial that the production and quality of the product is preserved. Switching to bio-based materials has no impact on production capacity and preserves product quality and freshness. The environmental impact is immediate, allowing brands to make concrete sustainability statements (% bio-content, % carbon footprint reduction).

Amcor supports its customers with fact-based packaging certifications, through third-parties such as Bonsucro and Carbon Trust. This helps brands communicate to consumers the steps they’ve taken to make packaging more sustainable.

Learn more at: www.amcor.com/coffee

Unlike traditional polyethylene (PE), which is produced from fossil-fuels, biobased PE is produced from renewable resources such as plants – typically, sugar cane.

This means the source of the material can be grown again, whereas traditional polymers are made from depletable fossil resources.

Exactly like traditional PE, bio-based PE is fully recyclable. The difference is in the way they’re produced. Bio-based PE is made from plants, fermented into ethanol and then transformed into ethylene – while traditional PE is made from naphtha oil, which is chemically transformed by a

Responsibly-grown source materials If it’s important how coffee is grown, it’s important how its packaging is grown too. To ensure the source materials for the bio-based PE are responsibly grown, harvested and produced, Amcor collaborates closely with resin manufacturers and insists on certifications such as Bonsucro and the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification. Both certifications guarantee the implementation of environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable production and use of biomass across global supply chains.

To better understand the full carbon footprint of their packaging and identify opportunities for environmental performance improvement, brands can use Amcor’s ASSET lifecycle assessment tool, which is certified by the Carbon Trust.

A simple switch with instant business benefits

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WHERE IS PERSONALISATION LEADING US? As consumers increasingly demand products and services tailored to their individual needs, it’s clear that the personalisation trend isn’t going away and brand owners need to respond to this. For the packaging industry, this means ever-more complex demands along the entire supply chain, as Victoria Hattersley reports.

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e’re already in the era of mass customisation – you don’t have to look far for examples of this over the past few years, whether it’s Coca-Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign or Heinz’s ‘Get Well Soon’ soup labels.

What comes next – total personalisation – is a somewhat different prospect.

While customisation refers more to the use of software to produce custom output in large volumes, personalisation takes us to the next level by tailoring a solution or service to the end user’s specific tastes and preferences. This comes down partly to the use of customer data to understand an individual’s needs and desires – a chilling prospect for some consumers, perhaps, but not so for marketers and brand owners.

It’s something the industry has been moving towards for some time.

According to a 2018 report by Packaging Innovations and ThePackHub, 66 per cent of packaging professionals stated that the personalisation of packaging is something that they are implementing – or at least considering implementing – into their offering. This makes sense in our digital age, where building a two-way conversation – such as through social sharing – between the consumer and brand is key, and ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions are often no longer enough for a company to stand out in the marketplace.

Today, brands are also making increasing efforts to reach out to younger generations. A 2018 study by Sparks & Honey suggested that more than 50

per cent of millennials and Gen Z consumers are interested in brands that can offer personalised products or services. Incidentally, the same study also found that 25 per cent of consumers would be happy to share their data in return for a personalised experience, so not everyone shudders at the thought of their personal information being used in this way.

Pushing forward the digital revolution We are already seeing some of the results of this ongoing drive towards personalisation in solutions such as the 56,000 personalised KitKat packs created by Nestle using technology from HP Indigo, or Mondelēz International’s Milka greeting cards.

Of course, consumers only see the end result – the bottle of drink with their name on the label, the personalised chocolate greeting card, the KitKat with their face on the wrapper. But from the industry’s point of view, the most vital part of the question is the technology required to get us there. The growth of digital printing is one facet of this, bringing as it does far greater possibilities for smaller, customised runs than was possible with more traditional printing technologies.

So far, many companies may have been put off the prospects of personalisation, perhaps owing in part to the cost implications and overall complexity.

But technology is catching up. While conventional printing techniques, such as offset, are still cheaper than digital – at least for bigger runs – this margin is decreasing all the time. It’s not hard to envisage a time when digital printing will be the more cost-effective option even for huge runs.

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Danny Mertens

While it’s true that digital printing can involve higher up-front costs, it does not require cylinders or plates, which means brands can be much more flexible – essential when it comes to offering a targeted, bespoke packaging experience. Lower minimum order quantities also mean a decrease in inventories and warehousing expenses.

And it’s not just the printing – other processes will need to be increasingly digitised to improve efficiency and speed up turn-around if mass personalisation is truly to become the norm. Digital cutting systems are a case in point. “As customers require personalised packaging, the individual production quantities are reduced, and therefore it is no longer cost-effective to cut product using traditional cutting dies,” says Caroline Bell, sales & marketing manager, Elitron, a producer of automatic cutting machines.

“It takes time to produce these dies and if you require many different dies it becomes costly, and these dies must be stored but may never actually be used again. Digital cutting is the answer. In just a couple of clicks new cutting files can be imported onto the cutting system, and Elitron’s new Seeker System cameras automatically identify printed images, in order to associate the cutting file to the material, for immediate cutting.”

‘Self-service’ experience Increasingly, brands are involving the consumers themselves in the packaging creation – adding another element to the experience. This comes down to investing in more advanced web-to-print systems that can offer a ‘self-service’ experience for the end user or brand owner – such as that

offered by Itarus Ltd, which provides an online template enabling brand owners to modify artwork without the need for third-party intervention; or Infigo, which through its cloud-based MegaEdit design module creates a 3D preview of the personalised product for the customer.

If done right, it can be worth a brand’s time to invest in this type of offering: according to a 2019 study by SnackChat, ‘Understanding Online Gifting’, 85 per cent of millennials are more likely to make an online purchase if it is personalised.

Mondelēz International is just one example of a company that has tapped into the possibilities of digital printing for online direct-to-consumer gifting – and through this, elevating an everyday brand into something a bit more special. With its above-mentioned Milka greeting cards, photos and messages can be added, which are then digitally printed on a blank sleeve. The personalisation itself happens on the last mile, before the material is cut.

“We find this kind of approach helps promoting the products especially on social media since people often share their personalised products,” says Danny Mertens, corporate communications manager at Xeikon.

But he does add a note of caution when it comes to ‘self-service’ software: “On the other side, brand owners also need to be careful since it can go wrong when people start ‘playing around’ with the online software. When there’s no ‘check’ on the content it can get to a negative branding impact.”

Take the example of Ferrero’s Nutella brand: a few years ago it announced it would be letting its Australian customers write their own labels as part of its ‘Make Me Yours’ publicity campaign. Some got a little too ‘creative’ and the

“66 per cent of packaging professionals stated that the personalisation of packaging is something that they are implementing – or at least considering implementing – into their offering.”

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results – which I will leave our readers to search out for themselves if they are so inclined – may not all have been precisely what the company had in mind.

Increasing demands on production Personalisation also puts previously unheard-of demands on supply chains.

For Raffaele Pace, vice-president Equipment Product Management & Digital Solutions at Sidel, the increasing consumer interest in personalised solutions can be seen as one of the key drivers behind Industry 4.0.

“Today’s consumer is becoming more selective by demanding goods with greater individuality, variety and convenience, and at the right price,” he says. “At the same time, distribution is looking for more customised delivery methods and increased responsiveness, largely driven by different purchasing behaviours and new retail models. Therefore, manufacturers are being challenged to find and implement new ways to improve their line operations with regards to efficiency, flexibility, versatility and speed, while at the same time ensuring consistent quality, low costs, greater productivity and maintaining competitiveness in a global market. These issues may be met by the successful transition to Industry 4.0.”

Solutions such as Sidel’s Agility 4.0 program can help producers shift from mass production to mass customisation via the use of smart solutions (robotics, cobotics and machines with built-in intelligence), digital connectivity and simulation tools.

The growing demand for product diversity and personalisation is also exacerbated by the growth of new retail formats, one of which is of course e-commerce. “For many manufacturers, the only way to meet those requirements – such as rainbow packs, promotional packaging or smaller cases – quickly and at the right price is generally by a process of repacking finished products,” says Mr Pace. “According to industry experts, this repacking process can sometimes account for 30 to 50 per cent of total production volume and is completely opposite to the principles behind lean manufacturing and lower carbon footprints. Figures like this clearly show that flexibility has reached its limit and that greater agility is required: order preparation integrated into production lines seems inevitable.”

This also creates opportunities for those ready to take them up. “Producers are currently not set up to handle these kinds of project,” says Xeikon’s Danny Mertens. “It can create an opportunity in the value chain for new players to enter into packaging production and implement or facilitate the automation and logistical aspects of such personalisation campaigns.”

The age of the individual Perhaps where we will really see the personalisation revolution take off is in the continued emergence of Industry 5.0, which essentially brings automation full-circle by focusing not on machine interfaces but the necessary interaction between man and machine. The two go hand-in-hand, with their emphasis on establishing connections between people and wider systems.

Whereas in the past, ‘premium’ might have been solely about owning the ‘right’ label, today it seems to be more about having something that is tailored to the consumer. When it comes to what we buy, we seem to be in the age of the individual, not the collective. Whether that’s a good thing or not is anybody’s

guess: stepping back from the packaging industry and taking a wider view for a moment, some might say this shift in emphasis from machine to person is positive and healthy; there again, this general growing assumption that we should be able to have precisely what we want under any circumstances can have its pitfalls – as indeed recent political events have illustrated.

In any case, it’s clear that when it comes to packaging and branding, we are only at the start of the personalisation revolution. We can also look ahead to more brands using QR codes and virtual reality to build that all-important two-way connection. Finally, Danny Mertens asks the interesting question: who will take care of all this personalisation? “There’s a technology gap here. Will it be a marketing agency or a packaging producer? Maybe it will open up a new market in the value chain.”

“Today’s consumer is becoming more selective by demanding goods with greater individuality, variety and convenience, and at the right price.”

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THE MONO-MATERIALS CHALLENGE

By 2030 all plastic packaging within the EU will need to be recyclable or reusable. But the devil of how this goal can be achieved lies in the detail. In recent months, flexible packaging made from monomaterials has emerged as one possible step towards that goal. Elisabeth Skoda unearths how companies are overcoming the monomaterial challenge in order to achieve better recyclability from a material and machinery perspective.

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lexible plastic packaging is a growing segment in the packaging industry.

Research from Smithers shows that total sales for flexible packaging worldwide will reach $228 billion in 2019 and are set to grow at an annual average rate of 3.3 per cent, reaching $269 billion in 2024. Flexible packaging manufacturers are keen to emphasise the benefits of stand-up pouches, sachets, films, bags, liners, or wraps compared to rigid packs, highlighting their potential to safeguards the quality and integrity of package contents while also being lightweight, which can result in an overall lower carbon footprint compared to rigid packaging alternatives such as glass and metal.

However, while rigid materials are primarily monomaterial-based, flexible materials have traditionally been multi-material, consisting of several layers of different types of plastics and often also including aluminium, which makes recycling more difficult.

Design for recycling A tool published on the Borealis collaboration platform EverMinds, the ‘10 Codes of Conduct for Design for Recyclability’, presents a set of guidelines for polyolefin packaging design. Monomaterials play an important part in this.

Borealis and Borouge set out to develop novel polyolefins-based monomaterial solutions. Geert Van Ballaer, Borealis head of marketing consumer products, explains the reasons behind this.

“Most recycling centres are equipped for PE, PP, and PET. The use of monomaterials makes collection, sorting and recycling more efficient.

Our new full PP laminate with high barrier properties is an alternative to packs using aluminium foil as a barrier layer. This improves recyclability because as an inseparable barrier layer, aluminium foil is problematic in the recycling process.”

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“The market is extremely responsive to recent technical innovations that enable the switch to OPP films or laminates, as most customers are increasingly aware of the pending design guidelines that have been developed by CEFLEX to be issued in 2020.”

Following the launch of their Full PE Laminate in 2016, a new collaboration between Borealis and Borouge has generated a series of new and fully recyclable monomaterial pouch solutions for both PE and PP-based materials, including pouch concepts made of PP with a full PP laminate with high barrier properties, a full PE laminate described as having good machinability and broad sealing range and a full PE laminate containing recycled material that is fully recyclable into high quality recyclate in the closed-loop process.

“With the exception of the Full PE Laminate made using Ecoplast r-LDPE, which contains both virgin and recyclate material, the new solutions are composed of virgin material based on the Borstar® technology,” explains Mr Van Ballaer.

Spouted pouches Also addressing the challenge of making flexible materials more easily recyclable, Dow and Menshen earlier this year announced their new Reverse Spout Sealing Technology, which enables the production of spouted pouches made of monomaterial films.

“We basically reversed the idea of where and when the heat needs to be applied during the spout sealing process,” explains Dr Peter Sandkuehler, global application technology leader at Dow’s packaging and specialty plastics business. “By transferring the heat from the pre-melted spout base directly to the sealant layer of the film, we’ve solved two challenges at the same time: how to easily seal spouts to monomaterial films, and how to prevent the hard spout ribs from cutting into the film.”

The new process is designed to easily seal spouts in more heat sensitive, monomaterial structures made from all polypropylene or all polyethylene packaging layers. Rather than traditionally applying the heat from outside the pouch forming film to melt the seal layer and the spout, the latter is pre-melted at its base before insertion into the pouch and sealing.

“The beauty of the process is its simplicity,” says Sarah De La Mare, business development officer at Menshen. “It is actually more logical to apply the heat from the inside rather than from the outside, whether you use monomaterials or not. We are currently working with several machine manufacturers to ensure that this technology can be integrated into new and existing spouted pouch making lines.”

Reversing the traditional sealing process helps reduce the excess heat needed to be applied from the outside of the film to seal the inner, lower density film layers to a high-density spout base. At the same time, the packaging structure is less dependent on a film’s thermal resistance and film cut-in is avoided, resulting in what the company describes as good quality spout sealing and a pouch with shelf appeal.

High barrier solution Packaging Europe Sustainability Awards finalist Jindal Films recently launched a monomaterial high barrier solution made from PP in coopera-

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“From a machinery point of view, the transition from composites to monomaterial films can be complex, most importantly as monomaterials impose high demands on sealing technology.” tion with Mondi and Unilever. The new ‘PP-rich’ film barrier laminate can run on high-speed horizontal pouch machinery to fill sensitive dehydrated powder soups for Knorr.

“The market is extremely responsive to our recent technical innovations that enable the switch to OPP films or laminates, as most customers are increasingly aware of the pending design guidelines that have been developed by CEFLEX to be issued in 2020,” says Laurent Chantraine, business development manager, flexible packaging, Jindal Films Europe.

He acknowledges that some more demanding end-use segments, such as liquid packaging, have higher performance requirements, and more time will be needed to find a suitable compromise, but is pleased with the results of the cooperation.

“The switch to a PP-rich solution gives companies a good compromise in terms of product protection (barrier to humidity, aromas or gases), promotion (matte or glossy, high stiffness, good aesthetics and haptics) and performance (printing, lamination, packaging and filling operations).”

The machinery perspective Torsten Sauer, project manager sustainability at Robert Bosch Packaging Technology GmbH has also observed an increasing use of monomaterial packaging due to the ongoing drive towards a circular economy, and with it an emerging trend for films made from polymer monomaterials.

“Conventional multi-layer composite films are difficult to recycle because of the need to separate the different film layers. What’s more, many countries do not have the necessary recycling systems and processes in place to recycle complex laminates. In contrast, monomaterial films are fully recyclable as all layers are made of the same type of plastic, which makes sorting easier and leads to cleaner recycling streams. Bars, cookies and crackers for exam-

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ple are usually wrapped using polypropylene (PP), which is often a sufficient barrier. Depending on the packaging application, this can be either CPP (cast polypropylene) or OPP (oriented polypropylene).”

From a machinery point of view, the transition from composites to monomaterial films can be complex, as he explains, most importantly as monomaterials impose high demands on the sealing technology, especially in the high-output range.

“Heat sealing is still the most used technology, due to its robustness and good sealing results. The sealing window is much smaller for monomaterials, which means the parameters sealing time and temperature have to be aligned precisely to prevent damage to the heat-sensitive outer layer while ensuring the sealing integrity of the inner layer. With heat-resistant composites this is unproblematic; but in the case of heat-sensitive monomaterials this can easily lead to defective seals and damaged products, resulting in lower production efficiency.”

He points out that this must be addressed by optimally coordinating the three sealing parameters of pressure, temperature and time to create the perfect seam using monomaterial films at different film speeds and constant energy input.

“What’s more, these technical challenges have to be mastered for a range of different monomaterials. This can only be achieved through the continuous improvement of sealing technologies in order to adjust the fin and cross-sealing tools to the new conditions. In addition, a change in stiffness and elasticity of the material can influence the performance on the packaging machine, for example when film speeds vary during production.”

Bosch Packaging Technology has been testing a wide variety of packaging materials with customers and cooperation partners at its technical centre in Beringen, Switzerland with the goal to optimise its systems and sealing technologies to meet the specific requirements of the different materials. The overall aim is to achieve greater sustainability without compromising product protection, seal integrity and packaging speed. Flow wraps have established themselves as popular packaging for a wide range of products.

“With monomaterials, the biggest challenge is the sealing of the films at high speeds. Here we are already achieving good results in tests on our horizontal flow wrapping machines,” concludes Mr Sauer.

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SMART INKS AND COATINGS As the industry prepares for the everexcellent, annual AIPIA World Congress exploring the high-tech world of active and intelligent packaging, we take a look at the opportunities brought by smart materials.

“T

here are tremendous opportunities around micro printing, nano ink and printing technologies, graphene, etc.,” says Eef De Ferrante (AIPIA director). “Applications include traceability, serialisation, condition monitoring, and thermochromic and photochromic inks for promotions. Probably printed electronics is one of the highest profile applications, as it has the ability to make affordability and scalability of many intelligent tags a reality.”

Notable recent security applications include Asahi Kasei’s sub-micron printing process using cuprous oxide conductive inks which can produce a fully functional but unseen antenna. This transparent antenna could lead to the space efficient incorporation of RFID into packs – a particular advantage where there is limited scope for brand owners to reduce branding ‘real estate’. Another notable technology is the use of quantum dots, i.e. chemically engineered nanoparticles. These can be used as an overt or covert protection system and combined with other security technologies such as synthetic DNA, phosphors, holograms, security ink and more for use on a wide variety of polymers, paper, metals and glass.

A project to watch is the T+Sun collaboration (Sun Chemical and T+Ink) which is working with brand owners to create new functionalities powered by electronic packaging. We’ll be looking for applications of T+Sun Touchcode, a secure printed conductive ink signature embedded in packaging and labels that a smartphone or other sensing device can detect through capacitive touch.

A much less remote packaging application is DataLase’s photonic printing, whereby a functional coating containing laser reactive pigment is applied as a patch, and then activated by laser systems for late stage customisation, even at point of fill or point of sale. Potential applications include personalised messages on disposable coffee cups (which appear blank until the laser magically prints the bespoke design).

As well as the potential to transform security and consumer interaction, there’s a sustainability dimension to smart inks and coatings. For one thing, there’s a challenge for the printed electronics industry to maintain or improve conductivity while facilitating recyclability of materials. However, according to Eef De Ferrante, smart technologies can also play an active role in minimising waste. “Active and intelligent packaging can really help to reduce food waste and improve medical compliance – all of which can be far more impactful on the planet than a piece of dropped litter,” he said.

Chameleon inks Another nascent technology may have applications from security to consumer engagement is a new spray-on ink (developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) that can change colours, designs, and patterns when zapped with different wavelengths of light. Called PhotoChromeleon, it was created by mixing cyan, magenta, and yellow photochromic dyes together to produce a single solution that is invisible until exposed to a very specific light array.

Each dye reacts to different wavelengths of light, so by using three different light sources, the researchers were able to selectively activate and deactivate the three different ink colours to produce specific shades, complex patterns, and even high-resolution images.

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LABELEXPO EUROPE 2019 REFLECTS DIVERSIFICATION OF INDUSTRY Mirroring the fast paced and dynamic face of the packaging industry, Labelexpo Europe 2019 expanded on its core focus of labels. Libby Munford delves into the highlights from the show – with additional reporting from Rima Evans, who gathered the latest insights from leading exhibitors from the show floor.

L

abelexpo Europe celebrated its 40th anniversary in Brussels with the largest, most international edition to date. Lisa Milburn, managing director of Labelexpo Global Series, comments, “It is now rapidly moving forwards into a show that encompasses not just labels but also package printing. This was clear from the incredible array of flexible packaging innovations and hybrid machinery on the show floor, giving label converters ever more options to diversify their businesses.”

The Flexible Packaging Arena proved to be a highlight, showcasing 11 live demonstrations from leading companies such as Xeikon, with its CX500 (digital), and BOBST with M6 (UV Flexo) producing indirect food contact flexible packaging to the latest GMP standards.

In addition, HP Indigo offered live demonstrations of digital pouch making with the HP Indigo 20000 digital press, Pack Ready Lamination, and the Karlville pouch-making machine making its show debut on its stand. Other HP innovations at the show included HP Indigo 8000 Digital Press, which ran in line with the ABG Fast Track die, and the HP Indigo 6900 Digital Press, which visitors could see in action with an integrated Kurz DM-Jetliner finishing module.

Maximum shelf appeal Customer driven innovation stood out as a major current theme, whereby brand owners are pushing for new solutions and technologies that fit their unique requirements or strengthen consumer engagement.

Technology is being further advanced by an expansion of niche businesses and segmentation of larger markets, each requiring a wider range of labelling and print options. In addition, as was widely predicted, the issue of sustainability is also making its mark.

“In the label space, there is certainly a diversification of technologies and applications,” says Danny Mertens, corporate communications manager at Xeikon.

“Customers are no longer seeking advice on equipment or asking about a machine’s specification and how fast it is. Instead, they have an end product in mind and are approaching us for solutions to produce what they need.

It’s customer driven innovation – they are coming up with ideas for different effects or techniques, which we develop with them by trying to find substrates, the right software and so on.”

That shift is partly down to certain labels needing to meet more rigid standards or more complex functional specs (high durability, for example) but it’s also being spurred on by consumer trends.

Increasingly, brand owners are seeking to create labels with maximum shelf appeal, explains Gary Jenno, segment business manager at Xaar.

“They are looking for the wow factor and for labels to add value by enhancing the buying experience for customers. If the labels don’t help their products sell or stand out in a display then businesses aren’t interested. So, a big trend right now is digital embellishment.”

One example that’s popular, adds Jenno, is a tactile or textured effect on packaging and labels, achieved through printing high levels of UV varnish.

“However, this show demonstrates how people are finding different ways to embellish whether that’s by adding metallics, or a new cold foil. And although this trend is big with high-end brands or sectors such as health and beauty, wine and beer, it will start to become more mainstream.

“As the market continues to operate across both analogue and digital printing, features such as these are certainly a selling point for the digital side,” says Jenno.

Digital focus Kim Beswick, general manager of Memjet’s benchtop and mini-press division, shares that the move to digital is steadily growing – due to its flexibility and efficiency, and by addressing the necessity for businesses to remain nimble.

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According to Kim Beswick, “Inkjet technology is leading the transition to digital. It’s partly driven by the increase of smaller manufacturers especially in the food and beverage market, which is seeing a rise in the number of craft and local traders all of whom need right-sized print runs.”

E-commerce is also contributing to a demand for short print runs, on top of larger brands seeking to be more relevant to their customers through greater personalisation or customisation of product lines. This all requires greater flexibility, being able to print on demand and so preventing waste and cutting out the need to store huge amounts of inventory, which also brings cost savings.

“The move to inkjet – and our focus – is on delivering that speed, capability and at affordable cost,” sums up Kim Beswick.

Omnichannel Another key focus at the show was the importance of providing solutions applicable to the omnichannel experience.

Piet Saegeman, content strategist at CHILI Publish, explains how the company’s flagship software CHILI Publisher can help with the creation of omnichannel material for numerous markets. CHILI Publisher turns document intelligence into a template, which means that people with little or no graphic training can build artwork, which reduces time to market. The software can take data from external data sources. This can give a ‘single source of truth’ and eliminate content errors from packaging.

The company has recently overhauled its barcode generation engine. Chili Publish now has PDF417 barcodes and is fully GS1 compliant. In addition, the company has DeviceN colour spaces which enables multi-colour in a single object. Step and repeats based on data sources inside CHILI Publisher have become a lot easier. So in summary, CHILI Publisher can simplify and automate the way graphics are produced.

Complete solutions Ramping up efficiency and cost effectiveness are concerns that are always on the business agenda.

Kelly Kolliopoulos, global marketing director at Flint Group’s Narrow Web Division, says: “Technologies that reduce complexity, save on costs or meet new application requirements are key. The advancement in UV LED technology is very important because it can lead to energy cost savings and higher printing speeds, and thus press productivity. For some customers it’s leading to 20 or 30 per cent faster printing speeds.”

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She also explains how software innovations are being implemented to streamline processes and “make customers’ lives easier.” Flint Group has launched a web-based colour management solution that removes the guess work out of ink colour formulations and offers a high level of accuracy because it is tailored to the way customers print, working with multiple print methods and substrates.

As markets are growing and product lines being expanded, the need to continuously reduce complexity but also maintain efficiency and performance is a challenge, adds Xeikon’s Danny Mertens. He indicates that the solution lies in automation.

“Dealing with variable data or multiple SKUs can increase the risk of errors.

Investing in automation can improve accuracy and can reduce logistical complexity. We integrate with MIS tools in the market or work with partners to provide automation at every step of the label production process. It is growing in importance because it ties in with the shift towards customers needing more complete and innovative solutions.”

Critical issues drive change Meanwhile, what is also accelerating change is the issue of sustainability.

For Taghleef Industries, which manufactures high performance films for packaging and labels, it’s a critical area that has prompted a rethink in product design.

“Consumers are very concerned about plastic pollution,” says Monica Battistella, key account manager at the company. “With China banning waste imports as well as action on plastics at EU level, businesses want to become more sustainable by recycling or redesigning where possible and reducing waste and even the weight of packaging. It is a major driver of innovation for all stakeholders in this industry.”

She continues, “The packaging solutions we provide have to support our customer needs in terms of offering something they can customise but also be more environmentally friendly. Our focus is on the circular economy and ensuring everything we use goes back into a new product or is recycled.”

Taghleef Industries now has bio-based and biodegradable films for the labels community which have different end-of-life options including industrial composting, or recycling.

She summarises, “Sustainability will remain a key issue over the next few years. We have to provide solutions that are effective in meeting both business needs and environmental ones.”

TRANSFORMING CONVEYING TECHNOLOGY W

ith so much data to be analysed, consumer preferences for more highly personalised products and requirements for ever-faster turnaround times, the demands placed on production have never been higher. When it comes to conveying, smart track technologies are increasingly replacing traditional mechanical conveyors as a way to address the key challenges of today’s fast-paced industrial world.

Using smart technologies, the traditional rotary-driven chains, belts and gears are replaced by software that can offer increasing options in terms of speed, flexibility, efficiency, safety and sustainability.

Data handling and efficiency One of the key advantages of such technologies is data collection. “A characteristic of smart conveying is better knowledge of the items being conveyed (location, process step, quality),” says Ulrich Arlt, EMEA business

Victoria Hattersley looks at two of the leaders in smart track technologies to find out how they are enabling FMCG producers to improve flexibility, cut costs and handle the ever-increasing amounts of production data that needs to be processed.

manager Motion Control at Rockwell Automation. “That knowledge enables flexible processes which can reduce waste, improve quality, and can be harnessed to efficiently create new products or rapidly change to higher selling variants. The connected enterprise – the term we prefer in place of ‘Industry 4.0’ – is a part of this because it means you have all the data in the controller available in one place.”

As many of our readers will be aware, Rockwell Automation has one of the industry’s broadest portfolios of Independent Cart Technology. Its range includes the iTRAK closed-looped system and open-loop systems like MagneMover LITE and QuickStick. All are modular and scalable linear motor technologies and enable the independent control of multiple moving assets on straights or curvilinear parts.

Rockwell Automation has four main product lines spanning payloads from grams all the way up to thousands of kilograms. Over the past year, Packaging Europe | 51 |

it has expanded the carrying capabilities of its MagneMover LITE from 2kg to 10kg. It has also improved the dynamic performance of iTRAK via a new gateway controller, as well as releasing a machine builder library to, says Mr Arlt, ‘dramatically lower the engineering effort required to program and commission new systems while creating a standard’. He tells us this should enable packaging producers to significantly improve the level of flexibility they are able to offer.

Increased customisation Addressing the above-mentioned consumer demand for personalisation is also a common challenge that we can see across segments of the packaging industry today – and smart conveyors are a key part of this. “At Rockwell we talk about serving a ‘market size of one’ to give high throughput and flexibility – a major benefit of Rockwell Automation’s Independent Cart Technology-based products,” says Mr Arlt.

“With our iTRACK and MagneMover LITE technologies the client has a pitchless system which enables them to rapidly change the parts they are

producing. If designed in the right way, it is not necessary to switch any mechanical systems between jobs. Another benefit comes down to spacesaving: with these new systems our clients can reduce the size of the machine because they don’t require so much distance between different stations to carry out the same process.”

When it comes to providing the most efficient performance for clients, Rockwell Automation believes one of the highest priorities is to look at the variables that affect the total cost of ownership. “Because we use linear motors, we are able to offer direct cost savings because we are using direct drives. In old-style machines you have a lot of motors that are turning something but not directly related to the product. But in the case of the linear system, we are interacting directly with the product and that reduces energy costs.”

Looking ahead, next spring Rockwell will be introducing its new iTRAK 5730. “We wanted to give customers the best fit for their application, and a lot of them are looking for a mover pitch of 50mm. (By ‘pitch’, we mean the space between one product and the next.) Alongside others, this is one of the demands we’re addressing with this new product.”

In addition, the company will also be launching a new motor controller, the QuickStick High Thrust, which it expects to double cart speed to over 5m per second for very high payloads, up to 4500kg.

Meeting regulatory demands For those who serve the food industry, there are also stringent regulatory demands to be borne in mind when it comes to product handling. Industrial PC provider Beckhoff Automation’s eXtended Transport System (XTS) can help customers provide solutions to meet the numerous regulatory demands imposed upon them. The company’s ‘New Automation Technology’ philosophy represents universal and open control and automation solutions that are used worldwide in a wide variety of different applications.

“Increasing productivity and safeguarding consumers’ health are the two main challenges for food and beverage manufacturers,” says managing Packaging Europe | 53 |

director Stephen Hayes. “On the one hand, plant managers are expected to speed-up production and diversify their offerings, in order to keep up with increasing demand from more informed consumers. On the other, they must comply with a sector that is among the most strictly-regulated when it comes to hygiene standards.”

The flexibility provided by the use of software rather than traditional mechanical conveying technology means that motion tasks can be carried out which might before have been difficult or even impossible.

“The XTS system is based on a simple, yet ground-breaking concept.

Or, in this case, two concepts: first, the possibility for every mover on the track to glide independently; plus the combination of rotary and linear elements to create a customisable track.

“In fact, Beckhoff’s XTS transport system combines the benefits of two well-known drive principles, linear and rotary, into a single mechatronic system. This has never been done before and allows manufacturers to create the perfect geometry for their application, no matter how complex.”

There are no length restrictions for the entire path and the number of movers can also be customised. In other words, according to Stephen Hayes, the system is limited only by the available computing power of the industrial PC. On this track, movers can be positioned in different parts of the belt and travel independently; each with its own speed, acceleration and motion pattern.

Alternatively, movers can be combined into couples or clusters in order to create hoops that travel together at an established speed.

In addition, he says the XTS can be operated in any installation position, so it can be applied with maximum flexibility to match the specific needs of the production line.

coming directly to us asking about how these technologies can benefit them, so if they’re not investing in this technology now they may find themselves in trouble in the future – even if the short-term benefits seem small.”

But he does feel that things are slowly moving in the ‘right’ direction.

“In the beginning, nobody was sure how to use this technology but now customers are coming up with more and more ways to utilise it. Every year we see more interest in replacing traditional mechanical systems. In the next 5-10 years we would like to see far more clients feeling comfortable using this ICT technology. If this happens the product cost will fall and this will hopefully speed up adoption even further.”

Building faster adoption We’re also, of course, interested in the biggest challenges for this segment moving forward. For Mr Arlt, this comes down to building more confidence in these new technologies in order to encourage stronger adoption – particularly among OEMs, who he says may not always be thinking about the long-term benefits of such systems.

“The OEMs can build more flexible and faster machines but they may still be selling less right now. The biggest benefits of smart track technologies at the moment are probably for the end user, because they get higher throughput speed, flexibility, smaller footprint, more machines on the shop floor etc.

We have to explain to OEMs that more and more of their customers are Packaging Europe | 55 |

CONNECTING THE DOTS: SUPPLY CHAIN EFFICIENCY Supply chains have become increasingly complex in recent years. Elisabeth Skoda questions how innovation in packaging technology, digitalisation and industry 4.0 can support an efficient supply chain in the areas of food, beverages and pharmaceuticals and explores the risk of political changes disrupting the flow of goods.

The e-commerce challenge E-commerce has seen significant growth in recent years thanks to consumer convenience. However, it carries the risk of product diversion and counterfeiting, and unscrupulous suppliers can take advantage.

“This has become such a concern that China has enacted legislation holding e-commerce sites jointly liable for selling counterfeit products by third parties. Technology has been introduced there enabling consumers to check products themselves to reassure authenticity. The scale of the problem is growing so large globally that companies will likely need to automate their detection of fake products, meaning digitalisation is poised to become even more vital,” says Markem-Imaje’s Stephen Tagg, EMEA sales, consulting and integration services & software.

He has also observed a trend towards more excise taxes where a duty is applied to goods at the time of manufacture.

“Governments need to be able to ensure that the volumes declared correspond to actual volumes produced and to ensure that the products are delivered where they should be with the right amount of tax paid as taxes can vary even within the same country (e.g. Brazil & India).”

The wider availability of pharmaceutical products online has added to supply chain challenges, adds Nadine Lampka, product manager pharmasecurity at Schreiner MediPharm.

“E-commerce unfortunately plays a critical role in the distribution of illegal products. It is very difficult for consumers buying online to understand which is a legal online pharmacy, opening the door to access drugs without prescription. It does not allow to track where products come from – it is a black box. There needs to be a multi-stakeholder approach between industry, governments, authorities and organisations to tackle this challenge.”

Labels play an increasingly important role in adding functionality to pharmaceutical products, such as protection against UV light, glass breakage, migration or evaporation. Furthermore, conserving the product’s integrity and genuineness is a concern.

“Solutions to prove authenticity, enable identification and ensure integrity are essential and an integral part of a state-of-the-art functional label. This includes analogue features as well as digital technologies such as RFID/ NFC supporting connectivity solutions. An additional aspect is the growing segmentation trend which requires an agile and responsive supply chain.

Late-stage customisation of functional labels allows greater flexibility and supports highly variable packaging needs,” says Ms Lampka.

Integration Markets are changing at high speed, creating the need for a more efficient manufacture of food. Food and beverage manufacturers are looking to gain Packaging Europe | 57 |

greater control of their supply chains. Tetra Pak’s director of integration services, Mattias Johansson, advocate an integrated factory as part of a solution.

“Integrated factories help reduce food and beverage manufacturers’ water consumption, energy usage, packaging materials and product waste to support their sustainability agendas. With respect to our customers, integrated factories help increase reliability and mitigate human error. Having total control of operations not only maximises the value of a customer’s production but also reduces downtime and waste to cut operational costs.”

An example of Industry 4.0 in practice is Tetra Pak’s Connected Packaging Platform, which enables food and beverage manufactures to print unique digital codes on every package, turning each item into a digital tool that can be tracked and interacted with at every stage of its journey. Industry 4.0 technologies not only offer access to more data, but also to the digital solutions needed to address bottlenecks or issues down the road.

“Digital technology has allowed businesses to increase their vigilance over food safety, improve quality assurance and better analyse real-time customer and factory data. Internally, it has also meant improved communications between employees and support teams, which has led to increased productivity and profitability and reduced costs,” Mr Johansson adds.

Traceability Further emphasising the importance of digitalisation, traceability is a growing expectation from governments and consumers. Provided sufficiently robust data is available, digitalisation permits more accurate tracking of ingredients, components and finished products. This can make recalls more efficient as fewer products need to be withdrawn from the marketplace as it is possible to identify the location of affected products quickly and easily.

“Today’s buyers expect greater choice. The greater the digitalisation of the supply chain, the better and more costefficiently such needs can be met.”

Markem-Imaje Packaging Intelligence solutions can facilitate data availability and accuracy.

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Digitalisation can also help inhibit product diversion, where a product meant for a specific market or channel is sold in a different one, thereby eroding manufacturer margins, and identifying counterfeits.

“Accelerating the identification of such problems is particularly important in an era of increasingly tight margins especially when perceived quality issues can quickly go viral, potentially destroying brand reputation,” says Mr Tagg.

Additionally, growth in seasonal batches and personalised products, along with expectations for fast delivery, are placing tougher requirements on manufacturers and their supply chains, with demands for late-stage customisation to drive top-line growth.

“Today’s buyers also expect greater choice. The greater the digitalisation of the supply chain, the better and more cost-efficiently such needs can be met,” he adds.

Last but not least, digitalisation allows more detailed access to production and process data so companies can improve their overall supply chain efficiency.

“With the help of such data, manufacturers can spot bottlenecks and simulate changes before implementation, significantly reducing the risk of any change.”

Sustainability benefits Being able to pinpoint where products are in the supply chain means they can be re-routed to reduce the carbon footprint.

“A large beverage manufacturer, for example, asked Markem-Imaje for a coding solution to help them better track individual pallets so they can more efficiently match orders with the nearest available stock,” says Mr Tagg.

Another way of reducing carbon footprint relates to targeted recalls.

“By only withdrawing affected products, as opposed to the entire stock within a given production window, the transportation footprint is less. Additionally, by scrapping less product, you waste fewer resources.”

In terms of decreasing single-use plastics, Markem-Imaje has observed an increase in manufacturers interested in providing a financial incentive for people to send used bottles back up the supply chain rather than discarding them.

“Codes can be printed onto bottles so that manufacturers can identify bottles returned to them and refund money accordingly before washing the codes off and refilling the bottles for resale.”

Brexit or even a ‘hard Brexit’ could bring. We spoke with Mr Kersh when a Halloween no-deal Brexit was still potentially on the cards, but his comments remain valid, as the spectre of a no-deal Brexit hasn’t yet been banished.

“The UK has a finely balanced supply chain that offers consumers immense choice, freshness, and, most importantly, safety. The average British supermarket stocks up to 50,000 items at any one time. But full shelves cannot be taken for granted. For example, last year, a shortage of carbon dioxide had a knock-on effect and disrupted the availability of certain foods. Imagine what lorries being held up at the border for even a few hours could mean.”

Even if Britain does not impose tariffs on imports, exporters may face tariffs of up to 60 per cent, not just from EU member states, but also from those countries that the EU currently has trade deals with.

The EU’s Single Market allows frictionless trade across borders, something that the UK is arguably taking for granted: “Any hard Brexit will result in more form filling for companies both in the UK and in the EU, costing businesses time and money. The supply chain both for food and beverages and packaging materials is extremely complex, and products routinely cross the border several times during the manufacturing and packaging process.

In addition, between 80 and 90 per cent of paper and board packaging raw materials are imported. In conclusion, if Brexit has to happen, the best outcome to avoid major disruption would be close alignment to the EU Single Market as well as a transition period of at least three years.”

Supply chain disruption We have heard about various methods to make supply chains more efficient, but what happens if the smooth running of supply chains is threatened by political developments? Martin Kersh, the executive director at the British Foodservice Packaging Association, highlights the benefits of a smooth, well-functioning supply chain and gives a stark warning about the disruption a potential no-deal

“Last year, a shortage of carbon dioxide disrupted the availability of certain foods.

Imagine what lorries being held up at the border for even a few hours could mean.”

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Working across print, digital and live media, Packaging Europe is the leading intelligence resource for European packaging professionals. Our mission is to connect forward thinkers across the value chain with the latest developments in packaging technology and materials, making sense of innovation in the context of the core business challenges packaging is required to meet.

OXEA PRESENTS NEW SOLVENT FOR MORE EFFICIENT PRINTING Propyls from Oxea, n propanol, n-propyl acetate or mixtures thereof, are a direct 1:1 substitute for conventional ethanol and ethyl acetate blends (Ethyls). The economic advantages of Propyls in flexography and rotogravure printing can be described as follows: consumption savings of 20 per cent in ink on average and 30 per cent in solvents on average without any changes to the printing infrastructure, and on the technical side, better printing quality, more efficient printing runs, higher printing speeds, and a more stable and sustainable printing process overall can be achieved.

“V

ery often, printers are not aware that they can optimise and troubleshoot their printing processes with little effort when they leave the solvent out of the equation. For want of alternatives, in the past, their use of traditional solvents was rarely questioned, when in fact Propyls can remedy many problems and contribute to higher process stability. We found that the direct substitution of Ethyls with Propyls is very simple and technically straightforward,� says Dr Jens Klabunde, Technical Business Development Manager at Oxea.

Technically, Propyls reduce the so-called plugging (drying out or clogging) of the cells on the printing cylinder or aniloxes. As a medium evaporating solvent, Propyls evaporate more slowly than Ethyls but ensure that the ink dries reliably in the process. Therefore, with Propyls, fewer refills of solvents are required to maintain the target viscosity during the printing process, which leads to a significant reduction of solvent consumption and generally lower emissions of harmful substances, so-called VOCs (volatile organic compounds). In a Propyls solvent system, the pigments of the

printing ink can distribute more homogeneously on the film during application due to the slightly slower drying process. This results in a higher ink density for the same amount of pigment. In this way, the printer achieves the same print quality with significantly less pigment, which saves expensive base ink.

Also, improved emptying and pick-up characteristics of both the engraving cylinder and the anilox ensure optimum transfer of the printing ink onto the substrate. Thanks to the slower evaporation rate of Propyls, it is possible to increase the speed of the printing presses in many cases without compromising print quality. Finally, Propyls demonstrate less foam formation tendency than Ethyls in flexography printing, especially when it comes to warm and humid ambient weather conditions. These findings have been validated in a study that was carried out at the Hochschule der Medien (HdM), Stuttgart, Germany, in 2018. They concluded that Propyls surpass conventional solvents such as ethyl acetate and ethanol in gravure or flexography processes without the need for further adjustment.

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ON SECOND THOUGHTS...

REMEMBERING THE JOB THAT PACKAGING IS HIRED TO DO

Nina Goodrich is director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and executive director of GreenBlue – a nonprofit that provides science and resources to make business more sustainable. Nina has held leadership positions in Sustainability and R&D with Alcan Packaging, Amcor, The Guelph Food Technology Center and Magic Pantry Foods.

T

he rush to leave plastics behind has the potential to cause increased environmental impact. In the mad dash to replace plastics, it’s important that we remember the ‘job we are hiring packaging to do’.

Plastic and microplastic pollution in the environment are unquestionably bad, and we must increase our efforts to create collection infrastructure for all materials. Simply moving from one material to another without addressing the collection, recovery and next markets will lead us to make trade-offs that can have higher environmental footprints and potentially more damage and loss of shelf life. We often lose sight of the idea that climate change is the umbrella over our efforts to make packaging more sustainable. It is crucial to balance carbon footprint and recycling. Before we make our choices, we must understand the tradeoffs so we are able to make those choices consciously and not by accident.

Let’s revisit the ‘job that packaging is hired to do’. Package development has been driven by consumer convenience and functionality, product protection, image, and cost. Sustainability is a relatively recent driver. The priority has not been focused on designing packaging for the environment.

We are just beginning to define and build the frameworks for what ‘good’ packaging looks like, and we have competing drivers for carbon footprint and recyclability. We should strive for optimising both. We should also be striving for responsible sourcing and material health. It is also fair to say that our collection/sortation systems and package reprocessing capabilities have not kept pace with packaging development. Our packaging mix of materials and formats has exploded and our infrastructure has not kept up. This does not mean we should go back to traditional formats. We need to continue to create collection infrastructure for traditional and new packaging formats, and to incorporate design for sustainability thinking into package development. It will be important to communicate what future packaging will look like early to those involved in the collection and reprocessing of packaging.

We can’t expect them to guess what will be coming next.

For example, the rise of flexible film packaging has been driven by low cost performance and by new processing technologies in the food industry.

Food waste, a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, has been reduced by new processing technologies like high pressure processing and microwave assisted processing. These food processing technologies need

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packaging made from polymers to work. They can significantly extend the shelf life in combination with refrigeration of some foods like smoothies, juices, salsas, avocadoes, shellfish and meats. We shouldn’t separate the package from the product it is protecting. Instead, we need to put the lifecycle of both package and product in context. Flexible packaging has a lower carbon footprint than rigid alternatives, so we have to invest in and develop new technologies for collecting and reprocessing flexible polymers.

What can we do?

Firstly, we can single use packaging in all materials. Secondly, we can use reusable packaging systems. Thirdly, we can increase recycled content. Increasing the use of recycled content will lower the carbon footprint in plastics, aluminum, and steel. The more recycled content used, the lower the carbon footprint of the package.

Finally, we can embrace chemical recycling. Chemical recycling is not incineration. It is not one type of technology. Today it is a family of many approaches to create chemical building blocks that can be reused to make new products. It is evolving rapidly and will continue to expand in scope and capability as our experience with these technologies grow. Mechanical recycling will always have a place, but as we get better at recycling, we will need chemical recycling especially for polyolefins and flexible packaging.

Let’s be careful not to define circularity with too narrow a lens. Recycled metals have a wide range of products where they can be used. Some are on packaging and others are in construction and durable goods. The same should be true for plastics. As we break polymers down into their chemical building blocks, we need to expand the options for use. Our current end markets are too limited to provide resilient options. Should it matter if a polymer is recycled from carpets, clothing or packaging? Should it matter the type of product into which the polymer goes next? We have to think beyond recycling a biscuit tin to a biscuit tin and start thinking about how we might create and sell chemical building blocks into a wide variety of markets. We have to widen our lens and think beyond packaging.

Circularity needs a network of options. What is the job that packaging can be hired to do in enabling a circular economy?

15 - 16 OCTOBER 2020 PESTANA PALACE, LISBON

In alignment with:

TWO DAYS OF INDISPENSABLE DISCUSSION IN THE EUROPEAN GREEN CAPITAL 2020 We’re bringing the value chain together for an interactive forum to examine new opportunities and explore how we can connect the dots.

Join us for the Sustainable Packaging Summit, featuring the Sustainability Awards 2020.

thesustainabilityawards.com