SPN Nov 2022

Welcome to

Dear Readers,

I trust that this finds everyone keeping well and able to brave the on-going storms currently affecting our industry. Not least, the spectre of further steep rises in interest rates and the cost of living. However, as always in times like these, the Packaging Industry somehow manages to ride the storm and is often able to take innovative steps to minimise any oncoming threats.

Admittedly, when it comes to supply chain issues, there is not a lot of wriggle room. However, in view of this, you might like to read our article that addresses some of these topical issues as prescribed by the US research company, Meyer. We also have a number of features in this bumper issue, that throw light on the latest developments in the retail sector, where Supermarkets are vying for leadership in their mission to accelerate sustainability goals and to be proactive in addressing the growing demands of consumers.

In addition, our European correspondent based in Germany, Steve Gislam, provides us with his take on the latest movers and shakers in progressing Industry 4 objectives. There is also a major review concerning ‘Alternatives-to-Plastics’ with a clear focus on the cosmetics industry. Here we find Mondi and Herbert Walker setting new benchmarks. Furthermore, our special feature on Masterbatches, also brings you up-to-date with some exciting developments in that sector!

That just leaves me to wish you all the very best in the run-up to the festive season, and to remaining positive in the face of the many concerning issues facing our industry – and our planet!

Sincerley,

Philip Yorke ( Editor )

Supply-chain Sleuths

Minimising Supply-Chain Challenges

Supply chains around the world are in crisis. From groceries to warehouses and farms, many of these operations experience significant shortages in their supply chains. A combination of factors is responsible for this disruption, including the COVID-19 restrictions, understaffing, container shortages, and congested shipping ports. Like many other industries, the packaging industry is vulnerable to these disruptive forces.

Navigating the supply chain crisis means facing various hurdles such as material shortages, increased costs, or fulfilment challenges. These issues may also require changes in a company’s packaging operations, making it crucial to know how to efficiently respond, adapt, and maintain business continuity.

Meyers, the US Minniapollis-based Research Group, made some interesting observations a little earlier this year. They are worth noting, therefore a selection are published here for the benefit of our readers. Meyers said, that the current supply chain crisis has led to a global shortage of just about everything from food items, retail products and electronics, to raw materials. But where did things go wrong?

When COVID-19 broke out in 2020, major ports had no choice but to shut down or minimize operations to prevent the virus from spreading. The majority of these businesses reduced the number of workers coming in. This shortage of staff affected the labour supply at a critical time, when consumer demand for essential products and online shopping activities rose to record-high levels.

“ the current supply chain crisis has led to a global shortage of just about everything ”

What does the supply chain crisis mean for the product packaging industry? Here are some of the possible effects.

1. Packaging materials in short supply

The supply situation of different packaging materials has not improved since the pandemic lockdowns, where manufacturers of paper, cardboard, and plastics have paused operations. In the U.S., extreme weather conditions have also reduced production levels at plastic manufacturing plants.

2. High raw material costs

Disrupted production cycles create an imbalance: a low supply of packaging materials that is not adequate for the high demand for these materials. And when there’s a surge in demand, price increases are likely to follow. The price of raw materials such as polyethylenes and polyurethanes goes up 50% year over year, causing the product packaging cost for plastics to soar.

3. Slow fulfilment

With the shortage of packaging materials, retailers and consumers bear the brunt of longer lead times, delays, and stockouts. These challenges will become even more noticeable as e-commerce continues to grow in popularity and adoption.

It’s in your best interest to find other creative ways and expand your network of supply chain partners to overcome the challenges and stand out in the retail space.

4. Retailers resorting to over-ordering

Because of the supply chain crisis, various stakeholders take desperate measures, such as the excessive ordering of raw materials and finished goods, to protect themselves from rising inflation or availability issues. However, this does not get to the underlying cause and only adds to the number of unfulfilled orders in the whole supply chain.

5. Logistics constraints

Community lockdowns and border closures still prevail in several locations around the world, potentially increasing logistical expenditures.

These constraints may force you to rethink your strategies, including product packaging, so you can continue offering your products to customers without burdening them with the high costs of business operations.

6. Labour shortages

Due to the pandemic, businesses are hesitant to hire workers. Employees in several industries, including transportation and manufacturing, are also quitting in what’s known as the Great Resignation phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the consumption of retail goods and services is not letting up, making it more difficult to solve the gaps in supply chain management. You can only be more proactive in handling the areas of your business that you can control while waiting for the crisis to settle down.

6. Lack of a level playing field

One of the unfortunate truths about the supply chain crisis is how major retailers with big financial reserves can continue shipping their products using high-quality packaging materials. Meanwhile, small- and mid-sized brands settle for inferior wrappers or containers.

However, there’s no shortage of alternative packaging solutions that you can adopt to elevate your competitive edge. Selecting recyclable packaging over single-use packaging is an example.

7. Force majeure cases on the rise

In Europe, the global supply chain crisis has created a flood of force majeure cases. Raw material suppliers can no longer deliver plastic sheets to companies that need this specific material. In this scenario, sourcing packaging materials from local suppliers is an ideal solution to importation problems.

SPN. With the on-going nightmare of the Ukrainian war and security flashpoints increasing across the globe, advanced and balanced, strategic thinking is required to offset the threats to meeting increasing consumer demand for sustainable packaging. Hopefully some of these excerpts from Meyer’s article will provide a useful steer for companies suffering with on-going supply chain issues.

20-20 Vision

Hi-Five Recycling

SPN looks behind common misconceptions concerning what can and can’t be recycled. Here, Envirovue, a leading waste management solutions provider, takes us into some hitherto unknown territory by highlighting 5 items that people believe can be recycled, but in fact can’t!

1. Takeaway coffee cups

Takeaway coffee cups are a common item that can be misinterpreted as 100% recyclable. On-the-go coffee is a huge market that millions of consumers buy into every day. In fact, in 2020, an estimated 7.7 million people used coffee shops or sandwich bars to purchase a takeaway drink. As the lining within the cup is typically wax or poly-coated, it can’t be disposed of in an ordinary recycling bin. This is because recycling machinery is unable to separate the plastic lining material from the remaining recyclable material.

As most single-use takeaway coffee cups comprise a nonrecyclable lining, many coffee shops have started providing a recycling point in-store to ensure cups can be recycled efficiently. Disposing of the coffee cup in a separate waste stream ensures the plastic lining can be stripped from the fibre, and both materials can be recycled successfully. Takeaway cups can also be recycled into food and drink stations at your nearest Recycling Centre.

When it comes to recycling, it can get confusing. We’ve all been there, and with various unique rules for each product and packaging type, lines can get blurred. With sustainability becoming such a prominent topic both at work and at home, disorganised and incorrect waste disposal can lead to missed recycling opportunities. As a result, you might not be making as much of a positive impact as you might think.

Following a 94% increase in interest for the term ‘recyclable waste’¹ in the past 12 months, sustainable waste management experts Envirovue, delve into five everyday items you may think you can recycle, but actually can’t, and here they share advice on how these items should be disposed of correctly.

2. Food-contaminated cardboard

Following a 68% increase for the search term ‘recyclable items’, it’s clear there may be confusion regarding recyclable items. Take a pizza box, for instance. Whilst the cardboard is made from recyclable materials, once food, grease and oil have contaminated the cardboard, it can’t be thrown into a general recycling bin anymore. Each ton of waste collected from a household recycling bin that can’t be recycled implements an extra cost of around £93 to dispose of through an energyfrom-waste facility, equalling over £48 million per year in additional costs.

If mistakenly thrown in the recycling, the threat of food waste and grease can damage the recycling equipment and contaminate other recycled materials in the process. For example, the recycling rate for 2020/2021 was 53.02%; however, 6.5% of the recycled material collected since April 2020 was rejected due to contamination. Ultimately, leading to further non-recycling waste than the initial waste itself so this type of waste should be disposed of alongside any other food waste.

3. Household Glass

In 2020, 525,000 tonnes of household recycling collected were rejected at the point of sorting; and when it comes to recycling glass items, it can be deceivingly complex. Although clean food bottles, food jars and items such as aftershave and face creams can be recycled; items that can’t be disposed of in a glass recycling bin include mirrors, lightbulbs, crockery, glass cookware, Pyrex, drinking glasses and vases. A lot of household glass can’t be recycled because of the chemicals needed to create the product.

Following a 77% increase for the term ‘recycling centre near me’, researching the closest location to dispose of household glass correctly may help guide you on the best local options for recycling. Whether that’s at a supermarket or a local recycling centre. Waste experts, Envirovue, suggest a great way to recycle household glass is to simply pass it on to someone who may use it or donate it to charity.

“ Envirovue, suggest a great way to recycle household glass is to simply pass it on to someone who may use it or donate it to charity ”

4. Medical Waste

When not disposed of appropriately, medical waste can be hazardous. Ensuring the correct disposal method of items such as needles, syringes, scalpels, and other biohazards is crucial. Medical waste should be segregated into separate waste streams to ensure the best outcome for the environment and the people handling it.

Many treatment options are available to dispose of infectious waste. Infectious sharp waste in most cases must always be sent for high-temperature incineration or steam sterilisation. If you use a needle at home, purchase a sharps bin to dispose of used needles or sharps. These bins are specially designed boxes with a lid that you can get on a prescription from a GP or pharmacist. When full, the box may be collected for disposal by your local council.

5. Gift Wrap

Christmas is not far away and you may think of gift wrap as just paper, but many gift wraps are far from being recyclingfriendly. Wrapping paper which includes a textured coating, foil, sticky tape, glitter or any other embellishment, can’t be recycled. Many local authorities won’t accept wrapping paper for recycling because some types of gift wrap are thin and lack suitable quality fibres. Likewise, it can often be dyed and contain non-paper elements which can’t be recycled.

DEFRA’s recycling business target for 2022 has been predicted at 77%, with a paper recycling target of 83%. When disposing of gift wrap, a scrunch test is a valuable way to check if the paper is suitable to go in the recycling bin. If the wrapping paper stays scrunched, this is a sign that you should be able to recycle it. If handled with care, wrapping paper can also be recycled by using it again. If not, unfortunately, this will need to be thrown in the general bin.

Targeted approaches

Daniel Redfern, Director at Envirovue, commented: “When it comes to disposing of recycled waste correctly, many people may get confused with the different limitations each item has. Correct recycling is vital to creating a more sustainable future, but only when done correctly. The last thing that needs to happen is disposing of non-recyclable items in a general recycling bin; essentially allowing the risk of contamination to occur, defeating the point of recycling the item in the first place.

At Envirovue, we’re passionate about operating sustainably, and it’s important people recycling at home are also leading with a positive example. To ensure we’re building towards a circular economy, we’re always developing smarter and more targeted approaches to enhance the impact of recycling on sustainability and value.”

To learn more about how to dispose of non-recyclable items correctly, please visit: https://envirovue.io/five-things-you-cant-recycle/

Retail Round-up Best-by -confusion reigns

Today, from the USA, we learn that wide-spread confusion experienced by consumers has led to the removal of Best-by dates on groceries.

Charles Haverfield of US Packaging and Wrapping, told SPN: “Across the U.S., new voluntary industry standards for food date labelling have recently been adopted. Under this system, ‘use-by’ dates are applied to foods as a ‘deadline’ when a food will then present a high food poisoning risk.

Best before dates, on the other hand, indicate food quality, and recommend when a product’s taste and texture will be at their best.

However, it seems many have different interpretations of these labels and studies show more than 80 percent of consumers don’t understand them. Research has also repeatedly found that many consumers mix the two terms up, throwing away food as soon as it reaches its best-before date, because they think it is unsafe to eat after this.

Confusion surrounding packaging food labels, is often cited as a contributor to food waste across the country. USDA statistics show the average American household wastes up to 40 percent of their food each year.

Fortunately, it seems global grocery stores are making strides to try to eliminate customer confusion. For example, most recently, Aldi UK confirmed the removal of best-before dates from around 60 of its fresh fruit and vegetable lines. Many other UK supermarkets already have a similar scheme in place or are following suit.

This is not necessarily a new approach. But it may well become more common internationally as retailers seek ways to appropriately respond to food waste.

The idea is less food will be thrown away because consumers will be using their own judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat. There’s no need to refer to a label when you can use your own senses to decide whether an item is still edible. In fact, another UK supermarket, Morrisons, is asking customers to use the time-honoured “sniff test” to check whether its cow’s milk is still drinkable.

Online shopping could mean less plastic

Says digital Campaigner at Greenpeace, Jack Bullett

The pandemic created a big increase in online shopping, which is expected to remain long after the pandemic. It offers a huge opportunity to reduce plastic.

Just last year Tesco partnered with Loop, who uses completely reusable packaging, which is returned, cleaned and reused. If supermarkets replicated this on a large scale they could ditch thousands of tonnes of plastic. It’s fair to say that COVID-19 has been a setback in the fight against plastic pollution. But from what we can tell, there’s still an appetite from supermarkets to reduce single use and unnecessary plastics.

Shoppers still care about plastic – and change is on the way

Despite everything, plastic packaging is still at the forefront of shoppers’ minds. As you can see from the league table, supermarkets have lots to do if they’re going to stop fuelling the problem and start solving the problem.

Aldi and Sainsbury’s have committed to halving their plastic footprint by 2025. Greenpeace is urging the other major supermarkets to do the same. Increasing ambition on reusable packing and refill stations in-store is vital to reducing throwaway plastic. So Greenpeace is also calling for 25% of packaging to be reusable by 2025, and 50% reusable by 2030.

Trials in reuse and refill are picking up pace across all UK supermarkets. Last year Asda opened a sustainability store in Leeds, which uses refill stations to give shoppers plastic packaging-free groceries. The store stocks big brands like PG Tips, Kellogg’s, and Persil, as well as own-brand staples like pasta. Asda says the store will cut around one million pieces of plastic per year.

If Asda and other supermarkets roll out schemes like this across the UK, it will go a long way to properly reducing plastic packaging.

Leading the way Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrison’s and Aldi are the five biggest supermarkets in the UK. Because they have more stores and more customers, they produce a lot more plastic than some of the other supermarkets in the league table. That means they have a responsibility to lead the way –and an opportunity to have the biggest impact.

SPN: It is encouraging to see first-hand the changes that are taking place in the retail sector and the pressure being put on supermarkets by activists such as Greenpeace. All-in-all it is a combined and concerted effort that will make the difference. In addition, collaboration can be invaluable in speeding up the changes that we need, in order to achieve optimal sustainability and a truly circular economy.

“ they have a responsibility to lead the way – and an opportunity to have the biggest impact ”

“ Trials in reuse and refill are picking up pace across all UK supermarketst ”

Shoppers take the single-use plastic wrapping off their bought fruit and vegetables outside Tesco in London.

© John Cobb / Greenpeace

Faster turnaround …faster growth Digital Digest

The major constraint for this market is the high initial investment required for digital printing equipment. However, this is offset by the increasing opportunities in the market, which include the development of new applications and the increasing adoption of digital printing in emerging markets.

Unlike traditional printing, this method uses a digital file, such as a PDF, to create a printed product. There are many benefits to using digital printing technology, including increased accuracy - and because digital files are used, there is no need for film negatives or plates, which can introduce errors into the final product. In addition, turnaround times are greatly reduced. With traditional printing methods, it can take days or even weeks to print a large order. With digital printing technology, jobs can be completed in hours or even minutes. Furthermore, digital printing technology is much less expensive than traditional methods, making it ideal for small businesses or those working on a tight budget.

Some of the top key players operating in the Digital Printing Technology market are*:

In the current market landscape, the global Digital Printing Technology market is expected to see significant growth, as numerous multinational and domestic organisations experience increasing demands from consumers for greater sustainability. These are organisations that operate in diverse industries worldwide and adopt Digital Printing Technologies into their business strategies. Strong customer relationships with distributors, and other stakeholders in distribution channels, have been at the forefront of the drive for more eco-friendly solutions. Looking ahead, many policies and plans that prominent players in global Digital Printing Technology markets have adopted, are relying more and more on digital print solutions.

Mondi Plc, WS Packaging Group, Agfa Graphics, Brother Industries, D.Gen, Hollanders Printing Solutions, Electronics for Imaging, HP, Xerox Corporation, Quad/Graphics, DuPont, Toppan Printing, Agfa Graphics, Brother Industries, D.Gen, Hollanders Printing Solutions, Electronics for Imaging.

Digital printing is here to stay and the technology is improving all the time, resulting in faster turnarounds than ever before and with short runs and personalisation standard fare.

*Extracts from presswire Nov 2022

New digital drivers are the ones revolutionising the packaging print industry right now. The key motivators for this market growth include the increasing demand for personalised products, the need for shorter turnaround times, and the growing popularity of on-demand printing.

“ the global Digital Printing technology market is expected to see significant growth ”

Tetra Pak

“ Design-out waste, design-in circular economy ”

“One of today’s biggest issues and one still largely unaddressed is waste. Every year an estimated 11.2 billion tons of waste are collected worldwide. Furthermore, waste mismanagement exacerbates climate change and its negative effects. It is clear that the problem is getting worse. The World Bank projects that by 2050, global waste will have increased by 70% from a 2018 baseline, should we collectively fail to act and continue along a “take-makewaste” linear economy model.

Changing this trajectory will require a shift to a circular economy and we believe that the business world has a huge part to play in this fundamental transition. Therefore, at Tetra Pak, we are focusing on innovations that can design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use and regenerate natural systems.

For example, earlier this year, we became the first carton packaging company to launch a cap using certified recycled polymers. This marked a key step in the industry’s journey to circularity, helping to find an economically sound use for plastic waste and responsibly sourcing raw materials, thereby minimising dependency on virgin, fossil-based resources.

World first

More recently, we worked with leading beverage manufacturers to introduce cartons with tethered caps, which is a world’s first. This paved the way for Europe-based customers to stay ahead of schedule and meet the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive coming into force in 2024. This redesign ensures that the cap stays attached to the package and thus litter can be reduced.

Marco Marchetti, Vice President Packaging Materials, Sales and Distribution Solutions, Tetra Pak, shared his incisive thinking with SPN:

Marco Marchetti

World first

More recently, we worked with leading beverage manufacturers to introduce cartons with tethered caps, which is a world’s first. This paved the way for Europe-based customers to stay ahead of schedule and meet the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive coming into force in 2024. This redesign ensures that the cap stays attached to the package and thus litter can be reduced.

Unique fibre-based barrier

We also tested an industry-first, fibre-based barrier to replace the aluminium layer in our aseptic packages. In fact, this layer, despite being critical to keep the contents safe for consumption and thinner than a human hair, contributes to a third of the greenhouse gas emissions linked to the base materials we use. Reducing this impact is a development priority.

Cutting-edge Collaboration

Addressing complex issues such as climate change and circularity requires transformational innovation. This is why we collaborate not just with our customers and suppliers, but also with an ecosystem of start-ups, universities and tech companies, providing us access to cutting-edge competences, technologies and manufacturing facilities.

To keep the innovation engine running, we are investing €100 million per year and will continue to do so over the next 5 to 10 years to further enhance the environmental profile of food cartons.

There is a long journey ahead of us, but with the support of our partners and a strong determination to achieve our sustainability and food safety goals, we are well on our way”.

“

Addressing complex issues such as climate change and circularity requires transformational innovation ”

Parkside

The flexible route to net-zero

In today’s environmentally aware market, brands, retailers, and their supply chains face multiple challenges when aligning their packaging choices with their net-zero strategies.

Amid calls to turn off the plastic tap and reduce carbon emissions, we have seen some highly ambitious packaging pledges fall far from the mark when implemented, often underestimating the full role of packaging’s functionality. The reality is that packaging requirements are complex, making the innovation and sourcing of functional, sustainable packaging alternatives complex, too.

Packaging’s fundamental purpose is to protect and preserve. However, there is no ‘one-fits-all’ solution, and flexible packaging has not always been designed with the environment in mind. Some of the industry’s challenges are multi-material non-recyclable laminates, food contamination, littering, and inefficient waste management infrastructures. However, the innovative flexible packaging industry has evolved rapidly in response to ever-changing customer and product needs, such as food safety, consumer convenience, recyclability, and food waste reduction.

Vital role

Food waste alone is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted annually. That’s one-third of all food produced for human consumption. When food waste breaks down in landfill, it produces harmful greenhouse gases. Therefore, packaging designed to extend the shelf-life of food products in-store and at home plays a vital role in the race to net zero.

Retailers setting the bar

Many retailers lead with bold packaging pledges to bolster their net-zero targets. UK retailer Iceland pledged to eliminate all plastic packaging from its own-label brands by 2023 and recently demonstrated that a trusted packaging partner is critical to success. Iceland collaborated with sustainable, flexible packaging specialists, Parkside, to develop one of the world’s first paper-recyclable packaging solutions for frozen food.

Meanwhile, M&S has targeted net zero carbon emissions by 2040. In addition to its target that 100% of its food packaging will be recyclable by the end of this year, M&S has promised a 30% reduction in the volume of plastic food packaging by 2027.

The solution

The flexible packaging industry is highly versatile and has innovated its way out of many challenges in the past; its response to net zero targets is no different. Parkside understands the complexity of the sustainability conundrum and knows there is no silver bullet to sustainability.

Whether compostable, renewable, recyclable, recycled content, lightweight, low carbon, or packaging designed for reuse and refill, Parkside can provide that solution quickly and effectively while maintaining the quality and functional performance of the pack, including strength, robustness, packaging speed, energy efficiency, shipping weight, or product protection. No matter how retailers want to design for the environment, choosing a packaging partner who can provide a broad range of packaging solutions is essential.

Parkside is an innovative packaging solutions provider specialising in compostable, recyclable, paper-based and innovative plastic flexible packaging solutions. Specialising in advanced solutions for the food, personal & household care and tobacco sectors. Established for more than 40 years it is regularly leading the field in innovative solutions to drive the net-zero objectives

NOP (No-Plastic Program) means we promote eco-friendly plastic substitutes for the packages manufactured on IMA machines. rough the research and testing of alternative processes and materials, together with our partners, we foster plastic-free and sustainable, compostable, biodegradable or recyclable packaging solutions.

According to these objectives, IMA established OPENLab: the Group’s network of technological laboratories and testing area, dedicated to the research on sustainable materials, technologies and production optimization processes.

Discover more about IMA NOP on ima.it/imazero and IMA OPENLab on ima.it/open-lab

Game-Changer?

Turning laminates into fertilisers. The giant flexible packaging company, Uflex of India says that its latest game-changer is a much-anticipated, biodegradable laminate, that turns waste products into fertiliser once placed in contact with soil!

It is acknowledged that the company has made a significant contribution to product development and business growth in the Flexible Packaging sector. This has been achieved as a result of increased research and its resulting range of innovative, sustainable products. One of the company’s latest achievements is its much- heralded bio-degradable laminate, that turns waste products into fertilisers.

“

Recently the Group recorded growth in its (domestic) flexible packaging business of around 25%, despite inflationary pressure and muted growth reported by the FMCG & Pharma industry. As a leading environmentally conscious company, UFlex has been making major strides towards greener, more sustainable packaging. It has been offering a wide range of green packaging options to customers including PCR grade laminate, with less use of plastic in structures, mono-layers and many more formulas of advanced recyclable products.

UFlex is India’s largest flexible packaging company with headquarters in Noida (India). With manufacturing facilities in Noida and Jammu having a production capacity of over 1,00,000 TPA,. Furthermore, UFlex supplies its products to the majority of Fortune 500 customers in India as well as exporting its products to multinational companies across the world.

In the Middle East advances are also being made. OQ, the fast-growing and multifaceted Oman-based integrated energy company, continues to make progress towards product optimisation and innovation as it caters to the growing demand for flexible packaging solutions.

Several factors are behind the shift in trend from rigid to flexible packaging solutions. Much of this is consumer driven, with end users now demanding lightweight, convenient reliable and safe solutions that fit their evolving lifestyles. With a trend towards single households and busy urban living gathering pace, customers crave fast and convenient food products.

UFlex has been making major strides towards greener, more sustainable packaging ”

Life Cycle Assessment for a more sustainable future

From the extraction of raw materials up to the end-of-life, the studies can assess the full product’s life cycle.

Sustainability is certainly the most pressing challenge faced by the packaging industry. The agenda is clear: reduction of CO2 emissions and efficiency with raw materials. The basis for more sustainable packaging is detailed knowledge of the environmental impact throughout a product’s life cycle so that processes can be optimized every step of the way – from the packaging design until its disposal.

Making packaging greener, day by day

Every day, Constantia Flexibles works on high-quality packaging solutions with high product safety and the lowest possible impact on the environment. To identify optimization potential, Constantia Flexibles uses life cycle assessments (LCA) to find out which packaging solution fits best.

LCA studies have been conducted at Constantia Flexibles since 2015, based on a semi-automated meta-model, which enables the company to support its customers in the Consumer and Pharma business, and relevant stakeholders to improve the environmental performance of packaging. On top, Constantia Flexibles can rely on a large number of in-house developments based on mono-materials with high barrier properties, helping to reduce the carbon footprint. Under the umbrella brand Ecolutions, the company offers EcoLam (mono-PE), EcoVer (mono-PP), EcoAlu, and EcoPaper solutions. Which solution fits best depends on the product protection needs as well as the aspect of sustainability.

Big player showing responsibility

As the third-largest flexible packaging producer worldwide, Constantia Flexibles is conscious of its economic, social, and environmental responsibility. By making use of LCAs, the manufacturer optimizes its processes continuously and ensures more sustainable packaging.

By thoroughly assessing the environmental impact of a product over its entire life cycle, Constantia Flexibles constantly optimizes the environmental footprint of its flexible packaging solutions.

Whiter than white

Produced under strict hygienic manufacturing conditions and consistent process parameter windows, ProVital+ 1101209-EM demonstrates safety, reliability and consistency, delivering peace of mind to manufacturers of medical equipment and pharmaceutical primary packaging.

Designed for the opacification and colouration of primary and secondary packaging, medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic equipment, ProVital+ 1101209-EM complies with the highest quality and performance requirements to enable the healthcare industry to meet stringent medical regulations. It has been formulated with selected raw materials pretested for biocompatibility, according to ISO 10993 and European Pharmacopeia (Ph. Eur.) monograph 3.1.

New dedicated recycling plant

Key features include: New dedicated recycling plant adding 200,000 Tonnes capacity. Commissioning in 2023 and expected to be fully operational by 2025. Builds new capability based on 20 years of experience in meeting the needs of the circular economy through its CICLIC® and GRANIC® product lines. Wide range of CICLIC® brand recycled polyolefins matching virgin resin properties with up to 70% reduction in carbon footprint. Up-cycling with fully traceable waste streams, to deliver consistent and reliable products.

The new dedicated recycling plant in Castellet i La Gornal, Barcelona, Spain, will enhance the group’s capability to serve increased global demand for its CICLIC range of recycled polyolefins (R-polyolefins). The 200,000 Tonnes (200kT) plant, is commissioning in 2023 and will be fully operational by 2025. It will also be one of the largest of its kind in the world and is a significant step forward for the group.

The capacity for CICLIC combined with that for the GRANIC® range of sustainable mineral-filled masterbatches and compounds, will reach 500kT. GCR has a global reach, exporting 85% of its sales to over 100 countries.

Looking to satisfying future demand for sustainability and the circular economy, GCR accelerates its investment programme with a new recycling plant to support the circular economy.

Ampacet introduces its new white masterbatch for medical applications with complete consistency of performance, traceability and control of raw materials. This latest development is used for fabrication of the ProVital+ range, which is crucial for manufacturers of medical devices, primary packaging and in-vitro diagnostics equipment.

“ ProVital+ demonstrates safety, reliability and consistency ”

“ It will be one of the largest of its kind in the world and a significant step forward ”

Exciting new Polymer platform

Teysha Technologies has found a ‘truly sustainable’ alternative to bioplastic and has been issued a Certificate of Biodegradability for its new polymer platform ‘AggiePol’ following successful OECD 310 testing.

Teysha Technology’s AggiePol,is a novel bioplastic derived entirely from natural feedstocks, and has been confirmed to be readily biodegradable, meaning that it biodegrades to natural, non-harmful sugars. The material represents what Teysha Technologies names as a ‘genuinely sustainable’ plastic replacement, unlike partially petroleum-based conventional bioplastics.

Many additives are microplastics used in cosmetics products. For example, a shower gel containing microplastics can deposit microbeads in waterways. Globally, governments are implementing legislation, such as banning exfoliating plastic microbeads, and businesses are seeking sustainable alternative materials.

In harmony

Matthew Stone, Chair of Teysha Technologies, said the AggiePol platform represents a solution: “The limitations of conventional bioplastics, in terms of biodegradation, are well known, but the argument in their favour was that, while they were not perfect, they were the best available alternative to traditional plastics.

Now AggiePol has been officially certified as being biodegradable, we can provide a truly sustainable material solution to additives in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals that provides harmony with our waterways, ecology and food chain.

Karen Wooley, CTO at Teysha Technologies, added: “AggiePol’s tunability options mean it can be tailored to undergo slow or rapid biodegradation depending on the application. This makes it suitable for use in markets like packaging, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, where businesses still rely on either traditional plastics or partially petroleum-based bioplastics that contribute significantly to ongoing pollution” Product testing, manufacturing and scale-up are all currently underway at the London-based company.

New ADINS products for FR and biocide applications

It brought this expertise to K 2022 where its ADINS range of flame-retardant additives for PP, PVC, rubber polymer systems, and silicones, along with its ADINS Protection range for biocide applications, were showcased.

Tolsa has translated its ADINS FR technology to nylon (PA) matrices for applications in electrical/electronics, automotive, textile, and transportation markets, and is developing new products for these systems. During the last two years, Tolsa has completed extensive testing with PA matrices using a range of ADINS products.

ADINS flame-retardant technology is described as a ‘highly suitable alternative to antimony trioxide (ATO)’. ATO is a widely used FR additive which is currently is under regulatory study due to toxicity and carcinogenicity concerns. In addition, the variability of ATO prices and supply issues have generated additional concerns. However, in some applications, such as E&E, its use is unavoidable.

Hence the development of what Tolsa names its ‘safer synergists’ that can reduce the ATO dosage without damaging performance and processability. Tolsa confirmed that its ADINS technology enables development of customised grades that ‘guarantee compliance with specific industry requirements’ including by improving the behaviour of plastic components, in particular, under fire conditions. Targeted applications also include outdoor furniture, architectural and hospital products, construction, packaging plastics and rubber applications.

Based in Madrid, Tolsa S.A. supplies flame-retardant and specialised additives for a range of markets and plastics.

Rewarding sustainability in action!

SPN is set to announce the winners of its first Sustainability Annual Awards Event, sponsored by Monta Packaging.

The response to the competition was far greater than we had anticipated, with over 70 entries from around the World and clearly underscores the industry’s on-going commitment to sustainability and the circular economy – in correlation, it also emphasises the vital role that SPN plays in promoting sustainability worldwide. As expected, the competition was intense and the decision-making process was not an easy one for our eminent panel of judges.

However, a conclusion will have been reached and the finalists will be announced on our website www.spnews.com by the time this magazine goes to print.

In the meantime, here are the qualifying criteria for the six award categories, which packaging companies both large and small have so earnestly competed for:

1. Sustainable Packaging Machinery

Innovative packaging machines which have facilitated the use of environmentally friendly materials. Also incorporates machinery which has improved production line efficiencies, in terms of both waste and energy reduction.

2. Resource Efficiency

Innovations in the packaging sector which help to utilise resources in a way in which is better for our planet. This can include a reduction in material usage or the reduction of the overall carbon footprint. It also covers packaging designs which help prevent waste.

3. Recyclable Packaging innovation

Innovations in packaging design or materials which help to enable the final product to be recycled.

4. Circular Economy

Covers new uses for recycled materials, innovative reusable packaging systems or recycling technologies, also includes initiatives which promote recycling and reuse.

5. Sustainable Sourcing

This category recognises companies who have sourced more sustainable materials, or improved their materials to make them more sustainable. Includes development and use of bio-based materials.

6. SPN Awards Overall Winner

The best innovation which our judges feel has contributed the most to help protect our planet.

SPN would like to thank our sponsors. Monta Packaging and all our readers for a great response and your continuing innovative sustainability endeavours.

We are proud of our industry and the amazing progress that it continues to make for the benefit of our consumers and our planet!

Please note that our awards ceremony video will be aired on the 18th November and that our award-winning finalists will be announced on www.spnews.com beforehand.

“ the flowpack X from Hugo Beck, enable leading consumer goods companies to process both film and paper packaging on the one machine, with a short changeover ”

Hugo Beck

New Hybrid Horizons

Hybrid packaging machines offer companies new horizons and cost-effective opportunities for the optimum processing of a diverse range of new packaging materials.

Timo Kollmann, Managing Director at Hugo Beck, highlights the importance of hybrid packaging machinery as more companies seek to diversify using alternative, sustainable materials.

“The widespread introduction of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), combined with regulatory pressure and public concerns around single-use plastic waste, has meant brands are proactively seeking new ways to improve the sustainability of their packaging processes. Alongside leading packaging equipment and automation suppliers, manufacturers in food and non-food through to pharmaceuticals and e-commerce are looking to make alternative packaging concepts a mainstay for their products.

With ‘recyclability’ and ‘the circular economy’ the current buzzwords of today, the urgency in the packaging industry to pursue a genuinely holistic sustainability strategy, beyond mere ‘greenwashing’, has increased significantly.

Hugo Beck flowpack X packaging machine for film and paper

Hugo Beck sustainable packaging

With so much negative attention on plastics in favour of paper packaging, it is crucial for manufacturers to partner with the right packaging machinery provider who can process a variety of materials according to a company’s often diverse goals and product requirements.

From Mono to Bio Machines which can handle everything from recyclable films made from mono-material or recycled content and bioplastics, through to paper-based packaging, are those which are leading the way. Hybrid machines are the ideal solution for enabling the cost-effective, flexible use of paper, alongside film packaging, to deliver optimum functionality to customers and help future-proof their investment.

Empowering users

Thanks to continuous transversal sealing, a long dwell time and high sealing pressure is achieved, even when working with the most complex and diverse coated papers –empowering users with ultimate flexibility and security when processing with a variety of packaging materials. As an alternative, the company’s paper packaging machines also process uncoated papers, sealed with hotmelt or sewn with yarn. The latter predominantly used for e-commerce and mail order applications.

Standard solutions are no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the fast-paced, sustainably inclined industrial sector. With new paper types and films coming to market quicker than ever before, it is essential that brands align with the right machinery supplier to stay ahead. Flexibility is no longer an amenity but a necessity in the packaging industry, and so machines must be able to process a variety of materials and to reduce wastage and energy, whilst maintaining high functionality and efficiency.

Fully automatic and flexible flowpack machines like the flowpack X from Hugo Beck, enable leading consumer goods companies to process both film and paper packaging on the one machine, with a short changeover. Suitable for heat and cold-sealable paper-based packaging materials, hybrid machines like the flowpack X enable optimum processing of the most diverse packaging materials. These include barrier paper, kraft paper, offset paper, parchment paper and other recyclable papers with PE, PLA or dispersion coatings. This is in addition to handling a range of film types with various thicknesses.

Choosing automated machine equipment, which can be easily modified ensures that manufacturers can switch between packaging options freely and continue to meet the everchanging industry regulations and consumer trends. In short, in the increasing fight for sustainability, investing in hybrid film and paper packaging solutions is an assured win”.

“ hybrid machines like the flowpack X enable optimum processing of the most diverse packaging materials ”

“ investing in hybrid film and paper packaging solutions is an assured win ”

Hugo Beck paper packaging machinery for various industries

Celebration Packaging

PPT- the unforeseen outcomes

Burton told SPN “The Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) and various single-use plastic bans have put the emphasis on seeking alternatives to plastic and packaging suppliers are working hard to introduce more and better, sustainable options.

Whilst operators value the opportunity to enhance their environmental credentials, more effort is needed to educate customers about how best they should dispose of each packaging type at end-of-life. The national recycling system is also inadequate, with different councils adopting different systems, leaving the public confused, and recycling targets missed. Celebration Packaging created the EnviroWare® brand 14 years ago and continues to introduce and recommend a wide variety of sustainable packaging options, made from paper, bagasse, and wood. With plastic packaging, we are focusing on using recycled PET (r-PET) with a minimum content of 30% to avoid the PPT, which came into force in April.

Politicians need to announce a date as soon as possible and then give the longest reasonable transition period. The PPT was very rushed and ill-conceived, and the government missed an opportunity to promote the use of reusable plastic products, which make an important contribution to reducing the use of plastic.

Missed opportunities for reusables

The stated aim of the PPT was “to increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging”, but there is a lack of clarity around reusable packaging, as while plastic storage boxes are exempt, the tax still applies to reusable foodservice packaging. The tax is applied on a weight basis, and to be serviceable, reusable packaging is generally thicker and heavier. However, one of our restaurant customers is saving many tons of plastic a year by using our recyclable microwavable reusable portion packaging, instead of single-use plastic packaging.

If food-service operators are looking to improve their sustainability credentials or understand the issues created by the PPT, they need to work with a consultative supplier to ensure that they’re choosing the right packaging – that’s functional, fit for purpose, popular with consumers and above all, sustainable”.

There is a clear desire to use more sustainable packaging, but the cost is often higher than traditional packaging. Customers who continue to use plastic packaging find that it can be cheaper to buy virgin plastic and pay the PPT, than it is to use recycled plastic products – because of the rising cost and limited supply of recycled plastic resin.

Single-use ban delays

Single-use plastic items were banned in Scotland in June, and in September the Welsh Government announced the Environmental Protection – Single-use Plastic Products –Wales Bill. At time of writing, we still don’t have a fixed date when a ban will take effect in England, and this is causing a lot of confusion.

SPN: In Burton’s overview of the current state of play following the introduction of PPT, he raises some interesting questions as well as looking at the current outcomes and solutions. These changes affect all those who are striving for more sustainable packaging options.

In April the

industry responded to the government’s introduction of a

tax levy. However, as Celebration Packaging MD Nick Burton explains, there are companies that still choose to pay the new tax as it remains the cheapest option for many. Here is his exclusive report.

More Huggable

Mondi told SPN, “Hug&Hold comprises two elements that provide secure and safe transportation as well as stacking of bundles of bottled drinks. The first element is a patentpending sleeve made of 100% kraft paper that wraps around the bottles to hold them securely. Made from Advantage SpringPack Plus, it offers high tensile strength and can withstand enough weight to strap and stabilise the bottles during transportation. The second element is a corrugated clip which holds the bottles around the neck. An optional integrated handle means a bundle of bottles can be carried and transported easily. Simple separation of single bottles from the pack by the consumer or retail staff adds to the convenience of the design.

Fully automated process

With Hug&Hold, Mondi is first to manufacture and market a complete concept, providing a strong and stable solution that is made from renewable and fully recyclable materials, suitable for existing paper waste streams throughout Europe. The team worked with Krones, a global acting specialist in packaging automation technology, to ensure that Hug&Hold can pack bottles in a fully automated process with the latest Krones’ machines. Krones further offers options to upgrade its existing machinery enabling an easy switch to Hug&Hold as a sustainable alternative.

Proven viability

Silvia Hanzelova, Sales Director Specialty Kraft Paper at Mondi, says: “Leveraging Mondi’s team of kraft paper and corrugated specialists, we were able to develop a fully paper-based solution with minimal material usage. Following thorough testing with Krones and a global beverage brand, Hug&Hold has been confirmed in terms of runnability and viability.”

Switch with ease and safety

“The evolution of secondary transport packaging is just what the global drinks industry needs as it looks to the future. A sustainable, functional and fully automated alternative to plastic shrink wrap means that brand owners can safely switch to a recyclable paper-based packaging solution, without any risk to their product or logistics”, adds Tarik Aniba, Sales & Marketing Director Corrugated Solutions at Mondi. Hug&Hold currently is available for 0.5l up to 1.5l PET bottles in bundles of six or four.

For more information go to www.mondigroup.com

“ providing a strong and stable solution that is made from renewable and fully recyclable materials ”

Herbert Walker

Lip-Sync

Lammas told SPN, “With concerns about the planet, pollution and the effects of consumerism on developing nations in the global community, consumers have never been more aware of what goes into the products they buy. And that personal due diligence not only applies to ingredients; it also involves manufacturing practices, ethics, the journey from source to shelf and, of course, packaging.

Consumerism with a conscience doesn’t only apply to food and drink sectors either; for many, the drive to make ethical choices about what they choose to eat and drink, also spills over into decision-making about what to wear and what products to use for hygiene, beauty and household cleaning. Even those who do not identify as vegan, or do not challenge themselves to go plastic-free, are more aware of making responsible choices that will have less impact on people, places and the planet.

For the cosmetics sector, these trends have prompted a complex journey when it comes to packaging design and production. While some brands have consciously gone down the ‘natural’ route, with raw, brown boards, minimalist text in muted colours, and the absence of finishes, that approach can lead to perceptions of a brand being more utilitarian than luxurious.

The challenge for brands (including own label brands) and their packaging supply chain, is to ensure the packaging has impact on shelf, communicating luxury and excitement to generate consumer appeal, while still delivering on sustainability with recyclable materials.

Today the cosmetics carton packaging industry is well in-sync with the growing movement for less plastic and greater sustainability. Philip Yorke discovered much more when he invited Mike Lammas, MD of Herbert Walkers, to comment on the current pressures to move away from plastics in the cosmetics industry.

Mike

Lammas, MD Herbert Walkers

“ The challenge for brands and their packaging supply chain, is to ensure the packaging has impact on shelf, communicating luxury and excitement ”

Image courtesy: mykaleidascope.com

Sustainable luxury

Fundamentally, cosmetics are a luxury item, and, even at the lower end of the market, packaging transforms the item into an experience as the first touchpoint with the consumer when they are making their choices in store. Ethical, sustainable and vegan do not need to be hair shirts that consumers with a conscience have to wear as a badge of honour. Indeed, too much of a paired back approach to cosmetics packaging can be seen as virtue signalling by many consumers, who want to enjoy the treat of something special alongside the reassurance that their choice doesn’t compromise their ethical values.

Fortunately, luxury and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive. As a printing company with a rich heritage of packaging print for luxury food and confectionery, as well as cosmetics, Herbert Walkers also draws on our greetings cards experience to advise cosmetics brands on sustainable approaches to impactful carton packaging for the products.

Whether a product is aimed at a year-round market, or is destined for the lucrative Christmas peak sales period, reflective and metallic boards and finishes are still the bedrock of a pack with consumer appeal. Whereas the drive to demonstrate a commitment to ethics and sustainability caused brands to pull away from metallic boards and foiled finishes for some years, the availability of fully-recyclable metallic boards has seen a return to the consumer literate language of packaging materials that reflect the light and communicate luxury.

Supply-chain collaboration

It is vital that the supply chain – including the brand/product manager, the packaging designer, and both the commercial and technical experts within the printing company - work collaboratively to understand the implications of packaging material choices. Those choices should be to consider a brand’s, commercial viability, technical capabilities and sustainability. And it is sustainability that now lies at the heart of this decision making, because eco credentials support both sales and brand loyalty, which drive commercial success and brand advocacy.

Accurate labelling of the pack’s recyclability is vital, because the consumer’s understanding of what can and cannot be recycled is not necessarily up to date. Brands not only need to do the right thing when it comes to sustainability and recyclability; they need to be seen to do the right thing too. It’s also worth remembering that metallic boards and foils are not the only finishes that can be used to premiumise packaging for a luxury look and feel. Texture enhances the pack just as much as visual embellishments so embossing, de-bossing and varnishes can also form part of a packaging design and production strategy that combines consumer appeal with sustainability credentials.

Evolving trends

As we approach another festive season, with Christmas 2022 set to be played out against the backdrop of a cost of a living crisis and rising inflation, it will be interesting to see how commercial factors affect decision making on sustainability. Both the costs of packs and the squeeze on consumer buying power could affect trends in packaging design and production choices - if not this year, then certainly when this year’s trends are analysed for next year’s product development”.

As buying habits evolve – for both brands and their customers - the expertise of printing companies like Herbert Walkers, will be more essential than ever in helping clients make specification choices that reflect brand, commercial and operational considerations.

St Moritz cosmetic packaging Image courtesy: Herbert Walker

No7 packaging Image courtesy: Herbert Walker

Syntegon

Beyond Convention

Sooner or later, it happens to them all: traditional packaging materials like composite plastics must give way to more sustainable alternatives. Food packaging is no exception: around the globe, legislation and environmentally conscious brand owners are gradually changing the way some of the most common staples are packaged. While this change offers new environmental and marketing opportunities, it also calls for highly flexible packaging equipment – a trend that leading systems manufacturers are now responding to.

Composite plastics can be daunting for brands: while they provide great flexibility in terms of design and usage, they prove difficult to recycle – and hence poses a challenge to a wide variety of industries, including the food sector. As sustainable business practices are establishing themselves as the new normal, consumers and companies across the globe are questioning conventional packaging choices with regard to plastic content and recyclability.

“

While traditional plastics are losing their appeal due to poor recyclability, companies are on the lookout for alternatives that can be easily recycled, put less strain on the environment and contribute to the concept of a circular economy. Legislative pressure adds to this shift: The EU, for instance, has been imposing a tax on non-recycled plastic since 2021. In other countries, like the U. S., state-wide bans on other non-recyclable materials are contributing their fair share to the overall reorientation.

Paper and mono-materials gaining ground

In addition to legal requirements, changing consumer expectations are an important driver of change. A survey among US consumers found that around two thirds of them consider paperboard, paper and glass to be very sustainable, displaying a keen interest in recyclable plastics and fiberbased alternatives.

Two sustainable materials are particularly popular amongst manufacturers: paper and mono-material films. With the appropriate technology, these materials can be processed on existing equipment without compromising speed and efficiency. Moreover, they score points with high shelf appeal, guarantee product protection, and are recyclable at the same time, which puts them ahead of conventional multi-layer plastic films. But how to change packaging solutions that have been a mainstay of food and beverage packaging for decades? Molded plastic trays, plastic bags and shrink-wrap films are still widely used.

Paperboard pushing boundaries

Take fresh produce, for instance. Produce brands commonly rely on plastic clamshells, polystyrene trays, and plastic bags for berries, grapes, tomatoes, and the like, which are loaded, then closed or flow wrapped. Their packaging needs to be moisture-proof, since produce often comes ripe and freshly harvested from fields or orchards and is kept fresh with a mist-dispenser on shelf.

While paper may not seem a suitable choice of material at first glance, many applications in the field prove that paperboard is gaining ground in the fresh produce section too. Replacing traditional packaging styles with paperboard topload cartons or sleeves, however, requires some specific adaptations, especially in the case of moist produce.

Paperboard therefore needs to feature a barrier coating to withstand moisture. This is the case with latest developments in paperboard packaging. Moreover, mid-sized to large products like apples, onions and potatoes are usually sold as bulk ware, either loose or in flexible bags that can hold several pounds each. When switching to paperboard cartons or sleeves, produce companies need to make sure these alternatives are just as stable as traditional pack styles. Depending on the load, glue-style or lock-style cartons provide the required stability for safely handling high-quality produce.

Going beyond conventional plastic, Sustainable packaging is taking many industries by storm, increasingly with the help of versatile equipment from key suppliers such as Syntegon. Here are some key excepts from a recent technical article published by the company.

companies across the globe are questioning conventional packaging choices ”

“Running new packaging styles and adapting to current trends requires the right amount of equipment flexibility,” says Robert Kiely, Managing Director at Kliklok in Bristol, UK. As a pioneer in carton forming and loading, Syntegon has been refining its equipment for 75 years. Syntegon offers a large portfolio of matching solutions under its Kliklok brand, supporting food manufacturers globally to live up to their sustainability claims”.

Australians know their onions

They lived up to their sustainability claims lately with their Kliklok topload former and closer. Both enabled an Australian onion producer to switch to eco-friendly paperboard. The producer opted for glued recycled paperboard topload cartons with cutout parts at the top. The perforated parts are not only a design element, but they also serve as handles, allowing end consumers to safely carry the bulk onions.

The Kliklok ACE Topload Former was the best fit to realise this style, as it can form lock-style and glue-style cartons on the same machine, offering the manufacturer full flexibility for future projects. To bolster customers’ sustainability endeavors, Syntegon developed the ACE to run paperboard or corrugated material. The Kliklok Vari-Right, in turn, supported the customer in closing the cartons. Keeping the cartons’ shape as they traveled through the machine proved challenging, as the recycled paperboard was thinner and less rigid than most other cartons. The topload closer’s lug system, however, helped to safely guide the cartons through the various closing stations, while rollers ensure tight glue seals.

Syntegon has been supplying the industry with suitable technology for years. The ACE Topload Former supports the packaging of trayed and flow wrapped cookies, biscuits or other trayable products. Besides its ability to erect a wide variety of lock-style and glue-style cartons on the same machine, the ACE now supports lock-style forming of paper trays with product compartments.

This enables manufacturers to replace conventional plastic trays for cookies or bars with eco-friendly paperboard trays. Backed by a Syntegon flow wrapper which can process conventional materials as well as mono-materials or paper, the ACE thus can contribute to an effective, integrated equipment system for sustainable packaging operations. One thing is for sure: companies, just like their consumers, are eager to fully explore sustainable packaging, which is still only at the beginning of a long and fruitful journey.

For further information visit: www.syntegon.com

Integrated solutions

Many cookie manufacturers are considering paperboard trays and recyclable flow wrap film instead. According to a survey conducted by Syntegon together with the industry organization Biscuit People, cookie, biscuit and baked goods producers show a keen interest in paper trays flow-wrapped either with paper or mono-material films. More than half of the respondents prefer an integrated solution to achieve their sustainable packaging goals.

Produce like strawberries and onions can be packed as safely in cartons as in plastic clamshells, polystyrene trays, or plastic bags.

The cookies and cracker industry has found a viable alternative to PET trays with paperboard trays and recyclable flow wrap film.

“ biscuit and baked goods producers show a keen interest in paper trays flow-wrapped either with paper or mono-material films ”

Albéa

Going down the tubes?

Plastic is going down the tubes - literally. Over the last few years, the company has been diligently reducing the plastic content in their caps and developing a new generation of paper-based tubes.

When embarking on the challenging journey towards achieving a net-zero circular economy, eco-considerations should be made at the design stage. However, the big question is, from concept to end-of-life, how can the environmental impact of plastic be overcome, or at least minimised? In practice, when considering these objectives, the main focus must be on using the least fossil-based resources possible, whilst prioritising the use of renewable resources and scrupulously respecting renewal rates.

55% Weight Reduction

Albea told SPN: “For Albéa Tubes, reducing plastic content through weight reduction is a top priority, and is firmly built into our company’s ‘Responsible Product Roadmap’ plans. We took the first important step in 2017 with the development of a specially, eco-designed, range of lightweight plastic caps. The second step came early in 2022, through our dedicated technical innovations. These resulted in our company’s unique, EcoFusion Top. This is a two-in-one “head + cap” specifically designed to make it possible to “visualise” the clear material savings. The fusion of the tube and head together reduces the weight of the tube by as much as 55%1 compared to a standard plastic tube. In addition, there is an equivalent benefit achieved due to the carbon emissions savings. This latest unique, eco-friendly product is made from HDPE, in order to guarantee mono-materiality and optimal recyclability. Furthermore, our two-in-one system is available with various eco-friendly sleeve options for both laminate and our extruded tubes”.

Replacing plastic with paper

In 2019, Albéa started working on a new concept, which was the replacement of plastic with paper. This resulted in the launch of the company’s first paper tube which heralded an impressive reduction from 30% paper content at launch to its 50% paper content today. Moving forward, Albea is taking things one step further.

At this year’s LuxePack expo held in Monaco, the company created another new milestone with its product development of the world’s very first squeezable paper-based bottle currently at the proof-of-concept stage.

This ground-breaking innovative composition by Albea, contains a minimum of 50% FSC-certified paper, excluding cap or pump. In addition, its unique, paper-based web structure reduces plastic content whilst lowering the carbon footprint of its packaging yet further, thus significantly reducing its environmental impact.

For Albea, the journey is far from over. The company is already engaged in the development of even lighter and moresustainable tubes. Albea’s determination to contribute to a net-zero circular economy sets a fine example to all those who are striving to achieve similar such welcome objectives!

Industry 4.0 transforming the future

Industry 4.0 - the fourth industrial revolution with the postmodern namehas ushered in an era of automation, robotics, smart technology, and machine learning as well as the ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ (IIoT). In doing so, it has changed the face of manufacturing forever. What’s more, this digital transformation has emerged at a time of increased public awareness about our relationship with the environment and the need to achieve a sustainable, circular economy.

Climate change is now almost impossible to ignore and consumers are less willing to spend their money with companies they consider to be a threat to the environment.

These changes present a unique set of challenges for the packaging industry. With every seismic change, however, there also comes opportunities, and companies with their finger on the pulse can reap the benefits. Leveraging Industry 4.0 tech can help iron out inefficiencies, save energy costs, reduce emissions, and bring added value to customers on a scale never seen before..

From the desk of SPN’s European correspondent: Steven Gislam

Going active

The proliferation of technologies like QR codes and near-field communication has made smart packaging ever more relevant for brands and consumers alike. While the term refers to any tech that boosts the functions and benefits of packaging, it can be broken down into two broad categories:

Active packaging, designed to optimise the quality of a product by directly interacting with the contents, often by adding an active component. Common applications for this include extending a product’s shelf life. For example, some companies install an oxygen absorber in PET bottles to maintain the freshness of the drink inside, even after longer periods.

Connected packaging, which brings direct added value for consumers by encouraging interaction. For example, including a QR code on a milk carton enables smartphone users to trace the product back to the farm it came from. QR codes can also provide nutritional information or give customers access to other content like recipe ideas or competitions.

Smart packaging has opened the way to intelligent packaging, which further integrates added value by expanding communication options between products and consumers. Intelligent packaging will detect the quality of the product within and make that information available to devices.

But it’s not just the packaging that’s getting smarter, the factories that produce them are too. Companies are looking to manufacture increasingly wider varieties of products, while also responding to changes in consumer demand. This means flexibility is essential - which is where Industry 4.0 comes in.

In recent years, smart automation has been rolled out across the sector. Whether collaborative, fixed or mobile, robotics technology accelerates operations and increases precision, thus cutting down on waste and boosting efficiency.

Smart automation tackles some of the major issues facing many packaging companies such as machine bottlenecks, lengthy changeovers, and unplanned downtime. By utilising connected data analysis it can help identify the causes of inefficiencies and mitigate them through solutions such as preventative maintenance and closed-loop manufacturing. Not only is smart automation beneficial for the company’s bottom line, but it also helps increase sustainability.

“ Through using QR codes, consumer data is then driven back, allowing companies to respond to their customers more attentively and rapidly than ever ”

‘Digital Twinning’ driving flexibility

In recent years, like all industries, the packaging sector has come under mounting pressure to cut waste, increase sustainability, and reduce its impact on the environment. It’s a trend unlikely to change as a younger generation of eco-conscious digital natives begins entering the workplace, earning their own salaries, and becoming consumers in their own right. This is a generation less concerned about low prices and far more focused on sustainability, and one that is aware of the democratic power a purchase has. Companies that are unwilling or unable to adapt to this change in consumer demand will likely see this reflected in ever decreasing sales.

Through leveraging smart automation and artificial intelligence, packaging companies can make better use of more eco-friendly resources like bioplastics and recycled materials, for which demand is increasing but come with their own set of challenges for manufacturers.

Digital twinning is another technology intrinsically linked to Industry 4.0. It can allow a company to test a range of scenarios on their machines before even switching the power on. This tech starts at the design stage and brings with it the flexibility to trial new packaging materials, boost recyclability and cut waste in a virtual environment, without the need for trial and error in the real world.

Furthermore, smart automation utilises AI-based tools to ascertain emissions data. This not only covers direct Scope 1 emissions, but all those along the supply chain. By representing a digital twin in the IIoT, emissions modelling is simplified. Once a baseline has been calculated, the smart factory can utilise predictive maintenance and optimisation to bring its carbon footprint down. The same tools can be implemented to improve a factory’s energy usage, pinpointing where inefficiencies are occurring, and where savings can be made.

Data is key

The technological potential of Industry 4.0 offers a myriad of benefits for the packaging sector. The most important resource underlying these benefits, however, is data, and its correct integration is central to the smart factory.

A smart factory utilises connected devices, machinery, and production systems to collect and share data continuously. This data can then be used to inform decisions and address any issues that may arise. With this constant flow of digital data between technologies, smart automation systems are connected to the physical and digital worlds and monitor the entire production process from supply chain to machinery to the workers on the factory floor right down to the finished product.

Through using QR codes, consumer data is then driven back, allowing companies to respond to their customers more attentively and rapidly than ever.

Fantastic 5.0

While many are still getting to grips with the fourth industrial revolution, some are already envisaging what its successor will look like. Industry 5.0 is set to forge these data-driven solutions even further. Where 4.0 was driven by the convergence of the cyber and the physical, enabled by the IIoT, creating an intelligent supply chain and smart mass-customised products, 5.0 brings humans back into the equation, with an increased focus on user experience, the hyper-customisation of interactive products and a highly responsive supply chain.

The packaging sector has much to gain from embracing these changes, and with the speed of change becoming exponentially faster, the pressure is on for companies of the 21st century to keep up the pace or risk losing out in the longer term.

Sirane

Marsupial magic

The latest smart solution from Sirane is a pouch - with a window, that protects its contents just as compassionately as our Australian pouched-counterparts!!

Sirane’s Earthpouch Duo is a unique, plastic-free pouch with a clear window, that is a stand -up, fully recyclable, pouch – a feature that more and more of Sirane’s customers have been asking for!

Peter Ralten, Sirane’s Chief Commercial Officer, told SPN: “The Earthpouch is a great packaging solution and a huge step forward when it comes to the sustainability and integrity of packaging pouches. It is paper-based, which means it can easily be recycled in the everyday paper-recycling stream.

In addition, some of our customers like to see their product clearly visible inside the pouch. Using paper, this proved to be quite a challenge, although since looking at all the options and following our rigorous programme of research and testing, we have now achieved this elusive goal! Our new ‘Earthpouch product is a paper-based pouch with an aqueous barrier coating, which allows the pouch to be heat-sealed. The Earthpouch Duo is the latest version of this pouch, which we have now made commercially available”.

SPN also learned that these latest Pouches from Sirane can be supplied either plain or custom printed. Accordingly, only water-based inks are used throughout the printing process with no solvents involved at any stage of production. Sirane also confirmed that windows can be specifically tailored to suit any shape or size and can be located both at the front and back of each pouch.

Sirane manufactures a range of bags & pouches, bio-degradable, bio-compostable, boards, and protective materials for a number of food, medical, industrial and horticultural applications. Sirane is based in the UK in Telford, Shropshire and recently opened an additional facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, offering pouch conversions.

For more informaton on Sirane visit: www.sirane.com/en/

Pouches – all sorted!

Implemented in collaboration with the National Test Centre Circular Plastics (NTCP) in the Netherlands, these tests, simulating realistic packaging waste management conditions, were designed to determine the sortability of Mondi’s recyclable mono PP packaging.

Using state of the art technical set-ups, the tests were carried out on pre-made retort and standard pouches, spouted pouches, and top web and thermoformed semi-rigid tray material. These are made from mono PP-material and used for demanding applications that require a high barrier protection, such as wet pet food or processed meat

SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION GET ON BOARD WITH SP GROUP

Recently, when tested, Mondi’s mono-material retort pouches evidence most effective when sorting during recycling. Mondi, a global leader in packaging and paper, has carried out a series of stringent tests to prove its mono-material polypropylene (PP) pouches and rollstock material can be sorted more efficiently into their appropriate recycling streams.

Tri-Sure/Greif

Achieving Eco-Balance

In the highly specialised field of caps and closures, there are few companies that stand out from the crowd more than Tri-Sure. Now part of Greif, it is celebrating 100 years of progress. The company has consistently been one of the front-runners in its commitment to sustainability. Tri-Sure explained to SPN the significance of its longevity and groundbreaking technological achievements.

“Companies are facing increased pressure from external stakeholders such as their customers, competitors, regulatory bodies and investors to improve their environmental impact,” explains Dale Taylor, Global Product Development Manager for Closures at Greif. “There is a growing requirement for companies to set sustainability targets, report progress and work with sustainable suppliers. Single-use plastic and imposed taxes in some countries are now in place or in the process of being implemented, resulting in an increased focus on eliminating waste and developing circular solutions. Innovations at Tri-Sure are clearly set around sustainable alternatives.”

Meeting the carbon-black challenge

Earlier this year, Tri-Sure announced the launch of the Plasticap-60™, a plastic screw cap free of carbon black for use with Greif jerrycans, in response to the ongoing black plastic recycling challenge. Undetectable by recycling facilities using near-infrared (NIR) technology, conventional black plastics containing carbon black colorants are challenging to recycle and often end up in landfills. This new packaging material uses an alternative black color that does not contain carbon.

End-of-life solution

Recently the company launched its EcoBalance™ closures produced with 100 percent PCR resin from recycled containers that are no longer suitable for reconditioning. The closures come in two varieties - the SambaCap™ for steel drums and the Push-Lock™ cap for fiber and plastic drums. Internal calculations show the closures may reduce carbon emissions by up to 45 percent when compared to standard plastic caps.

Tri-Sure’s “EcoBalance caps provide an end-of-life solution to plastic that is no longer suitable for reconditioning, but can be recycled, diverting waste from landfill and reducing use of virgin plastics,” continues Taylor. “EcoBalance caps demonstrate our commitment to making sustainable improvements across our product lines that support a closedloop system for recycling material and reducing waste, while maintaining the high levels of quality our customers expect. Innovation, successful collaboration and a strong customercentric approach is essential in helping customers address strategic challenges like sustainability and understand the unique needs of the market.”

Throughout the development and expansion of Tri-Sure, the company has held onto the same values. Providing customer service excellence has always been at the core of the business. Local customer needs are supported by global experience in delivering innovative, sustainable customer solutions.

“ carbon black colorants are challenging to recycle and often end up in landfills ”

Keeping tethered-caps on ice Affaba & Ferrari

A leading multinational beverage manufacturer has chosen new IP23 tethered caps from Affaba & Ferrari™ for its global Iced-Tea brand. Caps and bottles are now inseparable thanks to an impending directive set by the EU for tethered caps to remain permanently attached to a bottle after opening and during use. By 2004 tethered caps must be widely available for consumers across Europe.

cycling facilities using near-infrared (NIR) technology, conventional black plastics containing carbon black colorants are challenging to recycle and often end up in landfills. This new packaging material uses an alternative black color that does not contain carbon.

The aim of the new directive is to prevent unintended environmental waste and facilitate the recycling of caps and closures alongside their containers. A multinational beverage manufacturer shares the EU’s commitment and has introduced tethered caps from Affaba & Ferrari™, an innovative TriMas Packaging brand, for its iced tea brand.

EU directive

In July 2024, the EU directive on tethered caps will be coming into full force. It states that caps must be firmly attached to disposable beverage containers, including composite packaging such as beverage cartons with a volume of up to three litres. The goal is to encourage the collection and recycling of caps together with the bottle and prevent environmental pollution, at times caused by discarded caps.

A leading global beverage manufacturer shares the EU’s views and is strongly committed to protecting the environment. The company has set the goal of reducing the impact of its bottles on the environment, while offering its customers an opportunity to enjoy their drinks sustainably. With Affaba & Ferrari’s™ new 1P23 tethered cap, the established beverage manufacturer has found the perfect solution to meet the upcoming directive as well as its own sustainability goals.

Win-win situation

Affaba & Ferrari™ specialises in the production of precision caps and closures used in food, beverage, agrochemical and industrial applications. Its latest product, the tethered cap, supports companies in meeting their sustainability goals. “Bottle caps can in fact be recycled but they are often lost, discarded or simply end up as waste. The design of our tethered caps goes a long way toward ensuring this will no longer occur,” explains Guglielmo Ferrari, Plant Manager at Affaba & Ferrari™.

The new tethered cap closure is attached to a safety ring through a tab which enables an ideal opening position, allowing the consumer to easily drink out of the bottle, while guaranteeing that it cannot separate from the container and be discarded. Additionally, the innovative, lightweight cap with a horizontal hinge is suitable for aseptic filling and is fully customisable to enhance the customer’s brand identity.

PACKAGING SERVICES

MOLDS

LINE CONVERSION

The one-stop-shop partner providing sustainable packaging solutions for all lines.

“ the company has set the goal of reducing the impact of its bottles on the environment ”

Cutting back on Plastic Elopak

Although the packaging industry plays an important role in reducing food waste and ensuring products reach consumers safely, it is also a major source of plastic waste. The UN estimates that over one million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and over half of all plastic products are thrown away after just one use, with roughly 400 million tonnes of plastic waste produced each year.

Diverse options

So, what options do companies have to cut back on the amount of plastic they use in their packaging and prevent this environmental burden from being passed on to consumers?

One alternative is beverage cartons. Beverage cartons are a natural and convenient alternative to plastic bottles that fit within a low-carbon, circular economy. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies have shown that these cartons, which are based primarily on paperboard, contribute to fewer greenhouse gas emissions and have a lower carbon footprint than plastic bottles.

For instance, a May 2021 LCA conducted for fresh milk and juice packaging in North America found that cartons have a 32% smaller carbon footprint than HDPE bottles and 60% smaller than PET. By choosing to package liquid food such as juice and milk in beverage cartons rather than plastic bottles, companies empower consumers to make more sustainable, climate-conscious decisions that cut down on emissions.

Beverage cartons offer less materials

Of course, the reason plastics are so ubiquitous in t packaging industry is because they are convenient and help to maintain product integrity. Even beverage cartons, though based mainly on paperboard, use plastics for things like screw caps so that consumers can reseal a product when they are not using it.

Elopak is consistently working to reduce the amount of materials used in its cartons – both in terms of plastics and paperboard, in order to minimise their impact on the environment.

These days, most people take a conscientious approach towards the amount of plastic they use. Almost every day newspapers are filled with stories about how harmful it is for the environment and how long it takes to degrade once it’s been thrown away.

In 2021, Elopak launched the Pure-TwistFlip™ tethered cap, the smallest version of which is Elopak’s lightest screwcap to-date. Less weight means less plastic and thus a smaller carbon footprint, while still maintaining convenience.

Furthermore, tethered caps are designed to stay attached to the carton throughout its entire lifecycle, ensuring that they are disposed of properly. This is in accordance with the EU directive on single-use packaging.

Building on sustainability

By building on the sustainable, low carbon and low-plastic solution that beverage cartons offer, Elopak provides companies with a variety of packaging options ensuring product safety and consumer convenience. Ultimately, it is this variety of choice which allows all companies to find a plasticslashing solution that best suits their needs and the needs of consumers.

As an alternative solution, Elopak helps companies and consumers to cut back on their use of plastics by offering cartons without plastic closures. The Pure-Pak® Imagine carton, which was introduced in 2020, is Elopak’s most environmentally friendly carton to date and is designed without a screw cap. Instead, it has an easy-to-open funnel feature resulting in 46% less plastic than a conventional carton and ten times less plastic than a PET bottle.

“ Elopak helps companies and consumers to cut back on their use of plastics by offering cartons without plastic closures ”

KURZ

Cold-transfer brilliance

Currently commercial print jobs, magazines and wet-adhesive labels are predominantly finished with cold-transfer decorations via sheet-fed printing. They provide a brilliant gloss finish, as well as offering great performance and an excellent price-performance ratio. SPN has discovered that the latest from Kurz, the KPS SX+ offers high quality, optimal process stability by matching customised cold-transfer designs with a substrate by means of a special adhesive.

Furthermore, when it comes to improving sustainability, the company’s Recosys® process, is the first in the world to make it possible for any transfer-residue films to be recycled. Here the story is taken up by Kurz: “With its extended production window, KPS SX+ masters the balance between design diversity and technical possibilities, plus free’s you from the costly constraints of several products for different finishes. This quality is suitable for conventional systems, as well as UV systems in terms of adhesives and colours, for different substrates, food packaging and foil saving units, for both large-scale and delicate motifs.

“ KPS SX+ masters the balance between design diversity and technical possibilities ”

Clear advantages

From the technical and economic point of view, there is a significant reduction in production costs. Stable, high quality production quality, design flexibility and an easy to set-up Plug-and-Play process. In addition, the process optimises material resources.

Broad-spectrum design

Processed with the right consumables, the new KPS SX+ embellishment is also ideal for jobs where laminates are to be replaced:

High gloss level

High opacity

Advanced design possibilities, from large-scale to delicate

Flexible overprinting

Works optimally on all cold transfer units

For all adhesives/color systems: UV, oxidationconventional, low-migration

For a wide selection of substrates

High-scoring Sustainability

The Kurz KPS SX+ not only meets global requirements, it also does not affect the automatic sorting process, nor the packaging de-inkability or composting processes. This means that the end product remains recyclable and de-inkable. In fact, what really makes the difference is that as with all transfer products from Kurz, no film or laminate remains on the surface of the finished product, simply extremely thin layers of coating. In addition to this, the KPS series is qualified as KPS RECO+ for the KURZ PET recycling program RECOSYS®. This return and recycling system re-processes a valuable raw material from used PET carriers.

RECOSYS® is the world’s first process that makes it possible for Kurz transfer film residues to be recycled. The system can be used to produce both recyclables and monomers for PET polymerisation. This converts residual transfer products into a high-quality injection molding material called RECOPOUND®.

Announcing ‘KPS Slim’

KPS slim (patent pending): Provides premium Cold Transfer on 6 µm with First-Class Sustainability Benefits. With this latest development we are raising our sustainability bar yet further. In order to match our wafer-thin metallisation layers, we have now significantly slimmed down the transfer-carrier for our cold transfer decoration. In this way, we are reducing the PET carrier thickness of our decoration product by a huge 50%. In turn, this means more running meters on one roll, fewer reel changes, and therefore less downtime and faster set-up times. All-in-all, the PET is only a carrier material and is not applied to your print sheets. What remains on your packaging is a brilliant gloss, even on complex surfaces. KPS slim is optimal for challenging designs and fine gradations.

It scores clear points when it comes to the special features of demanding surfaces: In the case of structured material, the thin carrier lies optimally in the structure and thus achieves good decoration opacity, which would not be possible with 12 µm.

With a difficult material, it is the detachability of the coating from the carrier that makes it possible to decorate successfully, without affecting the sheet quality (depending on blanket and adhesive).

Premium Performance means….

•

Maximum process safety and efficiency

• Reduced adhesive consumption

• Higher opacity

• More gloss

• Extremely high design flexibility

• Even half tones/gradations with just one product (depending on the printing blanket)

• High speed

• Better transfer to difficult substrates

• Improved edge definition

•

Fewer reel changes

Premium sustainability

•

More running meters on one roll

•

Lower weight with the same running meters

• Less waste and decreased disposal costs

• Thinner PET carrier

•

Reduced carbon footprint

Kurz cold transfer for sheet-fed offset printing provides unrivalled impact at the Point-of-Sale (POS). Whether inline or offline, our products perform optimally with sheet-fed offset printing. Plus: Kurz cold transfer has substantially widened the spectrum of design possibilities, thus enabling metallic gloss designs to be produced that would rarely be achievable to a comparable level of brilliance by any other means”.

KHS

Quick-change artist

The art of achieving, high-speed, fully-automated quick-change lines for beverage varieties, has finally been perfected by the Dortmund company KHS.

With the number of SKUs on the increase, many bottlers of water and soft drinks are calling for complete line changeovers that take minutes and not hours to turn-around. With the company’s latest InnoPET iflex system this leading Dortmund company is coming ever closer to achieving its goal.

Beverage producers today face a growing number of challenges, particularly with regard to the filling and packaging of their products. Today consumers are becoming ever-more environmentally aware and demanding ‘green’ packaging that has as little impact as possible on climate-change, whilst expecting this to be convenient, safe and inexpensive. End-users also want to be able to choose from an increasingly diverse range of beverages and packaging styles

The resulting on-going rise in item variety, means that beverage producers need to frequently change-over their production lines. This naturally affects the overall equipment efficiency (OEE) and often costs bottlers a lot of time and money – this should also seen against a background of increasing regulation and growing economic pressures. On the one hand, the beverage industry is subject to strict provisions governing the avoidance of plastic waste, the recycling of containers and secondary packaging, as well as the reduction of carbon emissions. On the other hand, it needs to boost efficiency and productivity in order to cut operating and personnel costs – ideally by using technical equipment that is easy to operate.

Modular automation concept

This is where KHS comes in with its new InnoPET iflex, a modular automation concept that was initially developed for PET lines that had a large number of SKUs. Now with fast, reliable and reproducible changeovers, it significantly boosts OEE.

If no changes to the bottle neck, thread or label type need to be made, formats can be switched over from one SKU to another in 30 minutes – including running the system empty and starting it up again (example for non-returnable PET line with an InnoPET TriBlock stretch blow molder/labeler/filler block and two operators).

A simple product changeover can even be performed within ten minutes if required. These figures apply to outputs of up to 50,000 bottles per hour holding between 330 millilitres and 1.5 litres of still or carbonated beverage.

With the iflex option from KHS, up to 80% of all manual line conversion tasks are superfluous. Some process steps already require virtually no operator intervention at all. Full automation wouldn’t be economically viable here, meaning that some tasks are either semi-automatic, or carried out by hand as in the past. This means that KHS systems save a total of 3.5 operator hours during format changeovers all the way down the line down the line.

This is facilitated by machine options that are carefully co-ordinated with one another and whose degree of automation has been specially optimised to yield shorter changeover times. Parallel to this, supporting software solutions ensure that changeover routines are documented and can be faithfully reproduced by the operator at any given time.

Solidus

A break-through Solid-Board solutions

This new fibre-based Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) tray solution from Solidus is is 100% recyclable and uses up to 80% less plastic. This is a significant breakthrough in retail packaging as traditionally, this style of packaging used for meat, fish, and ready meals and relies heavily on plastic.

As Europe’s leading sustainable fibre-based packaging provider for food, beverage, and consumer goods, we’re passionate about finding new ways to reduce and rethink the use of plastic. At our Experience Centre in Spain, we asked, why can’t we turn the plastic MAP tray into a solid board solution?

The Experience Centre is a space where customers can interact with our experts and exchange knowledge, thus enabling the creation of more effective packaging solutions. As a result, we went on to develop a fibre-based packaging concept for consumer use which replaces plastic containers. The process was fast, the packaging fit-for-purpose and, thanks to our testing equipment, resistant to damage during storage and distribution.

“ the plastic film is easily separated so that it’s fibre-based tray can fully be recycled after use ”

Not only are these fibre-based MAP trays a viable and sustainable solution to plastic, but they are also compatible with current plastic packaging machines, meaning they lower the hurdle to transition away from plastic. The plastic film is easily separated so that it’s fibre-based tray can fully be recycled after use.

As a circular business which transforms recycled paper into solid board, we’re passionate about working with our customers and partners to develop sustainable packaging solutions. When it comes to finding alternatives to plastic packaging, we’re committed to driving innovation to further reduce packaging waste.

Thanks to the amazing results we have already seen in Spain, we’ve recently opened another Experience Centre in Belgium to continue this work and are preparing a third one at one of our sites in the UK, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.

In another arena, Berry Global is helping McCormick lower its carbon footprint and push toward Purpose-Led Performance Sustainability Goals. This is in order to help advance their commitment to achieving 100% recyclable packaging, that can also be repurposed, or reused, McCormick is joining with packaging and plastics industry leader, Berry Global (NYSE: BERY). The collaboration leverages Berry’s expertise and access to mechanically recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET). The new McCormick Assorted and Neon Food Colour bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic and will begin appearing on shelves across North America this month.

Courtesy Solidus Solutions

A certificate to elevate food-contact plastic products above the competition by guaranteeing both their functionality and food safety for reuse.

BENEFITS OF CERTIFICATION

Manufacturer

It presents a competitive advantage over the competition due to the security and transparency it provides.

Consumer

It guarantees the consumer that they are purchasing a product that is both food safe and functional.

Society

It promotes reuse and contributes to the reduction of waste generation and its impact on the environment.

SCAN for more info

Watttron

Innovation for moulded pulp packaging

A new and innovative, cera2heat matrix heater now offers packaging companies a unique combination of high-temperature precision and unrivalled accuracy. This makes it possible for the first time, to process materials that until now were difficult, or virtually impossible to process. For example, mono-materials, recyclates and bio-based compositions or films. The latest white paper

Watttron explained to SPN the background technology to the cera2heat matrix heater and its advanced sustainability benefits: “With the signals of climate change getting ever stronger, the increasing environmental awareness and emerging protest against plastic pollution are major driving forces for creating plastic or plasticised packaging alternatives.

One of the sustainable options is the moulded fibre pack, as this is made of renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable paper fibres. The main challenge of any moulded fibre packaging is the lack of barrier protection against liquids, which makes them unsuitable for drink or food. Despite numerous research projects from reputable companies, there is still no adequate liquid barrier available for moulded fibre packaging.

However, there are different options available for creating a liquid barrier. These are mainly with the application of a layer of plastic film inside the cups. Another option is spraying a plastic coating inside the cup. However, this means that the coating and the cup cannot be separated after use, thereby making the cups unsuitable for recycling and also unbiodegradable.

Furthermore, the existing laminating processes can’t prevent the laminating film becoming unacceptably thin in the deep drawn process areas, allowing the fibres of the moulded pulp to puncture the film and creating a leak within the barrier. Using thicker film to compensate for these punctures is also not a consideration due to cost implications and would make the film extremely hard to separate for recycling purposes.

Production challenges

In addition, the following challenges connected with the existing production processes are worth noting:

• Heating of the thin film using radiation heating is ineffective as the heat is passing through the film.

• The machine complexity is increased due to the necessity of using plug assistance.

• Forming with a plug assistance is aggravated due to the small thermal mass of the film which results in cooling the film below the processing temperature or – in case of a heated plug – sticking to the plug itself.

The benefits

With the recently developed cera2heat digital heating technology, it is possible to laminate a very thin (80 - 150 µm) layer of plastic film inside the cups during the production to provide the necessary barrier for liquids and food products. Due to the unique nature of the digital lamination, this plastic film has the same thickness in the whole cup and can therefore easily be separated by the consumer. The result is a fully recyclable cup with the additional advantage of the thermal insulation of the paper fibres against hot drinks, something which a standard plastic cup does not provide.

Moreover, the cera2heat technology offers the following practical benefits:

• Perfect material distribution that allows adhesion up to the bottom corner- without plug assistance

• Greatly reduced heating times compared with existing radiation heating processes

• Less machine complexity, affording a simpler process-flow

• Allowing the processing of materials with small processing windows such as, (PP, rPP, rPET)

• Significant energy saving

from watttron provides further new sustainability drivers and reveals some ground-breaking process advantages.

Figure 1

cera2heat matrix round heater (type

MRHS-07-00-13S0)

Figure 2

Applied temperature profile with colder inner part and hot outside ring.

Individual programming and control

A cera2heat matrix heater consists of locally arranged and independently controllable heating pixels. The target temperature of each heating pixel can be individually programmed and controlled. Due to the operating principle, the cera2heat matrix heaters are characterised by both high-temperature precision and accuracy, thereby offering the possibility of processing materials that were previously knowingly difficult to process – such as mono-materials, recyclates, bio-based materials or films with layer-jumps.

By independently adjusting the temperature distribution, the visco-plastic behaviour of the thermoplastics to be processed, can be controlled perfectly as intended. This enables the physically controllable properties of the end-product or manufacturing process – such as air or liquid tightness, wall thickness distribution or heating time, can be achieved.

In order to demonstrate the unique possibility to laminate a plastic film into a paper cup, the following settings were made:

•

Two matrix-round-heaters in a sandwich mode with 61 independently controllable heating pixels (Figure 1)

•

Moulded fibre cup with a diameter of 70 mm and depth of 75 mm

•

Heating times of approx. 500 ms

•

Formed using vacuum-only applied through the cup

•

Laminating film made of mono PE material with the thickness of 120 µm

•

Temperature profile as depicted on Figure 2

An exemplary forming result is depicted on Figure 3. It can be seen that the forming of the polymer film is formed up to the bottom of the cup and it is firmly connected with the cup. The thinnest spot in the middle bottom part of the cup is 35 µm. When comparing with the homogenous heating and forming without stamp it is 3.5 times thicker.

Sabic

Full Circle for Feedstock

Recently SABIC launched its blockchain pilot for digital traceability of certified circular Trucircle™ feedstock. The company’s consortium blockchain pilot project, is the result of collaboration with technology company Finboot, recycling pioneer Plastic Energy, and packaging specialist Intraplás. The project is designed to create additional transparency and digital traceability for certified circular feedstock used in SABIC’s Trucircle™ solutions.

SABIC, a global leader in the chemicals industry, has launched a pilot project with technology company Finboot, advanced recycling pioneer Plastic Energy, and packaging specialist Intraplás to investigate the possibilities of blockchain technology in supporting end-to-end digital traceability of circular feedstock in customer products.

Going Further

Tracing the journey of feedstock through the complex petrochemical value chain is currently a difficult undertaking. To improve this process and support the delivery of its circular feedstock to customers – part of Sabic’s Trucircle™ portfolio and services –, SABIC has launched this pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of using a blockchain-based, value-chain IT application. Sabic’s is the first project of its kind in the industry to trace the product from feedstock production to converter. Thus going further than previous industry applications of blockchain in end-to-end tracing. The platform offers reduced costs, time and improved data integration for all value chain partners.

Sabic’s Certified Renewable Polypropylene

Another of the key benefits of blockchain technology in the delivery of more sustainable solutions lies in its ability to validate sustainability proof points and organisations’ ESG credentials. This is of significant benefit to all members of the value chain, including external parties, as it reduces the administrative efforts associated with the certification process of materials. It is also a more reliable process, due to the reduced risk of human error.

Transformation of the value chain

Waleed Al-Shalfan, Vice President Polymers Technology & Innovation at Sabic, said: “At Sabic, we have a deep commitment to innovation and technology that can help us to deliver more sustainable solutions to our customers. Our vision to create a circular economy for plastics requires a total transformation of the value chain, and pioneering partnerships with partners both upstream and downstream. Blockchain technology holds exciting potential for the provision of our TRUCIRCLE products to customers, and therefore for our commitment to supporting customers in their sustainability ambitions.”

Carlos Monreal, Founder and CEO of Plastic Energy commented, “As a company who has developed our own innovative technology, we at Plastic Energy are excited to explore the opportunities that new technologies like blockchain can offer. This pilot has the potential to make a big impact in the value-chain, providing a new level of traceability and transparency for recycled plastics, and demonstrating how advanced recycling can play a valuable role in the circular economy of plastics.”

SPN. More proof if it were needed, that collaboration is the often the key to progress and innovation!

Wether it is inhouse, postconsumer, bottle or chemical recycling: closing the loop in a precise and profitable way if machines are perfectly tuned for the respective application. Choose the number one technology from EREMA when doing so: over 6500 of our machines and systems produce around 14.5 million tonnes of highquality pellets like this every year – in a highly efficient and energy-saving way.

“ Our vision to create a circular economy for plastics requires a total transformation of the value chain ”

Three Trucircle™ grades for the Automotive industry