Leading tech companies are taking new steps in recycling plastic
Plastic has become one of the most dangerous materials impacting the natural environment. According to a study released by MacArthur Foundation, merely 14 percent of the plastic packaging used globally makes its way to recycling plants, while 40 percent ends up in the landfill and only 1/3 in fragile ecosystems.
By 2050, it is estimated there will be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans.
New solution
The problem is a big concern for the technologies companies plastic packaging industry, new ways to expand the life of this material and to explore recyclability properties being taken recently by a consortium of leading technology companies, comprising of Bobst, Borealis, Erema and Henkel.
Recent developments in the field of plastic packaging material created a brand-new barrier solution for fully recyclable monomaterial, suitable for flexible food packaging. A demonstration of the new material was presented at an event hosted by Gea Group Aktiengesellschaft using the GEA SmartPacker CX400.
Big step forward
Industry leaders consider the monomaterial structure to become a trend setter in the near future as the current structures cannot be recycled because of the use of mixed polymers in the structure.
The Full PE Laminate solution by Borealis and Borouge is a step-change concept in flexible plastic packaging. It is based on the proprietary Borstar Bimodal Polyethylene (PE) Technology in combination with machine direction oriented (MDO) processing technology.
Packaging solutions of The Full PE Laminate are as efficient in terms of performance as other flexible packaging structures and serve as 100 percent substitutes for multi-material film solutions in pouches and packs. Most compellingly, the recyclate gained from The Full PE Laminate packs can be used for valuable end products with no loss in efficiency, and can even be used to produce PE film products.
Moreover, the new material was tested by Gea Group experts who were entrusted with the adapting the SmartPacker CX400 Quatro Seal for use with the new film material and the conclusion were more than satisfactory.
“We managed to adjust our pack line for the flexible PE film so that we can now work in continuous mode without a loss of speed or efficiency. The Full PE laminate runs well on GEA two-line with rubber in-lay seal profiles – special profile”, declared Jacques Timmermans, product application specialist at GEA.
Economical packaging
The Full PE laminate is considered to have a crucial role in economical packaging production as the material costs during the production of packaging account for about 80 percent of the total production costs.
The recycling can be handled in-house by the packaging producer or by recyclers using this industrial production waste. In the case of monomaterial solutions, the respective repellets can be used for a broader field of applications in the next product life.
Also, post-consumer recycling tests made on the new packaging material have shown that the large majority of the tested sheets were recognized as film and sorted out in a fraction that is being sold to specialized PP/PE film recyclers.
These recyclers are currently suffering from the loss in yield and quality due to the presence of multi-layer packaging in the film fraction. The quality of the multilayer packaging waste fraction is significantly increasing by incorporation of the Full PE laminate, according to experts from SUEZ Rotterdam sorting plant, where the tests were carried.
(Photo source: Gea)
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