THIN-WALL MOULDING | TECHNOLOGY


Thin-wall packaging benefits are still stacking up


Despite the hostile public environment for plastics packaging, injection moulders can continue to progress in their pursuit of thin-walled packaging excellence thanks to technology improvements.Peter Mapleston reports


As we reach a tipping point in the use and abuse of plastics packaging, the production of thin-walled parts is taking on heightened significance. Is it a force for good or bad? Will thin-wall packaging help reduce the amount of waste or will it serve to reinforce the popular image of plastics packaging as throw-away products? Probably both. In any case, the plastics packaging industry is in a delicate situation. The Circular Economy dominated much of the discussion at the Thin Wall Packaging 2018 confer- ence organised by Injection World publisher AMI in Cologne, Germany in December. Talks from materi- als suppliers, machinery makers, packaging produc- ers and major supermarket chains variously empha- sised the need to reduce and contain waste, and to increase massively the level of recycling as well as the amount of recyclate that is used in packaging. These arguments are in large part a response to


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actual and threatened legislation covering single-use packaging and packaging waste, and to a growing wave of anti-plastics sentiment from consumers, NGOs and pressure groups. Technology suppliers clearly need to pay close


attention to what is happening down the supply chain. “Material preferences are driven by current recycling infrastructure,” said Paul Earnshaw, Packaging Manager with Tesco in the UK, at the AMI conference. That puts plastics like polyolefins and PET in Tesco’s list of preferred materials, but polystyrene, PVC, polycarbonate, and acrylic get the red light – as do oxy-degradable materials, biopolymers that are only industrially compostable, and even PLA. Tesco plans to stop using such mate- rials this year. Martyna Fong, Unit Manager – Packaging at AMI


Consulting, who co-chaired the event, believes the heightened sustainability agenda will drive


January/February 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 27


Main image: Thin-walled plant pots with a flow path: wall thickness ratio of 331:1 were manufac- tured at Fakuma using a Netstal Elios 4500-2900 machine


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