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PACKAGING A BETTER SEAL FOR SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING
Ed Williams, sales director at ULMA Packaging UK, discusses the paradigm shift required in packaging machinery technology to embrace sustainable forms of packaging
industry uptake of packing machinery needed to service this demand continues to lag. Forms of plastic packaging that cannot be
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easily recycled continue to carry a poor reputation with consumers. Gone are the days where end users were comfortable throwing away unrecyclable plastics, resulting in more sustainable pack methods being developed to help make recycling a simpler task. This sentiment has been supported by research conducted by management consultants McKinsey. Originally content wishing for more convenient eco-friendly methods, the company’s results shows that consumers are now pushing for the phase-out of unrecyclable plastics and replace them with high-quality sustainable methods of packaging. This shift in sentiment has placed a
presumably simple challenge on the packaging industry. Upon the development of a more sustainable wrapping materials, companies would phase the innovation into production and reduce the number of unrecyclable products produced. Not only is the shown change of sentiment a needed incentive for businesses to move to sustainable alternatives, but the introduction of the Plastic Packaging Tax on the 6th of April provided further encouragement. The new legislation now means that businesses must pay £200 per tonne of plastic that contains less than 30% recycled matter. Many companies may soon be discovering that this could quickly become a hefty bill if they don’t evolve to more viable materials.
Sustainable materials Thankfully, the development of mono-material films such as mono-PP or mono-PE laminates has provided a sustainable solution. A fault of multi-layer plastic packaging is that it needs to be stripped apart at specialist locations to make it an eco-friendly alternative. These centres are not readily available, with only 87 in the UK. Mono- material films avoid this issue due to them containing only one type of plastic. This means
he predicted boom of sustainable forms of packaging has received an abundance of support from consumers and brands, but
that these wrappings are a lot simpler for end users to recycle after using the product within. Although there are multiple readily available
material solutions open to the market, many organisations are unable to implement them and satisfy consumers due to incompatible packaging machinery. As a result of mono- material films being made from a single type of plastic, they have a narrower optimal sealing range in comparison to traditional multilayer options.
“ To help businesses
make environmentally- friendly changes, ULMA has launched #ULMAweCare
#ULMAweCare, a pledge to help create and distribute green alternatives for packaging machinery. Innovations under this initiative are developed to help companies meet their sustainability targets. With the narrow optimal sealing range of mono-material films being a known barrier to adopting this sustainable option, packaging technology such as the ULMA BETTER-SEAL have been developed to address this concern. BETTER-SEAL ensures the stability and
Many packaging solutions currently in use
cannot work within this range, meaning businesses will have to update their machinery to make this change a reality. If companies chose to work with mono-material films without the correct machinery, the wrapping would not be properly sealed. The result of this would be the product within becoming compromised and it ultimately being rejected by retailers, directly ensuing in added wastage and costs. This technological set back adds a difficult
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obstacle to the growing need for recyclable wrappings by end users and stakeholders. It is crucial that packaging machinery manufacturers work together with industry to deliver this technology and help facilitate the green transition, not only for consumers but also limit the wider industry’s impact on the environment. To help businesses make environmentally friendly changes, ULMA has launched
accuracy of the temperatures of the machine sealing elements and can be fitted to existing horizontal flow-wrapping machinery, eliminating the expense of buying whole new lines. Thanks to technological advances such as this, businesses are now able to make the transition from unrecyclable plastics to the more sustainable mono-PP or mono-PE laminates.
Creating compatible machinery It is clear that a paradigm shift is required within the packaging industry to help generate the necessary machinery to meet this change of consumer opinion. As more sustainable materials are developed, it falls to the packaging industry to keep up and create compatible machinery that can work with these wrappings. With innovations within the green
packaging space continuing to be made, it falls to the sector to create innovative technology that will ultimately help make businesses sustainable plans a reality. These technological advancements mirror the wants and needs of end users and are a needed step towards more eco-friendly practices that have rapidly gone from a consideration to a priority.
ULMA Packaging
www.ulmapackaging.com
JUNE 2022 | PROCESS & CONTROL 9
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