Taking care about sustainability

Research & Development

Despite all the necessary developments for the recycling economy, Brückner Maschinenbau is also sticking to its ambitious goals for a further decrease in the use of raw materials and ever lower energy consumption in film production. Despite all justified demands for recycling and reusability, the challenge of climate change and the reduction of the carbon footprint within the entire packaging value chain must not be forgotten.

But of course, Brückner Maschinenbau researches and develops regarding the recyclability of films and the applicability of regranulates in film production. The cooperation with other participants of the value chain - from raw material suppliers to packaging and product manufacturers to recyclers - is essential. Materials research is carried out in Brückner’s own technology center.

Monomaterial packaging

Since flexible packaging is often printed directly instead of being labelled, Brückner Maschinenbau - like all other companies in the Brückner Group - is part of the PRINTCYC project, which is investigating the effect of printing inks on the recycling process together with other participants in the value chain. Special ink types reduce negative odor or outgassing and have the potential to significantly improve the quality of the recycled material.

Another focus of research is the production of coated and uncoated mono-material films with excellent mechanical and optical properties that can replace previous multilayer films made of different materials. They are ideal for use in new packaging that is as homogeneous as possible and guarantee good sorting in waste separation and best recyclability. Exemplary here are completely new line concepts for the production of BOPE films (biaxially oriented polyethylene).
 

Modifications 

With modifications and specific updates, Brückner Servtec ensures that the latest products in terms of film types and materials can also be produced on existing lines. Due to the developments in cooperation with Brückner Maschinenbau, two major projects for an improved circular economy could recently be implemented, among others.

As mono-material films are becoming increasingly important, customers need appropriate equipment. For the films to have the same properties as multilayer films, the individual layers are treated with coatings (coating by vapor deposition), for example. A customer in Turkey had carried out successful trials with a PE film from Brückner's technical center, which he subsequently had metallized with a wafer-thin layer of aluminum oxide to achieve the desired barrier effect. Thereupon, Brückner Servtec upgraded the customer's line so that this step is performed during the stretching process. This saves energy and an additional process step.

"This PE film composite is directly recyclable with a foreign content of less than five percent". Markus Gschwandtner, CEO Brückner Servtec
 

Cooperation along the value chain

Kiefel works with partners along the entire value chain to ensure that reduce - reuse - recycle does not remain just buzzwords. With the aim of closing the loop, Kiefel is working in various projects - together with material manufacturers, customers, etc. - to develop optimized and above all sustainable products and solutions for specific application requirements. This also includes cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institutes in Munich and Leipzig to find the best materials for recyclable or biodegradable products.

"Rethinking is our approach: We question how each product can be rethought in terms of design, functionality, material, composition and process optimization". Matthias Hausmann, Head of Central Development, Kiefel

In a plant park in China, Kiefel worked with several European recycling specialists on site to create a closed cycle for food packaging made of PET. For customers in the USA and Canada, Kiefel helped develop a solution for converting coffee capsules from polystyrene (PS) to more easily recyclable polypropylene (PP), which can fully meet the various technical requirements - including the right density for sink-float separation in the sorting streams.
 

In addition, Kiefel has developed a process to produce food containers and packaging made of natural fibers on its machines.

These high-quality packaging produced with Kiefel Fiber Thermoforming (KFT) can be optimally returned to the cycle via the wastepaper and are used, for example, for electronic equipment. The KFT products can also withstand hot drinks, food or constant moisture.
 

Membership in initiatives

PackSys Global is currently active in two initiatives for circular economy. The Tube Circle is an international consortium that brings together players along the entire value chain to close the loop for tube packaging as completely as possible. First, the reduction of materials is to be promoted. The second is to optimize recyclability and thus mono-material tubes. Currently, many tubes are made of polyethylene and the closures of polypropylene. What advantages would a pure PE or a pure PP tube offer? The third topic is to investigate the use of bio-based materials with the aim of further increasing the sustainability of tubes.

From the CEFLEX project (for flexible plastic packaging), the Plastic Squeeze Tubes initiative, co-founded by PackSys Global, has emerged. It focuses on the development of design guidelines for the recyclability of tubes in Europe and their compatibility in the recycling stream. The challenge is great: recycling streams in Europe are still very diverse and urgently need harmonization and consolidation. Since there are no separate sorting streams for tubes - as for many other types of packaging - the question is also what role the tube components play in the recycling stream.