Tuesday, 12 January 2021 20:46

Sustainable Packaging

The right packaging is an important key to a successful product marketing. It works with your brand to broaden appeal and connect with your consumers.

The packaging industry plays a very important role in everyday life. Proof of this is that during this pandemic, that affects us all, it has not stopped for a single moment and has even doubled its productivity to meet the growing demand with increasingly extensive requirements. Both in food, medicine, hygiene, and other products.

Sustainable packaging is a relatively new addition to the environmental considerations for packaging. However, engaging in sustainable practices isn’t something that’s increasingly becoming the standard. Sustainable Packaging is simply packaging that is more sustainable or better for the environment. Reducing the environmental impact and ecological footprint.

This can happen in a number of ways:

  • Using raw 100% recycled or raw materials
  • Creating a circular economy around the packaging, extending its lifecycle.
  • Creating secondary uses and application for this
  • According to the European Packaging Association 68% of European consumers admit that making environmentally-friendly decisions has become more important to them over the past five years

    Many companies have committed to the development, improvement and application of this type of packaging, among which we can find:

    Frugal Paper Bottle

    Frugalpac offers an alternative to glass and a reduced packaging for these products.

    Frugal Bottle is a paper wine bottle made from 94% recycled paper with a food-grade liner to hold the wine or spirit.

    It uses Frugalpac technology to create a more sustainable bottle that’s lighter, uses recycled materials and can be recycled fully after use. The bottle is lighter than a normal glass bottle and uses 77% less plastic than a plastic bottle.






    Photo courtesy: www.frugalpac.com


    Multipack KeelClip

    Graphic Packaging International has designed the KeelClip system as a plastic-free replacement for beverage-can multipack carriers.

    The paperboard system’s structural design combines a clip, which holds the top of each can, with a keel that extends down between the rows of cans. The keel, whose structure is similar to that of a nautical keel, strengthens the top panel and boosts clip performance.

    A small amount of adhesive further secures each can to the keel. Cans may be glued into a position that showcases their brand graphics.


    Photo courtesy: www.packagingdigest.com


    Arjowiggins Translucent Barrier Paper

    Arjowiggins has launched Sylvicta, a sustainable alternative to plastics in packaging.

    Sylvicta is a translucent, functional barrier paper that preserves the quality of food and cosmetics just as well as conventional plastics while ensuring limited impact on the environment. The paper is fully recyclable, compostable, marine degradable and made from renewable raw materials.

    Through precision fibre refining, Arjowiggins’ R&D teams have developed this translucent paper with a natural bonding, without the need of any harmful chemicals. The result is a paper with a barrier to oxygen, aroma, mineral oils and fatty foodstuffs.


    Photo courtesy: www.arjowiggins.com


    VVT Plastic Bottles Using Citrus Peel

    Technology developed at VTT enables the use of pectin-containing agricultural waste, such as citrus peel and sugar beet pulp, as raw material for bio-based PEF-plastics for replacing fossil-based PET. The carbon footprint of plastic bottles can be lowered by 50% when replacing their raw material of PET with PEF polymers, which also provides a better shelf life for food.

    PEF is a fully recyclable and renewable high-performance plastic. Therefore, it opens up possibilities for the industries to reduce waste and have positive impact on the environment.

    “In the near future, you may buy orange juice in bottles that are made out of orange peel. VTT’s novel technology provides a circular approach to using food waste streams for high-performance food packaging material, and at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” shares Professor of Practice Holger Pöhler from VTT”.


    Photo courtesy: www.vttresearch.com


    Seed Phytonutrients

    Seed Phytonutrients company make clean and natural hair, face, and body products that are better for the environment and us. One way the brand is living up to this mission is by using more environmentally friendly packaging.

    Seed takes the title of making the first-ever shower-friendly paper bottle. Each bottle is made out of 100% post-consumer recycled paper and lined with a post-consumer recycled plastic liner, resulting in a bottle with 60% less plastic than a traditional one. When you shower, the paper will get wet (it's still paper), but thanks to a mineral coating it will dry quickly and look good as new in no time.


    Photo courtesy: www.plantbasedblonde.com


    H&M Paper Bag – Cloth Hanger

    H&M packaging concept includes a recycled paper bag that transforms into a coat hangar.


    Photo courtesy: www.trendhunter.com


    SAKATA INX BSR-Bio

    SAKATA INX introduced an environmentally-friendly UV inkjet ink for corrugated packaging applications.

    The sustainable ink option is formulated with 20-30% plant-derived materials, allowing brand owners and printers to benefit from reduced regulatory risk and measurable, reportable CO2 savings.

    SAKATA’s proprietary advanced technology for Nano-pigment dispersion enables their inkjet inks to have high performance jetting properties at very fast print speed, with high reliability for inkjet print heads. BSR-Bio consists of standard CMYK colors with Orange + Green or Orange + Violet as an option when a wider color gamut is required. It is extremely low odor and has high durability and good flexibility to reduce cracking problems.



    When Heineken Bottles Were Square

    As the story goes, Alfred Heineken had an epiphany while on a world tour of Heineken factories. When Heineken was on the Caribbean island of Curacao in 1960 he saw many bottles littering the beach due to the fact that the island had no economic means of returning the bottles to the bottling plants from which they had come. He was also concerned with the lack of affordable building materials and the inadequate living conditions plaguing Curacao's lower-class. Envisioning a solution for these problems, he found a dutch architect John Habraken to design what he called "a brick that holds beer."

    In 1963, Alfred Heineken created a beer bottle that could also function as a brick to build houses in impoverished countries.

    The rectangular, Heineken World Bottle or WOBO, designed with the help of architect John Habraken, would serve as a drinking vessel as well as a brick once the contents were consumed. The long side of the bottle would have interlocking grooved surfaces so that the glass bricks, once laid on their side, could be stacked easily with mortar or cement.




    Photo courtesy: www.archinect-com


    Published in Packaging

    These have been difficult times in which we have faced situations that we never imagined could happen, it could even be said that no one was prepared to face what this year brought us.

    In these moments in which we all play an important role to control the situation and thus return to normality as soon as possible, it is necessary that we all do our bit to overcome this new challenge.

    Whether it’s to convey a message or to decorate a space, the Media & Substrate has always played an important role in our industry.

    That is why some companies have joined efforts to create some substrates which are capable of helping to mitigate the spread of viruses and bacteria.

    HEXIS Group “PURE ZONE”

    PURE ZONE provides 24-hour preventive protection against certain bacteria thanks to the constant action of its antibacterial power to hinder their proliferation. PURE ZONE® films contain silver ions, that are activated on the superficial layer, when in contact with moist. These reactive ions may quickly block the metabolism of bacteria and thus prevent their proliferation between two cleaning and disinfection protocols.

    The PURZON060M/B antimicrobial film has been tested and certified according to ISO 22196 norm, ensuring a neutralization of 99.99% of Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus resistant to meticillin (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

    “However, we have to outline”, Clément MATEU – HEXIS CEO, “that no tests were carried out by HEXIS Group on viruses or their subfamilies (coronavirus, SARS, COVID-19)”. Unlike common bacteria, the handling of viruses is highly regulated by law. Then he adds: “We are therefore unable to prove the effectiveness of our PURE ZONE technology on viruses, and in particular on the Covid-19.”

    Fisher Textiles “DisenfectexTM”

    DisenfectexTM is a printable fabric enhanced by HeiQ V-block in collaboration with HeiQ. Marketed as HeiQ Viroblock in other countries, HeiQ V-block is an antiviral textile technology for industrial use, engineered to work against enveloped viruses, such as influenza viruses and human coronaviruses.

    DisenfectexTM fabrics treated with HeiQ V-block are resistant to microbes and inhibits the growth of bacteria on the fabric. Treated fabrics submitted by HeiQ have been tested by the Doherty Institute in Australia to be effective against 99.99% of SARS-CoV-2.

    DisenfectexTM fabrics have many uses for personal protective equipment (PPE) including face masks, sanitation stations, counter-top barriers, desk dividers, table throws, pop-up screens, among others.

    Media One

    Media One launch a line of antimicrobial fabrics (Imperial, Manhattan, Doheny, Malibu, Moonlight, Sunset), treated with integrated antimicrobial coatings and have been lab tested to kill over 98% of bacteria within 24-hours.

    These fabrics are designed for dye-sublimation transfer, direct dye sub, UV & latex printing and are available in 126” width or cut to specific lengths.

    “We’re responding to the COVID-19 crisis in a way to help our customers with solutions for retail, POP, medical, and event graphics to help prevent the spread of any microbial agents, per our independent lab testing. And while this has not been tested specifically with COVID-19, this coating is anti-bacterial & anti-microbial to 98% effectiveness,” Jason Bartusick, CEO & Head of Product Development at Media One. “Working with our suppliers, we’ve identified key products that address numerous applications, and our customers have expressed widespread interest in them.”

    Plaskolite “Amgard”

    Amgard Antimicrobial Safety Shields is formulated with laboratory-tested silver ion antimicrobial technology that protects the sheet surface from microorganism growth.

    “The deployment of safety shields is an important part of reopening plans for businesses, schools and institutions,” Dr. Ted Trautman, technology director for Plaskolite. “Amgard protects the sheet against the growth of microorganisms such as mold and mildew. Amgard delivers the dual benefit of a physical barrier and an antimicrobial technology designed to protect the plastic’s surface.”





    Published in Media & Substrates

    Monitoring human performance and health have always attracted interest of different science sectors. Many wearable devices have been invented incorporating electronics in wearable patches, wristbands, and other configurations that monitor either localized or overall physiological information such as heart rate or blood glucose.

    Recently researchers at Tufts University’s School of Engineering team have takes a different, non-electronic approach, developing a biomaterial-based inks that respond to and quantify chemicals released from the body (e.g. in sweat and potentially other biofluids) or in the surrounding environment by changing color.

    This ink can be screen printed onto textiles such as clothes, shoes, or even face masks in complex patterns and at high resolution, providing a detailed map of human response or exposure. The screen printable bio-inks can be used like any ink developed for screen printing, and so can be applied not just to clothing but also to various surfaces such as wood, plastics and paper to generate patterns ranging from hundreds of microns to tens of meters.

    “The use of novel bioactive inks with the very common method of screen printing opens up promising opportunities for the mass-production of soft, wearable fabrics with large numbers of sensors that could be applied to detect a range of conditions,” Fiorenzo Omenetto, corresponding author and the Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering at Tufts’ School of Engineering. “The fabrics can end up in uniforms for the workplace, sports clothing, or even on furniture and architectural structures.”


    Bioactive inks printed on wearable textiles can map conditions over the entire surface of the body.
    Photo courtesy: www.now.tufts.edu.


    Published in Media & Substrates
    Friday, 10 April 2020 20:47

    Be.tex by bergertextiles

    Few years ago bergertextile introduced to the digital market one of the first sustainable textiles for large format digital printing. Now few months from the beginning of 2020 and true to the motto: “be.responsible”, bergertextile presents its expanded product range with sustainable textiles for brilliant printing applications.

    In addition to the be.tex Samba FR bergertextiles introduces two more green products, made from 100% recycled yarn (rePET – PET bottle recycling), called be.tex Green Revolution FR and be.tex Green Valuetex FR, which are specially designed for display frame systems.

    be.tex Samba FR

    Facts: 160 / 260 / 320 cm width, 195 g/m², 1 % stretch
    Applications: Lightboxes

    be.tex Green Revolution FR

    Facts: 160 / 260 / 320 cm width, 180 g/m², 1 - 3 % stretch
    Applications: Banner, Pop-Up Displays, Table Cloth

    be.tex Green Valuetex FR

    Facts: 320 cm width, 150 g/m², 1-4 % stretch
    Applications: Banner, Pop-up Displays, Table Cloth

    How does used PET bottles become a textile?

    The yarn for this textile is obtained from used PET bottles in a GRS-certified process. Approximately 12 used 1.5 liters PET bottles yield one square meter of textile. Used PET-bottles are cleaned in a water-saving manner, shredded into small flakes and processed into granulate. This is melted, converted into fibers, spun into yarn and finally processed into new bergertextiles. 100 % recycled.


    Be-tex-by-bergertextiles

    Photo courtesy www.bergertextiles.com



    Be-tex-by-bergertextiles

    Photo courtesy www.bergertextiles.com



    Be-tex-by-bergertextiles

    Photo courtesy www.bergertextiles.com


    Published in Media & Substrates

    Keep up with the latest trends about de digital printing industry and learn more about different technologies, equipment, media & substrates, inks, etc.

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