The speakers and attendees at the IVLV Future Days ”Packaging” event in Freising agreed that stricter requirements from politicians will push the commitment to and tempo of research, science and the industry to make packaging more sustainable. The event demonstrated a genuine flood of innovative approaches and projects in the fields of recycling and recyclability, coating and barrier technologies as well as sustainable packaging materials, in particular paper packaging.
By Alfons Strohmaier
But it was equally clear for the audience that the industry will ultimately decide which concepts are scaleable and can be implemented in practical terms against the backdrop of the many different solutions that are available. The Industry Association for Food Technology and Packaging e.V. (IVLV) plays an important role as a network and link between science, research and the industry, as the IVLV MD Dr.-Ing. Tobias Voigt emphasised in his opening speech. The event was also completely sold out and underscores how enormously important the exchange of views and ideas is in light of the current situation with political pressure, volatile raw materials markets and the potential for limited deliverability. The presenters Elena Jäger, Associate Principal Scientist – Global Packaging at Mondelez International and Chairperson of the IVLV Packaging Materials Workgroup, and Swantje Eissing from Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, who is the workgroup‘s scientific contact, skilfully guided everyone in attendance through the conference, which was filled with a bounty of new research projects as well as numerous innovative practical examples provided by companies.
The framework for the discussions was provided by Prof. Dr. Jens-Peter Majschak, Director of Fraunhofer IVV, who fundamentally outlined the challenge for research and the industry in relation to sustainable packing with recyclable systems. Anna Kerps from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT provided an overview of the status quo in the comprehensive packaging sustainability assessment and presented new approaches in the AI application hub. Prof. Dr. Horst-Christian Langowski, who has researched food packaging technology for decades, dealt with the question of how we can also manufacture capable, sustainable packaging in the future and commented, “With packaging, we’re building on what we already began decades ago”. Recyclability and the use of recycled materials now join the discussion as decisive points in regard to function as the criterion. He emphasised that as such, research and development for recyclable barrier systems will continue to grow in importance, and implementation will require precise legal specifications.
Just how difficult it is to implement political requirements and how many different interpretations and discussions result from the many ambiguities in the draft proposals was illustrated by IK Managing Director Dr. Isabell Schmidt, who made a detailed presentation of the current state of the EU‘s PPWR Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation. The plastic industry‘s view of the current draft proposal following the EU trilogue process is that it features an unfounded and legally untenable discrimination against plastic packaging, above in the comparison of compounds containing plastics and exceptions for other materials.
Brand new developments from everyday practice were presented on the first day by Dr. Carolin Struller (BOBST Manchester Ltd.), Wolfgang Lohwasser (Amcor Flexibles Kreuzlingen) and Dr. Michael Heyde from the Austrian company ALPLA-Werke, which develops, manufactures and recycles plastic packaging in 196 production facilities in 47 countries. Dr. Heyde used ALPLA‘s history to demonstrate how the company doubled PCR output by the year 2022 since the PET Recycling Team GmbH was initially installed in 2005. The company’s first PET recycling system in South Africa went into operation in 2023. He noted however that recycling materials for food products remain complicated, particularly given the EFSA‘s objections to polyolefins due to possible contaminants, which has huge consequences for conventional mechanical recycling technologies.
The BOBST company no longer views itself as solely a manufacturer of printing machinery, but instead as a service provider encompassing every sector. Accordingly, printing can be used to apply barrier coatings which also remain intact when the paper is folded. Dr. Armin Mohr from Plasma Electronic provided examples of how PEVCD and PEALD coatings can be used to reduce the risk of contamination when using recycled materials. Frédéric Engel from ILLIG Maschinenbau and Matthias Hausman from Kiefel GmbH demonstrated innovations in fibre packaging or packaging shaped by natural fibres.
The extent to which the research has already progressed was demonstrated in the presentations by experts from Fraunhofer IVV. They included Johannes Schneider, who presented soluble-based recycling in regard to composite separation and the cleaning of recycled materials, along with Stefan Schiessl and his presentation of composite barrier coatings for aluminium-free, recyclable packaging films for food products applications. Fraunhofer IVV’s Paula Goderbauer spoke about the development of recyclable barriers for paper with nanocellulose, while Dr. Marie Föllmer and Lorenzo Tomei illustrated their research on the use of biologically-based raw materials for new barriers and packaging materials. Following the intensive two-day conference, the general tenor was that challenges remain in regard to all of the points that were debated, but that despite this, the message was loud and clear: “A sense of vitality is returning.”
