Packaging materials

Hemp is one of the oldest crop plants in the world. The fibres of the stalk were made into ropes, the seeds produced culinary oil, and the leaves and flowers yielded essential oil. Even 2,000 years ago, hemp fibres were used to make paper, before they were replaced by cheaper wood fibres. Today, hemp is back: as paper for packaging and labels, but also as sustainable pulp moulded pallets or naturally grown mycelium packaging.

Customers‘ demands for sustainable packaging solutions have grown louder and louder. One solution that is applied more and more often in the food and cosmetics industry is refilling systems. They save on material and encourage people to switch from hard plastic packaging to flexible alternatives like bags.This can have advantages for recycling, customers also need to carry less weight when shopping and they produce less packaging waste.

Circular economy can only truly work if plastic waste is collected, recycled and reused. Many manufacturers are aware of this and now use recyclates. To drive international trade with recycled plastic, Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC) has now established a new trading platform for recyclates with Rebound Plastic Exchange.

Flow packs are primarily used as packaging for food and offer some clear benefits: they require less material in manufacture compared to inherently stable packaging, which in turn means they take up less space during transport and on supermarket shelves.

In Germany, deposit systems for beverage bottles have been around for some time now: once a bottle is empty, it is taken to the local supermarket, where it is inserted into a reverse vending machine and returned to the cycle. This system is just one of the reasons why Germany is considered a pioneer when it comes to recycling. Again and again, discussions arise on how we can use deposit systems to ensure other products and packaging stay in the cycle longer. A Berlin start-up has taken up this idea, initially implementing it in a pilot project: Circleback, a deposit system for cosmetics packaging.

The new Duo Ex-Tra film developed by the film manufacturer Duo Plast AG from Lauterbach, Germany, features the polymer Elastostat, which can conduct and dissipate static electricity. According to the manufacturer, this is the first stretch film that is suitable for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (EX zones). The newly developed film prevents static electricity from becoming an ignition source, meaning that pallet units covered in stretch film no longer pose an explosion hazard.

Coffee capsules do not really have the best reputation. They are not used for a long period of time, but instead are thrown away quickly after use, and they also consume a lot of raw materials in the form of new plastics. However, as in many other sectors, companies are also working on developing new and more sustainable solutions to this problem. Greiner Packaging and LyondellBasell are one example of this. Together, the companies developed a circular solution for coffee capsules for the Nestlé brand Nescafé Dolce Gusto.