resistant - especially important in meat process-ing,
where large temperature fluctuations are
common. The plastic material is insensitive to
acids, fats and odors. Smooth, easy-to-clean
surfaces and an active closure reduce gaps
where debris and germs can accumulate.
Pads with air as an insulator
Even in pet food, the packaging trend towards
sustainability has arrived, as the example of the
US supplier Ranpak shows. Ranpak has been
working with a supplier of frozen dog food
for more than two years. The issue was not
only the permanent refrigeration of the food
during transport, but also a more sustainable
paper-based packaging solution. Ranpak sug-gested
WrapPak® Protector paper pads. These
pads trap air and prevent heat conduction,
creating an exceptional insulator for cold chain
applications. That these corrugated pads would
match the existing wool-filled plastic liner finally
made sense to the pet food customers, two raw
dog food suppliers.
On the nerve of the times
The fact that machine technology for packaging
solutions is also changing in line with sustaina-bility
requirements should only surprise laymen.
Trapo‘s high-performance layer depalletizer
(HLDP series), for example, operates with a
combination of lifting column and magnetic or
vacuum gripper. The machine thus enables effi-cient
depalletizing of recycling containers such
as empty tin cans (tinplate/aluminum) or empty
jars at a rate of up to six layers per minute. This
corresponds to approximately 1,500 empty cans
per minute. The HLP 6000 serves an almost
unlimited spectrum - highly flexible, as it can be
adjusted to virtually any product. It deposits per-fectly
and realizes any layer patterns of different
formats. “With our sustainability efforts, proven
by concrete expert opinions, we are hitting the
nerve of the times,“ Trapo Sales Manager Jörg
Thomas is certain. His particular trump card:
“Hardware and software come from a single
source, sources of error are eliminated when
controlling the system via a single system.“
Combination scale as a real innovation
A real innovation is reported by the Danish
company Cabinplant. The patented Multi-head-
Weigher SF Extreme system is a combina-tion
weigher with so-called auger feeders, novel
Continued from page 25
4 Die Depalettierer von Trapo lassen sich auf
quasi jede Verpackung einstellen. / Trapo depalle-
tizers can be adjusted to virtually any packaging.
5 Die neuen Verpackungen für Geflügelprodukte
von Mathilde Balzer sind komplett recycelbar. /
The new packagings for poultry products from
Mathilde Balzer are completely recyclable.
4
dere nach denen, die bald den Mainstream er-reichen
werden. Zum zweiten Mal präsentiert
das nova-Institut zahlreiche Markt-Highlights
aus dem Spektrum der bio- und CO2-basierten
Chemikalien und Materialien sowie dem che-mischen
Recycling. Weitere Infos zur Konferenz
gibt es unter
www.renewable-materials.eu.
study author Christoph Kopp, “material com-petence
and resource efficiency are becoming
keys to differentiation from the competition.“
The Horváth expert assumes that e-commerce
and changing purchasing behavior will further
increase the pressure to innovate.
A decisive factor for the development of the
packaging industry is the public‘s awakened
awareness of climate protection and the stricter
political requirements that go hand in hand
with it. Keywords such as the circular economy,
strict regulation and climate neutrality in the
manufacturing industry are not new, but are
becoming increasingly important, especially
for the packaging industry, which is confron-
ted by critics with accusations such as wasting
resources and producing waste.
Hygiene and preservation factor
But above all sustainability, it should not be
forgotten that packaging - especially with
regard to viruses and pathogens - is an essential
hygiene and preservation factor. The extent to
which the packaging industry, especially in the
food sector, is changing in the face of current
challenges is shown by a number of current
examples.
Mathilde Balzer, a manufacturer of poultry
products, introduced completely recyclable
packaging for poultry sausage slices at the end
of 2021. The new packaging replaces plastic
with paper and cellulose, and the company aims
to save 25 tons of plastic in the first year alone.
The new packaging for poultry sausage slices,
for example of the Gackerle Bio brand, is
recyclable and 70% can be returned to the raw
material cycle. It is made of paper that does not
require any plastic film coating at all. The paper
is FSC certified and comes from respon-
sible forestry. The foil of the top side is made of
renewable cellulose. The packaging, complete
with film, is disposed of with the waste paper.
As early as February 2020, Mathilde Balzer said
goodbye to plastic trays for self-service retailing
with its Paperseal cardboard packaging. “We
want to maintain and expand the pioneering
position from the fresh meat sector in the field
of cold cuts packaging,“ emphasize Balzer
owners Melanie Stegmann and Ralf Albers.
The end of rigid boxes
Tosca, a provider of reusable packaging solu-tions,
is expanding its EMEA offering to include
containers for meat products. With this expan-sion
into the meat industry, the company aims
to strengthen its reach across the entire food
supply chain. Welcome side effects: reduced
food waste and improved sustainability and
efficiency.
Jesse Sels, Tosca‘s president for the Europe,
Middle East and Africa economic region, ex-plains,
“Disposable alternatives and rigid boxes
are being replaced with durable, collapsible
containers designed for product protection
and space efficiency.“ The containers are made
of polypropylene and are highly temperature
28 1 / 2022 PACKAGING
VERPACKUNG
Foto: Scanvaegt Systems
/www.renewable-materials.eu
