Political pressure on all market participants in regard to climate protection is increasing. In view of this, decision-makers and project managers from the sectors of industry, trade, science and research held intense discussions at the 32nd Dresden Packaging Conference on a wide variety of ideas and possibilities for sustainable, recyclable packaging.
By Alfons Strohmaier
Some 200 participants from the entire value chain gathered at the 32nd Dresden Packaging Conference of the German Packaging Institute (dvi) to gain new information and hold intense discussions about current developments as well as new ideas and possibilities for the circular packaging economy. In the accustomed confident manner, dvi Director and conference moderator Winfried Batzke opened the in-person proceedings by asking what the industry could contribute in light of the current crises. Over the course of the two-day event, it was pointed out again and again that the clock is ticking, with political and legislative pressure increasing on the entire industry. Above all, in the future, the established climate targets and CO2 reduction will place enormous demands on the economy and the packaging sector.
Yet, what means can be used to achieve a sustainable, climate neutral circular economy with zero waste? The 15 presentations from scientists, experts from the industry and leaders of acclaimed companies and start-ups revealed numerous fascinating approaches. They clearly highlighted three directions in particular: Optimizing recycling, primarily by using the very latest digital technologies with a significantly greater use of recyclates, the substitution of plastics by new bio-based and compostable materials, and the use of more multi-use systems. One thing was clear at the end of the conference featuring Best Practice examples from leading mid-sized companies, start-up power and valuable insights from the brand articles industry: There is no single, perfect path to a circular economy. Getting there is going to take a wide range of efforts.
Against this backdrop, the conference participants from the brand article industry wished for greater transparency throughout the entire value chain at the “Packaging as the Basis of Successful Trade” kick-off round. “We would like to speak with all those involved, including the ‘Dual Systems’ and the sorters, in order to better understand the process,” announced Katja Binder, Packaging Development Department Manager at Ritter Sport. Together with Lorenz Dobiaschowski from Develey Senf & Feinkost and Daniel Reichenbach from Molkerei Gropper, Ms Binder explained the view and the needs of brand article companies, all of which have made the availability of materials their absolute priority over the past months. “The trade sector has also put some of its sustainability projects on the back burner,” Mr Reichenbach added.
Two of the fundamental topics the networking platform focused on were sorting and recycling, which were illustrated from a variety of viewpoints. Speakers highlighting the recycling possibilities for fibre composites, aluminium or composite cans included Peter Hengesbach, Product End of Life Compliance Manager at Stora Enso, August Wanninger, Director of Innovation & Product Development at Linhardt, a medium-sized manufacturer of aluminium and plastic tubes, cans and small pipes, as well as Peter Görlitz, Sustainability Manager Europe at Sonoco Consumer Products Europe.
Other presentations were dedicated to new, primarily digital technologies that substantially increase the efficiency of sorting and recycling, significantly improving the reuse of the materials. Thomas Hermanns, Project Engineer at the Institute cyclos-HTP, demonstrated a software tool for the individual evaluation of packaging, including a database for setting and tracing sustainability targets, various export functions and a certificate archive. Prof. Andreas Maier from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) presented the K3I-Cycling project, indicating that using artificial intelligence (AI) could absolutely do a better job of supervising sorting and recycling processes.
The Polysecure company is one step further in the realization of innovative sorting technologies. Founder and CEO Jochen Moesslein explained the current situation with Sort4Circle, the first recyclable, technology-open sorting technology that uses markers integrated into plastics as forgery-proof additives. This ensures material tracing to comply with the Supply Chain Act and simultaneously generates better results in the sorting and extraction of recyclates.
The owners of companies who made brief pitches within the “Substitution” thematic block have set off on a completely different path toward new biobased and naturally bio-degradable materials. Tahsin Dag, the founder in 2013 of the cast fibre manufacturer PaPacks Sales, which now has five business locations in Europe, is convinced that cast fibre made from fresh fibre-based raw materials like industrial hemp and paludicultures will replace plastic in the future and quickly be able to provide solutions for CO2 savings.
The three start-ups that presented their solutions also work without any plastic whatsoever. Ronald Goldbach, Managing Director of Plant Pack, explained the marketing of packaging materials made from maize grits as a substitute for Styrofoam, while Superseven CMO Hannes Füting showed that cellulose films for food product packaging are already being used with great success with trending brands. The thematic block concluded with Juni Neyenhuys and Annekathrin Grüneberg, the founders of mujo GbR. They brought along films made from brown algae polymers, which they see as far superior to PLA and PP/PE films in relation to ecological criteria. The closing discussion with the attendees in the auditorium was very intense and demonstrated that of all things, it is legislation and opaque regulations that are currently slowing the further development of bioplastics in Europe.
