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interpack 2023 - Food

Food

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interpack 2023 - Beverages

Beverages

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interpack 2023 - Confectionery

Confectionery

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interpack 2023 - Bakery

Bakery

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interpack 2023 - Pharmaceutics

Pharmaceutics

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interpack 2023 - Cosmetics

Cosmetics

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interpack 2023 - Non-Food

Non-Food

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interpack 2023 - Industrial Goods

Industrial Goods

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tray sample

Image: Juha Hakulinen, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland

NEW!
30.11.2023

VTT PILOTS CELLULOSE AS ALTERNATIVE TO RIGID POLYPROPYLENE PACKAGING

Researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have developed formable, cellulose-based webs that they say offer a sustainable alternative to plastic in rigid polypropylene in food packaging applications.
White and green plastic bags

Image:Unsplash

16.11.2023

Egypt’s Innovative Solutions: Turning Plastic Waste into Recycling Opportunities
The packaging industry is heavily reliant on plastics. However, as the focus shifts to more sustainable packaging options, global industry stakeholders and policymakers are searching for ways to investigate how plastic packaging waste can be used to explore sustainable industry practices and market opportunities, some of which might be real gamechangers.
Glass of beer and paper bottle

Image: Carlsberg

15.11.2023

Inside Paboco’s Quest for the Ideal Paper Bottle
Tim Silbermann, Paboco’s new 33-year-old CEO, is on a mission to help the Alpla-owned company develop a 100 percent bio-based, fully recyclable bottle. It currently is supplying customers such as Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Coca-Cola Co., Carlsberg, and Absolut Vodka and continues to strive for a viable all-paper bottle.
Three unprinted tea bags with clip-on cards

Image: EN Tea

14.11.2023

Compostable biopolymer PBS replacing fossil plastics
Bioplastics can replace conventional fossil plastics in many applications while being processed in the same way. One important type of bioplastic is PBS. The biopolymer is plant-based, biodegradable and recyclable. A Japanese tea manufacturer is now using PBS in the packaging for its tea bags.
Digitally watermarked yoghurt and kefir containers

Image: Aldi Süd Gruppe

14.11.2023

Final testing stage for HolyGrail 2.0
Digital watermarks could play a key role in the future when it comes to packaging recyclability. They are invisible to the human eye but carry a wealth of information. The HolyGrail 2.0 initiative aims to implement the technology for large-scale sorting of post-consumer waste, with plans for a test market in France in 2024. The final stage of testing has now begun.

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Three people in front of a poster

Image: RIGK

14.11.2023

Agricultural bulk bags for a circular economy
Whether it is seeds, fertilisers or animal feed, farms receive a large amount of items in bulk bags. But what to do with the empty plastic super sacks? The VerenA return scheme was launched in early 2023 specifically for the disposal of used, licensed bulk bags.
Mia Pettersson

Image: BASF

14.11.2023

Women in packaging: Mia Pettersson – helping take compostable bioplastics to the next level
BASF has been active in the bioplastics field for more than 30 years. Swedish chemical engineer Mia Pettersson is head of BASF’s biopolymer portfolio in Ludwigshafen, Germany, where she works on continuing to develop compostable and biodegradable plastics while supporting women in their advancement in the company.
FreeWater offers these 474 ml aluminum bottles as one option

Image: FreeWater

17.10.2023

FREEWATER’S RADICAL, AD-DRIVEN PACKAGING CONCEPT AIMS TO DISRUPT THE INDUSTRY
A Texas startup aims to disrupt the food and beverage industry by turning the marketing of such products on its head. Austin-based FreeWater sells advertising on paper cartons and aluminum bottles of drinking water and then gives away those containers for free, while donation a portion of its proceeds to charity.
Glowing glass bottles in production

Image: Vetropack

17.10.2023

Less material and more green energy: The glass industry is becoming more sustainable
Glass is the ideal packaging material for beverages and foods. It is odourless and neutral in taste and does not react with the filled goods. However, its production is very energy intensive and the industry is working hard to become climate-neutral.
Light-coloured bottle with water drops

The novel cellulose fibres are produced from a mix of curran, bamboo and bagasse. (Image: RyPax)

11.10.2023

New bottle design – 100 percent fibre-based
The interest in fibre bottles is large, as they are lightweight, robust and made from renewable resources. The material does not always have to be wood from fir and deciduous trees, left-over material from food production is also suitable. For example sugar beet chips, which are a waste product of sugar production.
printed stand-up bag front and back

Image: Siegwerk Druckfarben

11.10.2023

How coloured foil bags become colourless granules
Colourful plastic packaging sells well. However, the printing colour also prevents the packaging from being recycled in the form of transparent granules. Now there is a solution that completely removes printing colours and barrier coatings from foil bags. Afterwards, the packaging can be recycled to almost colourless granules.
RFID label on a red plastic package

Bild: Checkpoint Systems

11.10.2023

Keeping an eye on reusable containers
Since the beginning of 2023, reusable containers are mandatory in restaurants. For the proprietors, it is often not easy to keep track of stock levels and the necessary order quantities for resupply. This is where RFID systems can be useful, as they help to record each single container quickly and without contact. McDonald’s France is already using this technology for its reusable packaging.
The compact På(fyll) containers stack neatly for both storage and transportation.

Image: Form Us With Love

21.09.2023

Designing for Circular Consumer Goods Packaging
Four Nordic companies partnered to create a new circular service for consumer packaged goods. Called På(fyll), it is an app-based subscription service for household products made by conglomerate Orkla. Honored recently by Fast Company, it uses specially designed reusable and recyclable HDPE containers and aims to reduce single-use packaging waste.
A group of people on a platform

Image: Markus Breig, KIT

12.09.2023

Moving heavy loads autonomously
Most of us are familiar with swarms from the animal world. But autonomous mobile robots are already working in swarms in automated, networked production – wirelessly connected and equipped with cameras, they’re able to coordinate themselves and act synchronously.
Oval labels printed with shiny bright metallic colours

Image: Actega

12.09.2023

Sustainable print finishing
Embossing, colour effects and particularly metallic sheens catch the eyes at points of sale. Finishing labels and folded boxes with conventional embossing foil, however, creates lots of film waste. But now an alternative, which allows metallic pigments to be applied selectively and cost-effectively and which consequently eliminates the need for plastic film, has arrived.
Two plastic bottles with transparent label

Image: Dow

12.09.2023

How labels are becoming more recyclable
A world without labels? Inconceivable. Their endless variety of materials, shapes and functions help labels attract attention. But it should also be possible to separate them from their packaging again at the end of the packaging’s life in the interests of a circular economy. Recyclable solutions are on the way.
Workers at BASF

Image: BASF

12.09.2023

What are the environmental impacts of alternative raw materials?
In mass balancing, chemically recycled or bio-based raw materials are input at the very beginning of plastics production and then computationally assigned to the end products. Using the example of flexible mozzarella packaging, a study investigated whether and how this procedure influences the life-cycle assessment of packaging produced from these raw materials.
Takeaway drink with paper lid

Image: The Paper Lid Company

15.08.2023

Paper lids for less single-use plastic
When the time comes for a hot or cold drink while out and about, many people opt for takeaway beverages in disposable cups. These often come with a plastic lid, resulting in a significant volume of waste. One Finnish start-up is instead using recyclable paperboard lids and has entered into a partnership with Walki.
Roll of adhesive tape over a cardboard box

Image: Futamura

11.08.2023

Sustainable tamper-proofing
When it comes to protecting valuable products from tampering and theft, the method often used is to apply adhesive tape that will leave permanent marks on the packaging if an attempt is made to open it. In addition to recyclable paper solutions, there are now compostable alternatives made from bio-based film.
Hands on a laptop

Image: Adobe stock/Suttiphong

10.08.2023

What does artificial intelligence have to offer in the field of packaging design?
AI systems have played a role in our everyday lives for a long time now and have become an integral part of the industrial sector. Whether used in manufacturing, logistics or quality control, they complete many tasks more quickly than humans. But what does artificial intelligence have to offer in the creative sphere?
Two steel drums

Image: Schütz

10.08.2023

Laser drums with special anti-corrosive properties
Steel drums are used to transport and store chemical products, primary materials for industrial use, hazardous goods and food. For sensitive goods, there is now a new drum made of galvanised sheet steel, which has anti-corrosive properties on both its inside and outside and is manufactured in a novel production process.
Detail of a packaging plant with revolving grippers.

Image: Rotzinger

11.07.2023

Wireless automation
Manufacturing increasingly requires automated solutions that intelligently network components within plants. Rotzinger is therefore now using CoreTigo's wireless IO-link technology in its new machine for packaging food. The technology is being employedfor wireless control of grippers on a rail system as they move through the plant performing tasks.
Screen drum with light packaging

Image: Interzero

11.07.2023

HDPE bottles made from waste light packaging
A new and patented recycling process from recycling service provider Interzero allows HDPE plastics from post-consumer flows to be processed in such a way that during processing the properties of the recycled materials compare favourably with those of virgin plastics.
Two men with a tray made from pulp material

Image: PulPac

11.07.2023

Eurostars project for fibre-based packaging concluded
As part of the Eurostars funding programme, PulPac in Sweden and the Bio-Lutions start-up in Germany have together developed a prototype for a new dry-moulded-fibre machine that’s able to process fibres from agricultural waste. The project saw them adapting standard components that are traditionally used to make plastic products.
A plastic energy chain

Image: igus GmbH

11.07.2023

Recycling programme for engineering plastics
Plastic energy chains and bearings are deployed wherever movement is required in production. They are responsible, for instance, for keeping processes running smoothly in packaging plants. But even chains and bearings need to be disposed of at some point in time. What happens then?
Image of an analogue cash register

Image: StellrWeb/unsplash

13.06.2023

Considering the carbon footprint during refitting
Packaging materials are usually the first thing that come to mind when the topic of the ‘carbon footprint of packaging’ is brought up. Machines, however, also produce emissions. But even relatively simple modifications may result in considerable savings. A tool by the KHS mechanical engineering company in Germany is able to quantify those savings.
Rolls of tin on a meadow with flowers

Image: thyssenkrupp Rasselstein

13.06.2023

Tin packaging becomes more climate-friendly
They are regarded as best for recycling: Tin cans, tubes and bottles. But they don’t score well in terms of their carbon footprint because it is not yet possible to produce steel without using coal as the source of energy. Industry is, however, working on more sustainable solutions and has launched the first carbon-reduced steel for packaging.
An icon showing a person disposing of waste

Image: Gary Chan/unsplash

13.06.2023

Labels with separation information on packaging help the circular economy
Efficient and consistent recycling is one of the pillars of a functioning circular economy in the packaging industry. Such recycling includes the correct separation of packaging so that it can be fed into its respective recycling stream. A survey has now shown that information about separation can play a decisive role for consumers.
Food packaging with compostable extrusion coating

Image: BASF

13.06.2023

Compostable coating for food-safe paper packaging
Barrier properties are particularly important to food packaging. Consumers are additionally demanding solutions that are environmentally friendly. BASF has developed an extrusion coating for paper and cardboard packaging, which may be composted both industrially and domestically.
Millad®️ NX®️ 8000 for PP certified by RecyClass for plastic packaging recycling in Europe.

Image: Milliken & Co.

23.05.2023

Mono-material packaging solutions take center stage at interpack
Polypropylene is durable, lightweight and very popular as a packaging material, but often requires multi-material constructions to ensure end-use performance, making such packages difficult to recycle. New material developments –– improving barrier properties and clarity –– are making effective, all-PP packages a reality.
A tattooed hand holds a plastic water bottle.

Image: Jonathan Cooper/unsplash

16.05.2023

How useful are PET bottles?
People need water. And it has to be brought to them somehow. That’s where packaging, e.g. PET bottles, is important – particularly in areas where the groundwater is polluted. A study commissioned by Lidl, the German discount supermarket, revealed that it’s quite possible for plastic bottles to be sustainable in the right conditions.
An arm with a hand in a rubber glove is holding a spray bottle.

Bild: jeshoots/unsplash

16.05.2023

Better recycled material as a result of fewer fragrances
Not all recycled materials are the same. That is because the quality of recycled plastics plays an important role en route to a circular economy. The Fraunhofer Institute LBF has consequently developed a method that removes problematic fragrances from packaging for detergents that is being recycled.