World Star Packaging Award for Recycling Innovation
The world’s first Xtreme Renew Flakes to Preform System, which directly produces new, food-grade 100 percent rPET preforms from recycled PET flakes in a single process step, was recently presented with a World Star Packaging Award in Prague. Erema, Sipa, Kyoei Industry and Suntory, four companies involved in developing the system, are delighted to receive the award for this example of a closed plastic loop.
The World Star Packaging Award recognises outstanding packaging solutions from around the world that set international standards for the packaging industry thanks to their design or the way they are manufactured.
The joint development of the process was initiated in 2014 by Kyoei Industry and Suntory. The award winning process is based on the combination of Erema’s proven Vacurema bottle to bottle technology which has been enhanced for this application with Sipa’s Xtreme Renew Preform Production System. This plant network produces new, food-grade PET preforms directly from PET flakes. Having now been in operation at Kyoei Industry in Kasama (Japan) for almost a year, the Flakes to Preform System not only outputs preforms with impressive quality values, but also delivers unique ecological and economical performance, state the companies. The annual production capacity of this plant is 300 million containers. The customer for this output is the internationally active Japanese drinks manufacturer Suntory.
“Our cooperation shows that combining the expertise of plastics recycling companies, machine manufacturers and brands makes a functioning circular economy possible”, say the people representing the four participating companies, pleased about the successful implementation of this award-winning project.
Photo from the left: Pierre Pienaar (President World Packaging Organisation), Michael Heitzinger (Managing Director Erema GmbH), Gianfranco Zoppas (President Zoppas Industries Group/Sipa), Christoph Wöss (Business Development Manager Application Bottle, Erema), Eiichi Furusawa (President Kyoei) und Munehiko Takada (Chief Specialist at Packaging Material Department, Suntory
