Preforms, labels and driving towards the circular economy
Sacmi Beverage, Hall B5 – Booth 101, 302-304
Sacmi Beverage will present a range of products that focus on process sustainability, with ready-to-use innovations designed to support the creation of a returnable PET and food-grade resin recycling chain. The company’s new “Packaging Center” will also be demonstrated.
Sacmi Beverage says that its range of beverage and food packaging technology incorporates sustainability at its core and features solutions designed to help its customers adapt to the sector’s “green deal”. Profitability and new standards are key concepts. They combine competitiveness of proposed solutions with the ease of making the technological switch towards a more environmentally friendly way of producing, while at the same time providing the best consumer experience for the customer, containing investment costs and facilitating the integration of new solutions on the standard machine range.
Returnable and refillable PET
The development of a returnable PET supply chain in the beverage industry requires a focus on the proper management of filling and labelling stages, including specific applications that can facilitate the recovery and cleaning of the container, which must be separated from the label at the end of the product life cycle. Sacmi Beverage’s range of labelling machines now includes a system for applying glue dots exclusively to the label and not to the container. This minimises the use of glue and facilitates separation of the label from the container during recycling. Within the RefPET (refillable PET bottles) project, Sacmi is proposing the use of special washable glues; substances soluble to soda at low temperatures. This solution is particularly suitable for returnable PET, where high washing temperatures could damage the container.
This this solution, which is already available from Sacmi, as are the relevant special glues, involves the installation on the labelling machine of a special “Speed Coat” kit. This limits the application of the glue to a few well-defined points, favouring perfect adhesion but also easier detachment during the recycling-reuse phase. In the case of wrap-around labels, the glue can be applied exclusively to the parts in contact between the two label edges, which can then separated at the recycling stage by a cutting accessory (also supplied by Sacmi). This eliminates problems with container cleaning.
IPS range
The recycling of resins for food-grade use has also become increasingly important. Having first been achieved with PET, the concept is now, potentially, being applied to the entire capsule-container system. Sacmi has developed a set of solutions that can be integrated onto standard machines in its range. Sacmi’s range of IPS preform presses have been adapted to process up to 100% of rPET and up to 50% of PET in flake form. Latest developments to be presented at Drinktec include the potential to increase the proportion of rPET flake to 70-75% and to make the entire process more linear, with optimal management of flake and granule mixtures without the need to use two separate processing hoppers.
The new Packaging Center, which operates closely with the Laboratory, means that Sacmi Beverage has the facilities and skills to work with customers at all stages from design to product and to identify the best production technologies, with solutions certified and approved by leading global players in the industry. More than 1,000 neck-capsule designs have been developed by the Laboratory in recent years. This approach, through the Packaging Center, aims to involve the world of bottlers more extensively, as they work in close contact with the market on a daily basis and perceive its constant demand for sustainable innovation.
The international trade fair in Munich is also an opportunity for Sacmi Beverage to present its new package of advanced customer support services. These start with machine testing and extend to customised, lifetime maintenance and service plans along with a new set of high added-value digital services.
