PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2021

MOULD MAKING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 03/21 www.petpla.net 46 NoLabel 100% PCR PET bottle for Danone water brands in Latin America Label-less design improves recyclability Bonafont and Villavicencio, Groupe Danone’s spring water brands in the Brazil and Argentina markets, are developing their environmental efforts by recycling all single-use PET bottles. The company designed a label-less bottle for its new 100% PCR (post-consumer recyclate) PET packaging, using Moldintec’s Advanced Freeform Laser Mold Decoration Process. PET recyclers’ views on the ideal bottle for recycling are well-known. They prefer a heavy one, made of clear PET, without colourants or addi- tives, with a one-piece PP closure and, most importantly, without a label. Paper labels generate ink-bleeding and contain sticky paper fibres and silicone-based glues that significantly impact PCR quality, with negative consequences for its market price. Plastic labels are particularly det- rimental as some are difficult to sepa- rate from the flake and affect both colour quality and yields. Good PET flake from today’s lighter PET bottle is lost during elutriation (label separation by air current) or when optical sort- ers reject bottles with full-body shrink sleeve labels. Even a small price sticker causes problems in the recycling process. Different inks, materials and glues require different types of solvents and more advanced process for material separation and wastewater treatment. Design & technology from South America The development of new, eco- friendly 100% PCR PET packaging was entrusted to Moldintec, a widely- known blow-mould manufacturer. It incorporated laser manufacturing capabilities into its modern factory in 2016; initially to improve the mould etching process from craft chemical treatment to fully-digital laser engrav- ing. The engineering team found more uses of light machining technology to keep its customers at the forefront of innovation. Light machining is not a new solu- tion in the tool making industry; it is widely used to apply patterned etching on 2D or 3D surfaces. Moldintec’s soft- ware team created the plugins needed to shape any bottle surface with complex mesh, starting from any HD image, logo, text, or even a face from a selfie, with a multi-axis laser machine. “A simulation tool was also needed to make our company capable of showing a bottle preview to the cli- ents, especially customers who have never before seen such a complicated bottle skin,” Mr Diego Taboada, COO of Moldintec explains. The result is a new frontier for industrial bottle design; the PET skin itself becomes the full-body label. This is new territory for graphic designers and enables them to break out of the boundaries of traditional, bidimen- sional labels. Creativity leads to sustainability The Moldintec’s industrial design team worked closely with Danone’s I+R&D (Innovation, research and Development) engineers, and the two nations’ marketing and compliance teams to meet its branding require- ments, without using a label. Each country has its own laws covering food and bottled water, so the sup- port of the legal and regulatory team was fundamental to obtaining gov- ernmental approvals of the innovative packaging, where the brand, spring location, physical and chemical com- position and much other label infor- mation still has to be legible on the transparent skin of a PET bottle. The project was focused on devel- oping and delivering a 100% PCR PET bottle but with the existing shape conserved as much as possible, while satisfying surface bottle decoration and NoLabelling requirements. The techniques applied included 3D shap- ing of the logos and brands; a contrast of shine and shade effect by etching patterns and changes on ways that the surfaces flow; high readability fonts on the nearly transparent PET material, ensuring the legally-required information is effectively transferred by the moulds onto the bottle. “The challenge was amazing for all of us, at both companies,” said Eng. Francisco Crosta, Head of Danone’s Argentina-Uruguay R&I packaging team. “We are engineers and indus-