TRADE SHOW PREVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 10/22 www.petpla.net 52 Processing rPET in thin wall injection moulding In cooperation with partners Alpla Group, Brink and IPB Printing, Engel is promising to present a quantum leap for the packaging industry. For the first time, thin-walled containers made of PET can be produced in a single injection moulding process step. Austrian injection moulding machine manufacturer Engel is processing recycled material (rPET) at its stand. An Engel e-speed injection moulding machine with a newly-developed and powerful injection unit is being used to do this. Engel Hall 15 Booth C58 Featuring a wall thickness of 0.32mm, the transparent, round 125ml containers are representative of a whole genus of packaging, especially in the food industry. Thanks to integrated in-mould labelling (IML), the containers are ready-for-filling as soon as they leave the production cell. The special feature in this application is the material. The thin-walled containers are produced directly from rPET in a single step. Up to now it has only been possible to process PET in thick-walled parts such as bottle preforms in injection moulding. The final packaging format was created in a second step of the process – by blow moulding for example. Bottle-to-cup and cup-to-bottle as the target Under the European Plastics Pact, the intent is for all plastic packaging to contain 30% recycled material and to be 100% recycling capable by 2025. The typical materials for packing foods in thin-thin-walled containers are polyolefins or polystyrene. However, experts estimate that it will be impossible to achieve the stated objectives with these materials. And the recycling flows lack the approval of the European food authority, EFSA. Recycled PET offers a solution for avoiding penalties and special taxes here. Although the price for PET is high right now, this makes the material a cost- effective alternative. Efsa has approved numerous recycling processes for PET, ensuring that the material is available in Europe. PET offers the benefit of a close recycling loop already being in place. To date, PET is the only packaging Thanks to the new high-performance injection unit, thin-walled containers made of PET and rPET can be produced on the Engel e-speed injection moulding machine.
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