Progress in Packaging series: Mapping BOBST’s progress against the latest industry trends

24 January 2022

Progress in Packaging series: Mapping BOBST's progress against the latest industry trends

Trends in Packaging Materials

In 2021, FACHPACK - the leading trade fair and vital guide for the European packaging industry - published its Trendradar 2021 report. The FACHPACK Trendradar 2021 report outlines the current hot topics and trends in the packaging industry and picks out the ones that will be transformative for the industry over the next three to five years. At BOBST, we agree with the assessment of these trends and have some very relevant developments that will help the packaging industry to stay ahead of them.
In total, the report includes 21 trends across the following four categories:

1. Packaging materials
2. Packaging design
3. Functionalized packaging
4. Production and logistics technologies

Over the next four articles we will provide BOBST's response and progress in each category, highlighting some of the pioneering and cutting-edge work that is ongoing within the organization to support brand owners and converters around the world.

Progress in packaging materials
The first category highlighted in the FACHPACK report is packaging materials. It is the one area of the packaging industry that truly has the eyes of the world upon it. Environmental and sustainability issues are at the top of the agenda of governments, companies and individuals all over the world.
We know that the qualities that make plastics so suited for packaging - versatility, durability, impermeability - also make them very environmentally unfriendly; non-biodegradable and challenging to recycle. It is a particular challenge for flexible packaging such as that used for food packaging, where the high barrier protection against oxygen and water that prevents deterioration is currently provided by multi-layer, multi-material packaging, which cannot be recycled. The light weight and food contamination associated with so much flexible packaging also makes it less appealing for collection and recycling.
Key trends mentioned in the FACHPACK report include an increased use of recycled material, the need for mono-materials for better separability and recyclability, and the importance of the circular economy (a model of production and consumption, which involves reusing, repairing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible).

Towards high barrier mono-material flexible packaging solutions
The report highlights the importance of avoiding composite materials and designing disposable packaging in such a way that it can be separated by type.
At BOBST, we have been working hard with our partners to achieve exactly this, aiming to replace non-recyclable high barrier multi-material packaging structures with mono-material alternatives designed for recycling. Partners involved in this effort include Argha, Brückner Maschinenbau, Constantia, Dow, Elba, Mitsui Chemicals, ESI, Hosokawa Alpine, Indopoly, Michelman Danaflex and Sun Chemical.

We first launched several different samples of mono-material standup pouches (MDO PE, BOPE, BOPP and CPP) at K 2019. BOBST and many of the partners involved continued their considerable investment and intense research to progress the samples even further, to ensure all industry requirements are met in terms of processability, barrier, safety and optical quality. In 2021, we together launched the 'Generation 2.0' samples of high barrier flexible packaging solutions designed for recyclability, taking us one step closer to our ultimate goal of being able to provide completely recyclable solutions to replace non-recyclable packaging.

oneBARRIER
As well as developing novel mono-materials, we are also investigating how to optimize existing options for recyclability. The report highlights that polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP) are internationally recyclable.
oneBARRIER is a family of new alternative and sustainable solutions that BOBST is developing with its partners, the first of which is a high barrier mono-material full PE transparent or metallized solution as an alternative to metallized polyester film.

Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) is a polymer with good barrier properties, but EVOH based films can be difficult to recycle because coextruded EVOH layers are typically rather thick. oneBARRIER is producing EVOH-free solutions for high barrier full mono-material PE, with the non mono-material content reduced, hence maximizing the amount of PE. Through this initiative, we aim to provide a packaging structure that is recycling ready and economical while ensuring exceptional barrier performances.

A truly circular economy
Future projects are focused on other mono-material plastic solutions as well as developing alternative fiber-based paper packaging solutions, which will be easily recyclable, supporting the drive for a circular economy.

Indeed, all of these efforts will naturally contribute to the circular economy. At BOBST, we are dedicated to contributing to a more circular economy and to supporting the flexible packaging industry to becoming more sustainable. It is no longer a 'nice to have' for companies and we are completely focused on helping our clients achieve their ambitious sustainability goals.

Make sure to keep an eye out for the second article in the series, when we tackle the key trends in the next category of the FACHPACK report - packaging design.

Bobst Mex SA, Switzerland