(Interview) Hosokawa Alpine: Recyclability is preferred in the packaging industry
The packaging industry is undergoing a changing trend, says Wolfgang Menzel, Senior Sales Manager China of Hosokawa Alpine. Previously, packaging primarily focuses on using as little packaging material as possible without considering recyclability. “Now, the main focus is clever packaging as well as recyclability, which means that packages with only one material class and easy to recycle are preferred,” he says.
Against this backdrop, PE resin seems to be the most popular product when it comes to flexible packaging. Since the preferred method to convert PE resin is by blown film, he sees a boom in the blown film industry and stretching lines like MDO (Machine Direction Orientation).
Apart from innovating sustainable film solutions such as films made of bio or PCR resins, two other goals that Hosokawa Alpine are striving towards are digitization of production and making flexible packaging ready for a circular economy, which Menzel believes will bring the company to new heights.
Wolfgang Menzel, Senior Sales Manager China of Hosokawa Alpine.
Outstanding film properties by MDO technology
A pioneer in the development of MDO technology, Hosokawa Alpine is a global leader in blown film technology with over 25 years of experience in monoaxial stretching. On its innovative MDO lines, full PE pouches can be produced which meet the needs of the market. These mono-material pouches can be recycled and used again in a circular economy on a similar level.
“By monoaxial orientation, outstanding film characteristics can be achieved, which allows PE film structures to substitute multimaterial film of PE and PET or BOPP,” Menzel explains. These outstanding film properties, including high stiffness, increased oxygen transmission rate, excellent optical properties and reduction of film thickness, are fundamental for the lamination and printing of Full PE packaging films.
Thanks to advanced MDO technology, outstanding properties can be achieved for PE packaging films.
Economy of production is ensured by Hosokawa Alpine’s unique TRIO technology (Trim Reduction for Inline Orientation), offering significant material savings in edge trimming. In addition, customers can obtain superior MDO film quality with outstanding processability, optimized flatness and no hanging edges, thanks to its new vacuum technology.
In particular, he points out that Hosokawa Alpine blown film lines provides maximum flexibility for the production of blocked as well as double flat film. “The flexible packaging industry will benefit from our MDO Full PE solutions,” he explains. “We also see a high potential for mono-material products for easier recycling regarding circular economy.”
Hosokawa Alpine is a global leader in blown film technology with over 25 years of experience in monoaxial stretching.
Heavy duty sacks meet the highest requirements
Although heavy duty shipping sacks are mass produced from inexpensive plastic films, they need to be robust and offer proven solutions to shipping requirements and meet the highest technical requirements in order to safely withstand the forces they are exposed to. These requirements include high stiffness and excellent sealing characteristics, dimensional stability even at higher temperatures, high puncture resistance, low tear propagation, and high resistance to all stresses during filling, stacking, transport, storage and even rough handling under local conditions.
Hosokawa Alpine’s heavy duty sacks lines combine this characteristics with high output of up to 500 kg/h. The company has more than 25 years of experience in project planning and production of heavy-duty shipping sack lines, with more than 180 heavy-duty shipping sack systems currently in use around the world. “Our excellent and well-known reputation for heavy-duty sack lines extend to other applications like lamination for PE and barrier films,” he says.
The films are further processed on Form-Fill-Seal (FFS) lines designed to produce heavy duty shipping sacks. To this end, the film is fed from a reel as a side gusseted tube. The film tube can either be made directly on the blown film line or be produced by means of a longitudinal welding process from single sheet film made on the blown film line.
Menzel points out that Hosokawa Alpine's heavy-duty shipping sack lines are customized for the formulations and dimensions required to produce heavy duty shipping sacks. “This dedicated concept combines very high output rates with excellent thickness tolerance and high reel quality,” he says.
Moreover, these sack lines offer the highest output with low energy consumption through compact extrusion, with very flexible lines designed for a wide range of raw materials and viscosities. The modular design allows the subsequent conversion from 3-layer to 5-layer designs.
