Why (it is important) to recycle corrugated cardboard: the benefits

Who are the pilots and what is their mission? The pilots are a team of innovation’s representatives of each alliance’s member (see below for more detailed information). They define themselves as: “We are a bunch of pragmatic and entrepreneurial colleagues on a mission to discover sustainable, corrugated based packaging solutions that will bring value to our most respected global customers.” For them, identifying the precise issue to be solved and co-design tomorrow’s solution is one of the best ways to serve our customers. How do they do it? By offering exclusive working sessions together with clients and cross-functional profiles (marketing, R&D, designer, production manager) and one of the partners of the European innovation eco-system. Based a design thinking method facilitated by Board Of Innovation with Michiel Mol and Robin Vermeulen, the objective is to quickly prototype and to accelerate projects that are already identified or that will be soon in the pipeline. In November 2022, the Innovation Academy was hosted at H.B. Fuller’s location in close partnership with Elizabeth Staab and Martin Riswick. Even with the COVID situation, it was decided to maintain the session, on a hybrid version that was really appreciated by our clients: "Even if this was done remotely, this was interactive, really appreciate their enthusiasm to work on the topic”European Packaging Engineer With an average success rate of 8.34/10, the Innovation Pilots have decided to continue this very valuable and customer-centric event and to set-up four Innovation Academies for 2022. Please save the dates! March 2022 (date to be confirmed) – topic: how to design alternative to single use plastic in the beverage industry? – France - already full 5th to 7th April 2022 – topic: how to tackle e-commerce supply chain impacts? – location to be defined 13th to 15th September 2022 – topic: how to identify paper-based options for your business? – location to be defined 15th to 17th November 2022 – topic: how can we imagine the future of e-commerce? – location to be defined Do you want to know more about the program and the topic? Please have a look at the document! 2022_BBP_HbFuller_Innovation-Academies_Teaser-1Download Do you want to have an entire team dedicated to your issue? Please contact us! daphne.deledicq@vpkgroup.com Origin of the European Pilots team Since January 2021, our Chief Innovation Officer, Daphne Deledicq decided to create a dedicated team in order to answer global customers’ requests and to work together on key strategic packaging topics, sustainability and e-commerce . This team gathers packaging design experts from the alliance with complementary profiles: VPK: Arnaud Bertelli and Nikolaas Verhelst Klingele: Christian Hoessle Hinojosa: Norman Masia Cart-One: Daniele Plazzi and Fiorentino Pirone Most of them were already the ones trained in 2019 for FFP certification #Ecommerce / #Sustainability

The evolution of packaging does not only occur in terms of sustainability: today, more and more often we talk about functional packaging, taking care to distinguish between: active packaging intelligent packaging But let's take one thing at a time and understand what the characteristics of functional packaging are, and when we are dealing with active packaging or intelligent packaging. What is meant by functional packaging? We are dealing with functional packaging when a material, container, or accessory that constitutes the packaging manages to serve multiple functions. The difference with traditional packaging lies in the fact that this packaging performs an additional function which, beyond mere containment, integrates and interacts with the content in order to improve its acceptability and shelf life. Functional packaging solutions are already in use in the food and pharmaceutical sectors, where the product must not only be preserved, but requires the packaging to perform an action that allows for the control of quality and the preservation state of the product itself. Active packaging and intelligent packaging: differences Among functional types of packaging are active packaging and intelligent packaging. Regarding active packaging, this expression refers to all those solutions that interact with the content by controlling the internal atmosphere. The material can release antimicrobials, antioxidants, and other useful substances that improve product quality. Intelligent packaging, on the other hand, is characterized by the presence of an indicator that can be positioned either inside or outside a package. The purpose of the latter is to actively represent the history of the product in relation to its quality level. What is the purpose of intelligent packaging? In this sense, the purpose of active and intelligent packaging is threefold since they must: reduce the rate of quality degradation provide protection from all possible contaminations be simple and practical to move and use For example, among the functions that can be attributed to intelligent packaging is the possibility to interact with the package environment and with the consumer. Through this function, it is possible to record important variations for the purpose of proper food preservation, signaling any abuse through color changes.

The “Guidelines for facilitating the recycling of paper packaging” is a document created thanks to the collaboration between the research group of the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta” of the Politecnico di Milano and the professionals of COMIECO. The content offers a complete overview of the specifics of paper packaging and the different types of materials that make up the packaging, and it is part of the Pensare Futuro project which includes a series of initiatives on the prevention of the environmental impact of packaging developed by CONAI. Click the link to read the entire document: Paper Packaging Recycling Guidelines Paper packaging classification and functionality Packaging has always responded to the human need to transport and preserve goods to keep them for as long as possible. If in ancient times we moved from the simple leaf to other materials such as wood, glass, fabrics, ceramics, and paper, the history of packaging as we know it today began in the second half of the 19th century with progressive industrialization, also assuming a value linked to corporate branding. Over time, this need has grown stronger. Today, the perspective of environmental protection requires us to transform packaging with a view to eco-sustainability. According to Legislative Decree 152/06, Art. 218, packaging is defined as “the product, composed of materials of any nature, used to contain specific goods, from raw materials to finished products, to protect them, to allow their handling and their delivery from the producer to the consumer or user, to ensure their presentation, as well as disposable items used for the same purpose”. Packaging must therefore perform four functions: Containment of the product to be used by the consumer; Protection of the content from external factors to keep its quality intact over space and time; Handling of goods among the various users that make up the distribution network (from manufacturer to consumer); Presentation of the good to the consumer, thus fulfilling a communicative function thanks to the transfer of information from the producer to the user. Classification of packaging While until recently packaging was mainly focused on the function of protecting contents from external contamination, currently the use of functional materials and new technologies has allowed the generation of a new category of packaging defined as smart packaging: these are packs that, thanks to the integration of digitally printed electronics, acquire functionalities that go far beyond the simple containment of a product. We distinguish and classify in detail the existing types of packaging: 1. Sales packaging or primary packaging: packaging in contact with the product that constitutes a sales unit for the user/consumer (e.g., shoe box, egg carton, bread bag, and fruit juice bricks) 2. Grouped packaging or secondary packaging: packaging designed to group a certain number of sales units (e.g., boxes used for e-commerce, supermarket displays, and shopping bags) 3. Transport packaging or tertiary packaging: packaging designed to facilitate the handling and transport of goods and aimed at minimizing transport-related damage. Depending on their composition, packaging can be: Monomaterial: consisting of a single material; Multimaterial: consisting of components made of different materials that can be separated manually; Composite (also called laminated or multi-layer): composed of two or more materials that cannot be separated manually. The Directive Directive 94/62/EC recognizes the fundamental social and economic function of packaging. Specifically, Directive 94/62/EC asserts that packaging must be designed to allow the recycling of at least a certain percentage of the materials used in compliance with the regulations in force within the European Community. The parameters tested concern all stages of the packaging's life according to logics belonging to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Recyclable materials in a percentage higher than 60% should be preferred, limiting lamination with other materials. The packaging must also offer the possibility of completely minimizing the risk of product residues inside the container, to prevent the residue, for example food, from contaminating the recyclable waste. It must not be forgotten, for example, that paper and cardboard, although characterized by numerous advantages such as breathability, flexibility, and lightness of the final product, are at the same time materials susceptible to humidity and water, not suitable for packaging greasy products unless laminated with barrier materials. With equal performance, it is therefore appropriate to opt for cellulose monomaterial packaging, so as to minimize components of different materials. If, however, it is impossible to avoid adopting the latter solution, it is necessary for such packaging to be easily separable by the end user. Design for recycling: how should packaging be designed? To talk about design for recycling, it is important for the designer to know and take into account the different processes that make up the end-of-life of packaging, in order to be able to design alternative solutions aimed at optimizing the recycling of paper and cardboard packaging products. The packaging must, for example, be made with inks that are easily washable during the recovery phase. For example, UV inks are not easily removable and their use can compromise the purity of a batch sent for recycling. To obtain recyclable packaging, it is also advisable to limit the use of PVC adhesive tapes or fixing staples, which are difficult for the end consumer to remove and would simultaneously create a residue within the processing of the product to be recycled. CART-ONE has always been at the forefront of implementing corrugated cardboard production strategies for the creation of sustainable packaging. Contact us for more information on our proposals for creating high-quality customized packaging.