Sustainability was the topic front and center at the FINAT Technical Seminar that took place end of November in Barcelona (Motto: “Finding a path through the sustainability jungle”) . The two-day conference was opened by a keynote by Keenan Thompson, who is currently working for Philip Morris International on innovation and the brand lens on sustainability. CCL had been invited to deliver a presentation on “How the right labels help brands boost recycling rates of their packaging”, which was well received. Innovia was present with a booth and demonstrated their RayoFloat APO material as well as other films for the label and packaging industries.
CELAB delivered a presentation on the progress that has been made on liner recycling and matrix recycling, resulting in a map with recyclers that brands and other label users can turn to to find a recycler close by who will take the liner material in for recycling: https://celab-europe.org/resources/interactive-map-of-solution-providers/. They also have a new website with more information on the topic: www.celab-europe.org. (CCL is a member of CELAB).
Other presentations by companies like UPM Raflatac, Kurz, Lundberg and Flint focused on material LCAs, automated waste handling and sustainable label materials, before moving into the regulatory part where an update was given on “the packaging and packaging waste regulation” that was issued by the European Commission and will be discussed in the parliament soon.
On the second day there was a focus on sustainable solutions in materials and processes, where KURZ presented their innovations and the impact of metallized embellishments on the recycling process. Xeikon spoke about comparing the different digital printing technologies on their sustainable characteristics while BOBST commented on how one can drive for more sustainability in label production.
The presentations from the FINAT Technical Seminar can be found here:
FINAT Technical Seminar 2022 Proceedings
All speakers, the full program and key take-aways can be found here: https://www.finat.com/events/finat-technical-seminar-2022
