For the changeover from previously used material combinations to new solutions with focus on sustainability, many parameters along the entire value chain have to be adapted. Our expertise lies in designing the specific properties of the changed components so that new sustainable laminates can be integrated in the best possible way in your packaging process.
At our plant in Holdorf, we extrude different film types with up to 9 layers. This enables us to implement new developments independently of third-party suppliers. Our customers benefit in particular from the adaptation of recycling-optimized solutions for their specific machine parameters. In addition, films made from renewable raw materials such as sugar cane are produced here and recycled granules are processed on a separate extruder.
Coextruded sealing layers have a crucial role in the design for recycling of flexible packaging. By customizing the technical properties of a film, we develop the best possible solution to substitute conventional laminates. The focus is particularly on barrier and sealing properties. Ensuring recyclability reduces the choice of high-performance substrates, while product protection and machine runability must be maintained. Weighing up the various priorities, decisions often have to be made on a case-by-case basis in order to achieve a viable solution in terms of design for recycling.
In blown film extrusion, it is possible to use polyethylene based on sugar cane or bio diesel. These PE grades can be considered as drop-in solutions, which means that their property profiles are almost identical to petrochemical PE. The bio-based polyethylenes available on the market include various HDPE, LDPE and LLDPE grades. Since the plant-based raw material stores more CO2 than is emitted during granule production, its share reduces the carbon footprint of a packaging. The recycling of these PEs is comparable to that of conventional polyethylene. It is therefore 100% recyclable.
The use of regranulates made from recycled plastics is subject to certain restrictions. Only a few regranulates are approved for use in food packaging. Furthermore, the processing of regranulates is associated with corresponding requirements to prevent the mixing of virgin and recycled material within the production process. Via our blown film extrusion we produce Coex-PE with portions of mechanically regranulated PCR substrates for hygiene products as well as chemically regranulated material for food applications.
At our plants in Holdorf and Trebbin, we print on a variety of materials using flexographic and rotogravure printing processes. Due to the increasing competition at the PoS, the complexity of print motifs in the packaging sector is also increasing. Our state-of-the-art printing lines enable us to integrate special varnish or digital watermarks in the print design in addition to high-resolution print. Our print preparation team supports our customers with its extensive know-how for the best possible result on the respective print substrate.
Over the years, we have continuously developed the quality of flexographic printing at ppg > even demanding designs can be implemented without any problems in terms of sharpness of detail and gradients. In order to achieve even more brilliant results in terms of print sharpness, we also have the option to adapt the printing plates to the motifs in high quality flexographic printing, which significantly expands the range of colors. Thanks to our team's long experience and extensive know-how in print preparation, we are able to provide our customers with the best support in the implementation of their designs, enabling very quick processing from design development to print approval.
To react as flexibly as possible to our customers' requirements in terms of quality and order sizes, rotogravure printing has been part of the technology portfolio at ppg > for over 10 years. Due to its unrestricted high quality in the brilliant reproduction of complex printed images, rotogravure printing continues to be an authority for flexible packaging. Particularly for long print runs and frequent repetitions, rotogravure printing has its strenghts in terms of consistency due to the extremely low degree of wear on the print media.
To increasy the individuality at the PoS, we at ppg > offer our customers the option of integrating mat or haptic effects to the designs. In addition, our printing machines enables us to apply barrier and sealing varnishes to enable the use of printed mono-materials made of plastic or paper on conventional packaging systems.
Due to our specialization in advanced multilayer laminates, we are familiar with the processing of plastic, paper and aluminum. Accordingly, we have various lamination technologies (solvent-free, solvent-based, water-based and wax-based) in our companies. Our customers thus benefit from a wide range of technologies to find the best possible solution for their product.
Solventless lamination is the most efficient type of bonding process for laminates. On the one hand, due to its large proportion of solids, it does not require separate drying processes, and on the other hand, comparatively low processing temperatures are needed. Therefore, this process needs less thermal energy than other lamination systems and achieves very good optical quality and high composite adhesion of the laminates.
The technological diversity at ppg > lamination also includes the possibility of producing packaging materials for aggressive products. Solvent lamination is used to produce laminates for particularly demanding requirements in terms of bond strenght and resistance. This means that even products as chemical liquids or industrial oils can be processed reliably and the tightness of the sealing can be guaranteed. Furthermore, precursors for sealing discs and blanks that require extremely high barrier can also be produced.
Among the numerous possibilities for lamination processes in the ppg > group is the use of waxes. Wax-based lamination provides composite grades with a high-quality feel and touch and very good dead fold properties. This process ensures important physical properties of the laminates while maintaining high quality standards, especially for fat products and wrapper applications.
To reduce the use of chemical products and enable materials to be bonded in the most environmentally friendly way possible, the ppg > technology portfolio also includes water-based lamination.
The internal logistics of many customers require a high degree of individualization in the finishing of reels for packaging processes. On numerous slitting lines, which can also be used for embossing and laser perforation, we produce different widths for all common core diameters and individualize the roll labeling according to customer requirements. We also produce stretch films for returnable beverage bottles and plastic containers of all kinds on six sleeve lines.
As the market leader for stretch sleeves for PET reusable bottles in Germany, the technology portfolio of ppg > includes the finishing of labels that adhere to the bottle by pure restoring force and do not require any adhesive. This solution has the advantage that the labels can be easily removed from the bottle, so that unmixed PE is fed into the recycling stream and the bottle can be refilled.
In order to make it possible for our customers to design their packaging as consumer-friendly as possible, laser perforation has been added to our machinery years ago. This allows convenient opening aids to be integrated into pouch packaging to facilitate the easy opening of tightly sealed laminates. Due to different geometries, the function of the perforation can be designed so variably that even valve solutions for water vapor during heating in the packaging are possible.
We also have extensive capacities for the last production step of converting to the final reel width. This enables us to process order volumes fast and flexible. Our customers benefit from a high degree of individualization options for reel cores and labels to support the specific requirements of their workflow. We also offer the possibility of applying structural embossing for aluminum composites.
