S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
Single-serve sustainability COVID-19 affected the ways companies pack their products, organize operations and run their facilities. It also caused an increase in demand for industrial pre-packaged bakery products, and
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sustainable ones. A major step towards more sustainable packaging is enhancing its recyclability.
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Mono-material films further cater to the sustainable packaging requirements of many industries, e.g. bakery
Moving to individually wrapped items and increasing the packaging speed is not without challenges. Packaging smaller, individual portions creates a bottleneck within the feeding process: for example, single-serving items would have to be picked and placed into the flow wrapper without harming their integrity, which is especially needed when handling fragile bakery goods. Packaging products individually also faces limitations that stem from the shape of the product itself, whereas bulk packaging often does not require a specific shape. Product distribution systems are required here, or robotic solutions to feed, align and group the products.
product protection as conventional plastic but can be fully recycled via established recycling streams. Moreover, portion packs can support product quality: singleunit packaging within a multi-pack keeps products fresh for longer, since consumers can portion the products more easily. Added functionalities, such as easy opening and closing features for resealable packs, further increase the product’s shelf life. A sustainability mindset Given the notable focus on sustainable packaging, equipment manufacturers such as Syntegon Technology have been adapting existing packaging machinery, including horizontal flow wrappers, to package confectionery products in paper flow wraps, and cater to the need for alternatives to classic film-based packages. “Paper flow wraps are currently in the spotlight as a viable path towards a truly circular economy, which envisages to close energy and material cycles through efficient resource use, recycling and waste reduction,” Andreas Schildknecht, global product manager robotics and bakery at Syntegon Technology, highlights. Paper
This move also marks an abrupt departure from previous considerations regarding (environmental-friendly) packaging, which would encourage minimal or no wrapping whenever possible. Packaging sustainability becomes, under these circumstances, an even more important goal. A major step towards more sustainable packaging is enhancing its recyclability; one way to achieve this is by wrapping bars, cookies and crackers using polyolefin-based mono-material films, such as polypropylene (PP). It offers the same
www.bakingbiscuit.com 01/2021
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