FOR A CLEANER WORD

[Over to… Andrea Ghu, sales manager of Poplast srl

For a cleaner world

by

Poplast

«The Poplast Group has decided to sign up to the Ethical Packaging Charter driven by a twofold need: correctly orientate resources dedicated to the research of new flexible packaging and find a way to effectively communicate this fundamental characteristic.
Poplast is in line with the sustainability criteria that guides the strategies of the owner, Green Arrow Capital, which is one of the leading independent alternative investment managers with a focus on renewable energy sources.
The company has, in fact, a strong sense of responsibility with respect to its activities: ethical conduct, protection of the environment and support of communities are key business aspects of the Group, today and tomorrow.

A far-sighted vision

We are specialised in in flexographic and rotogravure printing, in lamination and cutting processes and we have reorganised all ongoing projects in the light of our “values”, fostering a balanced, sustainable and safe development.
R&D activity is focused on giving projects maximum transparency, so as to provide to parties outside the group – market, politics and communities – all necessary information in a correct and accessible way, exploiting the potential of the company website and social networks.
For us it’s fundamental not to lapse into any form of conscious greenwashing. To this end, all our new proposals are based on scientific data and are evaluated and certified by third parties.

In partnership with the University of Parma, we are making a comparison of old and new structures, comparing the life-cycle analyses (LCA) of products, with the aim of clarifying, first for ourselves, if we are going in the right direction. It’s an ongoing project, shared by all involved, which has the objective of obtaining scientific and not subjective values, so as to enable our customers to make choices in line with a far-sighted vision of packaging and the world.

I would like to emphasise that this year Poplast will be presenting its first sustainability report certified by KPMG.

Giving objectivity to data

We fight fervently against the dissemination of superficial ideas and opinions, such as the affirmation that the use of paper is always preferable to plastic.

The two materials cannot obviously be equated due to their different properties (barrier effect, preservation, etc.) but also because each one carries with it a different environmental impact.
It is important to highlight the fact, accepted today also in the academic world, that many LCAs are “incomplete” and contradictory, such as to raise doubts about certification.

In general, there are many prejudices regarding plastic and sustainable materials in general. I would make reference to the latest compostable barrier material which we have developed: it’s a thermoformable film for trays made with polymers of fossil origin.
Why haven’t we opted for compostable polymers coming from renewable sources? Because those of fossil origin have a lower cost and much higher quality consistency characteristics.
It’s a concrete way to combine ecology and economic viability.

With regards to compostable packaging, however, the most evident problem is that only we in Italy are working in this direction, in contrast with what is happening, for example, in France and Germany.
This means that even if we develop a very valid product, since there is no industrial collection and treatment system downstream, we are not actually offering any benefit, but only increasing costs.
It is necessary, therefore, to consider the advantages and disadvantages of every solution: to eliminate sugar in sachets we would have to return to the sugar bowls of the past… The same is true for single-dose packs of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, which proved to be essential during the Covid period.

Another example of doubtful virtuousness is the solution recently launched by a fast-food chain in France, which has decided to serve chips and soft drink in reusable plastic beakers. The question arises as to how the beakers are washed after use (and with what energy consumption and hygienic result), or if the problem of phthalates has been considered which, with the progressive deterioration of the plastic, can easily migrate into the food.

Looking ahead

Users often anticipate directions for packaging developments and are already orientated towards simpler forms of packaging, thereby favouring their recycling.
The trend that has taken root in favour of polyolefin-based solutions – PP and PE, for example – came about through proposals made by certain German mass retail groups, such as Aldi and Lidl, to ban polyester, polyamide, and aluminium packaging.
We started from there, more or less 5-6 years ago, and over time we have improved our knowledge and expertise on the question, to the extent that today, for example, the evaluation and certification of recyclability of our materials is carried out by the German institute Cyclos-HTP.

As is well-known, the two other preferred areas of intervention for greater sustainability relate to a reduction of thicknesses and the use of recycled material.
As a result, generally speaking, today we use 15-20% of quality recycled material coming from processing scraps in our polyethylene film for food products.
The fact that packaging is becoming increasingly lighter is clear to everyone: for the top of trays for cold meats we offer a film with a 52 microns thickness, while only 3 years ago the specific standard was 82-92 microns, and this is despite the increase in the speed of cutting and packaging machines which tend to put the material under increasing stress.

Ready to listen

It’s easy, then, to understand how important it is to set up collaboration between producers of materials, machine manufacturers and users: there are many intelligent innovations, good for the environment, that struggle to take off because the behaviour of the material in the machine is not optimal, which obviously penalizes productivity.

It’s necessary to start from the assumption that everyone can do more and better.
For our part, we try to provide information and training, explaining to customers that a choice in favour of the environment can be advantageous also for them.
Why, therefore, persist in preconceived positions and liquidate everything with a no? Why not face the question of the shelf-life of products and how to best contribute to reducing food waste?
The duration of a product does not depend only on the product itself but also on its preservation, and our packaging solutions affect precisely this.