During the INNOVATION PACK business section dedicated to packaging and printing, Anna Yeliseeva, Senor Product Manager of PCF Atlantis-Pak LLC, presented her report 'Evaluation of the Life Cycle of Multilayer Packaging Materials Exemplified by Our Products'.
The topic was selected because preservation of the environment, efficient use of resources and recycling of plastic wastes belong to the most urgent issues of the packaging industry at present. On the 1 January 2025 the economic mechanism of extended producer responsibility came into force, which obliges the manufacturers of packaging to pay the environment protection charge, send wastes to licensed facilities for reprocessing, or dispose of the wastes on site.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) directly impacts and interests all manufacturers of packaging, whether plastic, paper, glass or metal. The EPR system refers all multilayer polymer bags and films containing a polyamide layer, to the category of hard-to-process materials; as a consequence the market is under the impression that such packaging is not environment-friendly and must be limited in its use or replaced with alternatives.
However, an objective assessment of the packaging effect on the environment is only possible by considering the entire life cycle of packaging: from extraction of raw materials to recycling of wastes.
A few years ago PCF Atlantis-Pak LLC recognized the need for development of a method for quantitative evaluation of the environmental impact of our products, since this is the only way to distinguish between really and seemingly sustainable materials.
AMISTYLE films were used as an example of application of the life cycle assessment method to convincingly show that polymer packaging is sustainable, resource-saving and environment-friendly. Only such packaging is capable of protecting the overwhelming majority of hard-to-process food products, such as meat, cheese and sausage.
Environment protection laws have been in existence for quite a time, but 90% of market players know very little about them, while PCF Atlantis-Pak LLC has already invested into waste processing equipment, studied the production technologies for the recycled structures, and started creating some of these.
'We aim to instill in the society a more reasonable view on sustainability of food packaging, so as to reduce costs along the entire value chain through higher efficiency of the production technology and minimization of wastes, and to demonstrate to the consumers that our company cares for the country's food safety and protection of our nature', concluded Anna Yeliseeva.
On the whole, the UPAKEXPO exhibition proved to be a platform for discussion by the packaging industry players of the most burning issues, and joint search for solutions.
