Recycle – Regenerate – Reuse: SMI's approach to packaging of the future

2021-09-15 2:25 min Global themes, Sustainability & Circular Economy

SMI S.p.A. S.Giovanni Bianco (BG), Italy

The growing consumers’ awareness towards the problems of the ecosystem in which people live influence the activity of the companies that prefer the use of sustainable packaging, such as rPET and cutting-edge technical solutions, like those supplied by SMI, in order to save energy and reduce the production environmental impact.

Design of sustainable containers

Today all the main food and beverage manufacturers aim at promoting sustainable lifestyles in compliance with circular economy and support the importance of the responsible use of resources and recycle. Their commitment starts from the use of PET plastics: a 100% recyclable and regenerable material.

Thanks to an advanced CAD center for 3D design, SMI supports companies in the design and graphic realization of a wide range of 100% recyclable PET containers, featuring high quality and lightweight in order to save energy and material.

(Photo credit: SMI)

Green solutions for the primary packaging

The wide range of SMI rotary stretch-blow moulders from EBS ERGON range is the ideal solution for manufacturing PET or rPET containers of different shapes and capacities from 0.10 L up to 10 L. The advantages of these machines are further enhanced in terms of space, energy and cost saving, when the blower is combined with a filler and a capper, which allows companies, actively involved in the environmental protection, to bottle their products in 100% recyclable, sustainable, light, unbreakable and safe containers with a high level of hygiene and suitable for the food and beverage storage.

An example of ECOBLOC® ERGON integrated system is represented by the recent installation at Volvic, a company part of Danone Group, for the production of 8 L rPET bottles.

(Photo credit: SMI)

Solutions for tethered caps

The tethered caps, that stay attached to the bottle after having been opened, will become an object of everyday use for European consumers from 2024, when 2019/904 directive will enter into force. The EU directive establishes the minimum recyclate percentage in plastic beverage bottles (77% starting from 2025 and 90% starting from 2030) and states that the caps of PET bottles have to be attached to the container, so that they can be recycled together with the bottle, thus avoiding they end up as waste in the environment.

SMI, aware of the challenges posed by this directive to beverage manufacturers, offers solutions for producing containers with a percentage of recycled PET in compliance with 2019/904 and supports customers in order to evaluate the right tethered cap solution.

(Photo credit: SMI)

Green solutions for secondary packaging

Within secondary packaging, SMI offers a wide range of automatic machines for packing in an efficient and eco-sustainable way several types of containers with an output up to 450 packs per minute (in triple lane) and applications that ensure energy saving.

Depending on the type of product to be packed and on the reference market, it is possible to choose the most appropriate packer among a wide range of automatic shrink wrappers for secondary packaging in stretch or recyclable film or among packers that use corrugated, kraft or Arcwise® cardboard.

All automatic packers produced by SMI are inspired by Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) concepts and ensure cost reduction, energy saving, environmental sustainability and increase in competitiveness.

Interactive tour to discover sustainable solutions

SMI still thinks about all those customers who, due to restrictions related to Covid-19, cannot travel to go to the Italian headquarters or to take part in trade fairs.

In order to find out the advantages of SMI complete lines, the company invites you to access the interactive tour: a journey inside two complete line solutions featuring sustainability and compliance with Industry 4.0, that allow to discover the cutting-edge technology to reduce the carbon footprint, energy consumption and waste material.

www.smigroup.it