“It was unthinkable a year ago, but now it has happened. We have a world first,” said Gerhard Dimmler, head of technology at Engel, a mechanical engineering company based in Schwerberg, at the “K” in Düsseldorf, holding a 125ml plastic container for the camera. It benefits the international trade audience at the “K”, which presents its innovations here every three years. Angel has developed an injection molding process for thin-walled PET packaging that is said to be revolutionary for food packaging and its recycling. Up to 100 percent recycled PET material (rPET) can be processed into new, ready-to-fill cups in one process step without any loss of quality. The process was developed together with the partners Alpla from Tyrol, Brink and IML and IPB from the Netherlands. Dimmler: “Circular economy must succeed in cooperation with other companies. We learn from each other. As an industry and as a company, we are still at the beginning.”
Until now, injection molding of PET could only be processed into thick-walled parts, such as bottle preforms, which reached their final shape in a second step (blowing). With a wall thickness of 0.32 mm, the transparent 125 ml round containers represent a whole range of packaging, especially in the food sector. With the innovation, bottles and other packaging no longer need to be downcycled, but could actually be recycled or even upcycled.
According to Engel, this technology is crucial to achieving the EU recycling targets and avoiding high fines. Compared to other plastics, PET has the advantage that there is already a closed recycling loop that produces food-grade packaging material. Typical other materials for packaging food in thin wall containers are polyolefins or polystyrene. According to experts, the stated goals will not be achievable with these materials.
Although Engel, with 3,400 employees in Austria and 7,000 worldwide, is still officially speaking of good capacity utilization, orders have been falling since the summer. The capacity utilization in the Upper Austrian plants in Schwertberg and Kronstorf was around a third significantly lower than in the previous year, as could be heard at the trade fair. Sales in the current financial year will be EUR 1.6 billion (2020/21: EUR 1.5 billion).
Other companies from Upper Austria also showed their developments. Of the Mechanical engineer Fill from Gurten wants to open up a new market with machines for the production of particle foam: caravan manufacturers. The demand for caravans is rising sharply. “That’s an issue for us, because the cavities in the foam offer good insulation,” which is desirable in mobile homes, says Wilhelm Rupertsberger, Head of the Plastics Competence Center at Fill. A steam-free pre-foaming technology was developed and patented, which means that drying before further processing is no longer necessary. When asked about economic expectations, Fill said they were not worried at the moment, “our people will also be well utilized next year”, but customers would very well postpone projects, sometimes by a year.
The Upper Austrian pioneer in the manufacture of plastic recycling systems from Ansfelden, erema, was a well-attended exhibitor at the fair. People used to be considered outsiders at the plastics trade fair, but now recycling is THE topic, says Gerold Breuer, Head of Marketing at Erema. “We can’t keep up with plant construction,” says Breuer, worldwide. Above all, very large plants with high overall capacities for plastic recycling are in demand. “The topic has now arrived from the niche in the middle of the industry”. Of course, it will now take years to make up for the lost decades of recycling, but “it’s going faster than I thought”. After all, all plastic products placed on the market in the EU must be recyclable by 2030.
The great demand for machines for the production of packaging films makes it necessary SML from Redlham (400 employees, expected turnover of 180 million euros) to plan an expansion at the already new location in Redlham as early as 2023. At the “K” SML showed one of the largest film lines, which can also process recycling material, in operation. In this way, you are making an important contribution to the circular economy, said Managing Director Karl Stöger. The company is constantly researching ways to increase productivity and recycle the films produced.
The Micheldorfer injection molding tool maker for plastic pipes ifw the energy saving topic benefits. With new machines, you can double the output in the same time with electricity savings of up to 40 percent. ifw managing directors Gerald Neudeck and Harald Schicklgruber spoke of new standards in resource efficiency in the production of pipe “joints”, so-called fittings. Up to 60 percent of the energy can be saved compared to the previous systems. With a different design, the systems would be lighter and would require less energy to produce the pipes.
As in the previous year, sales expectations for the current financial year are 32 million euros (19 million in tool making, 13 in injection moulding/tube production). The high-tech company’s export rate is over 90 percent, and its main market is Europe. Recycling material for the ifw pipe parts is not really an issue, as the pipe connections have to withstand very high loads and the standards for this are required by most customers. Recycled material is not standardized.
At the toolmaker Haidlmair from Nußbach in the Kirchdorf district, recycling material is sometimes a big issue for customers, such as Euro pallets made from recycled plastic. Reusable solutions for vegetable or beverage crates, for which Haidlmair builds the molds or production systems, are also in great demand, reported managing director Mario Haidlmaier, who had brought a plastic six-pack to the trade fair.
The topic of circular economy and recycling was omnipresent at the fair. Economic Provincial Councilor Markuks Achleitner (ÖVP) said that Upper Austria has already come a long way thanks to its innovative companies and research projects. But for optimal recycling, plastic products would have to become simpler. And Upper Austria, which already has 220 plastics companies with 38,000 employees, “must become the heart of the sustainable plastics industry.”
Around 250,000 trade visitors from all over the world are expected at the Düsseldorf plastics trade fair, which runs until October 26th. Because of the unique range of offers and internationality of the exhibitors, the “K” has a worldwide special position. “It is the starting point for decisive decisions for product, process and problem solutions and shows the entire industry the way for the coming years. Together, the 42 Upper Austrian exhibitors at the ‘K’ employ almost 8,000 people,” said Martin Bergsmann, technology spokesman and industry representative of the Industry division of the WKOÖ. 48 percent of the Austrian participants in Düsseldorf come from Upper Austria.
The local exhibitors are mainly in the areas of plastics machinery, plastics technology, automation technology.
Source: Nachrichten
