Weekly Roundup: Smurfit Kappa launches district heating project, Berry achieves OEKO-TEX Standard for US sites

05 Aug 2022 --- This week in industry news, Smurfit Kappa’s paper mill in Nettingsdorf, Austria, launched a sustainable district heating project. Meanwhile, Berry Global announced its first three sites in North America to achieve the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification, and Herrmann added a new function to its TSM top seal module for space and cost savings.

In brief: Environmental sustainability
The Smurfit Kappa paper mill in Nettingsdorf, Austria, unveiled a sustainable district heating project that will benefit 20,000 homes across three communities when completed. The scheme will capture excess heat generated from the mill to provide heating for local homes, businesses and schools. Civil works have commenced on the project, with the first trenches excavated and pipes laid in June. The central heat distribution building and equipment will be erected in the coming months and it is planned that a local elementary school and the kindergarten in Nettingsdorf will be the first premises to benefit from the scheme early next year. This follows a recent €134 million (US$137 million) investment at the mill, which included the installation of a new boiler that allows the recovery of biomass generated in paper pulp production. This move not only boosted energy optimization but cut CO2 emissions by 40,000 metric tons annually. The production process will generate up to 25 MW of heat that will help save approximately 21,000 metric tons of CO2.

MacroBar wrappers can now be recycled through a new partnership with TerraCycle.The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition celebrated the How2Recycle upgrade of PP rigid containers to “widely recyclable” in the US. This major milestone comes as the coalition marks its second anniversary. Launched in July 2020, the coalition brings together stakeholders across the PP value chain – from resin suppliers and manufacturers to consumer packaged goods and recycling processors – to improve PP recovery and recycling in the US. 

GoMacro, known for its organic, plant-based protein and nutrition bars, announced that its MacroBar wrappers can now be recycled through a new partnership with TerraCycle. GoMacro customers can now mail in their bar wrappers at no cost. Once collected, TerraCycle processes the wrappers back into raw material and transfers it to manufacturing companies who produce products like outdoor furniture and flooring tiles.

SunDance USA, a producer of printed packaging, introduced new super-green paper pouch packaging that is 100% recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable. This flexible packaging option is a 100% recyclable paper pouch that combines superior fiber strength with a super-green profile and consumer-friendly features.SunDance’s super-green paper pouch packaging.

In brief: Free from harmful substances
Berry Global revealed that its first three sites in North America will achieve the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification, which validates materials used in manufacturing are free of harmful substances. These materials include virgin resin, recycled content and renewable raw materials. Berry recently passed OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification for its spunmelt plants in Mooresville (North Carolina), Statesville (North Carolina) and Waynesboro (Virginia). The three plants produce materials that are used in health and hygiene products, including baby diapers, feminine care, adult incontinence and wipe applications. The Standard 100 certification product label will be used by Berry for textile products to denote that all processing stages have been tested for harmful substances and that the article, therefore, is harmless to human health.

In brief: Pack Expo
MG America announced it will showcase the new Cariba C221 Cartoner, an intermittent motion horizontal model capable of producing up to 120 cartons per minute, at Pack Expo, October 23-26 in Chicago, US. With picking-arm enabled positive carton forming, the Cariba C2221 is suitable for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetics application. The unit is available either with a manual feeding station or a variety of automatic product feeders. In either configuration, the Cariba C221 is compatible with a broad range of common primary packaging formats, including blister packs, round or shaped glass and plastic bottles, jars, soft tubes, flow packs, sachets and stick packs.

Wipotec-Ocs, a manufacturer and supplier of precision in-motion weighing, track and trace or anti-counterfeiting solutions and X-Ray scanning equipment, revealed it will showcase a new series of modular quality control machines at Pack Expo. The company’s new Traceable Quality System Modular Design (TQS-MD) uses a “building block” concept yielding compatibility with a vast array of products. The modular concept inherent to TQS-MD machines makes them adaptable. Depending on a product’s size, shape, weight and desired throughput speed, Wipotec-Ocs can combine the relevant modules for a solution tailored to meet specific needs. 3M’s VHB Extrudable Tape bonding solution.

In brief: Sealing and bonding
Herrmann added a new function to its top seal module (TSM) to save space and costs. With the COS upgrade for the TSM, manufacturers of packaging machines will be able to perform several work steps in one sealing station. As a result, the module can now apply the hermetic and cosmetic seal in one station. A cooling station is not necessary because the packaging films only heat up in the sealing area inside the film. While manufacturers of packaging machines save valuable space in their line, their users benefit from a more compact machine and lower acquisition costs. Top seal modules that have already been installed can also be supplied with the new upgrade. It’s a space-saving and sustainable solution for sealing hermetic and cosmetic seals on stand-up pouches.

3M debuted its 3M VHB Extrudable Tape, a manufacturing bonding solution said to bring elevated levels of automation, simplicity and sustainability across industries. This end-to-end solution combines all the benefits of 3M VHB Tapes with the versatility of a liquid adhesive in a single contained footprint enabling usage on any scale. 3M VHB Extrudable Tape combines the “best” qualities of high-strength acrylic foam tape with the versatility of liquid adhesives without any of their inherent drawbacks. While liquid adhesives offer “excellent” versatility with the application, they can be messy, difficult to handle, increase waste and require longer curing times, all factors that increase manufacturing time and overall costs. In contrast, the 3M On Demand Bonding System – designed to work with the Nordson ProBond System – eliminates liners and container waste while providing immediate material bonding and handling strength. These benefits help significantly streamline, simplify and speed up production operations.

By Natalie Schwertheim