Siegwerk collaborates on printable barrier coatings for monomaterial pet food packaging

01 May 2024 --- Printing inks and coatings provider Siegwerk has developed a fully recyclable mono-PE bag for dry pet food using its Cirkit functional coatings. Partnering with printing machine manufacturer Windmöller & Hölscher and bag-making and machine producer B&B, the company produced a high-barrier monomaterial packaging comparable in performance to commonly used multi-material structures.

Siegwerk’s Cirkit GreaseBar is an innovative inline printable grease barrier coating, and Cirkit HeatGuard is a coating for high-end sealing process efficiency (heat resistance on film surfaces) that can also be applied in line with regular flexo or gravure machines.

Both coatings are solvent-based, fully de-inkable after delamination and can be printed inline without losing print performance. Additionally, full PU inks that are suitable for mechanical recycling and offer a process performance comparable to flexo inks for printing speed and quality were used.

All used inks and coatings are said to comply with the latest recycling guidelines, including the German Minimum Standard and RecyClass for recyclable packaging.

“New approaches are needed to meet the upcoming regulatory requirements for circular packaging,” says Belal Habib, head of brand owner collaboration at Siegwerk. “The challenge is to find a recyclable design that also meets the respective performance requirements of the packaging.”

Samples of the new pet food pouch will be available at B&B’s booth 4A-413 in hall 4A, at Drupa trade show.Innovation incentives
Pet food packaging must be food-safe and requires specific barrier properties, such as resistance to oils and fats, to keep the food fresh and maintain the packaging’s structural integrity. For this purpose, complex multi-material structures with a metalized layer have commonly been used.

“The problem: they are not recyclable,” adds Habib. “This is where innovative barrier coatings applied in thin layers and inline with regular printing inks can help to switch from an incompatible multi-material structure to a fully recyclable monomaterial solution in the sense of a circular economy.”

Packaging Insights recently reported about the humanization trend driving premium, responsible and convenient formats in pet food packaging. We also discussed the market with Mondi’s regional sales and business development manager for PetCare in Central and Eastern Europe.

Siegwerk shares that with all its new regulations and directives, the EU is increasing the pressure on brand owners and packaging manufacturers to rethink packaging design toward circularity.

“This development success once again underlines the importance of collaborating along the packaging value chain, combining the specialized know-how of industry experts,” says Habib.

“Together, we have succeeded in developing a circular innovation that delivers on performance and maintains current process efficiencies due to inline and high-speed conversion. This shows that, by joining forces, we can make recyclable monoplastic packaging a reality and thus counter the still wide presence of multi-material laminated structures with future-oriented flexible packaging solutions made for circularity.”

The new pet food pouch will be exhibited at B&B’s booth at the Drupa trade fair, May 28–June 7, in Dusseldorf, Germany. Packaging Insights will be reporting live from the event.

By Radhika Sikaria

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