Extrusion International 3-2021

14 Extrusion International 3/2021 INDUSTRY NEWS „ BASF has joined “HolyGrail 2.0 – Digital watermarks for accurate sorting and high-quality recycling” as a member. The initiative aims to increase plastic recycling rates by add- ing imperceptible digital watermarks to product packag- ing. Under the auspices of AIM, the European Brands Associa- tion, BASF and more than 120 companies and organizations from the packaging value chain have joined forces in the initiative to prove the viability of digital watermarking tech- nologies for accurate sorting and the business case at large scale. Ineffective sorting is one of the fundamental barriers to wider recycling of lightweight packaging waste and thus in achieving a circular economy for packaging. The better the sorting and identi fi cation of packaging, the more ef fi cient the mechanical recycling process and the better the quality of recyclates. Digital Watermark Initiative “HolyGrail 2.0” joined The discovery of digital watermarking was made under the New Plastics Economy program of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which investigated different innovations to improve post-consumer recycling. Digital watermarks were found to be the most promising technology. The “HolyGrail 2.0” initiative will include the launch of an industrial pilot to prove the viability of digital watermark technologies for more accurate sorting of packaging and higher-quality re- cycling, as well as the business case at large scale. Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes, the size of a postage stamp, covering the surface of a consumer goods packaging. They can carry a wide range of attributes such as manufacturer, type of plastics used etc. BASF SE www.basf.com „ As of April 2021, the machine and plant manufacturer Re- ifenhäuser has acquired a majority stake in Kdesign GmbH, a global leader in the manufacture of air cooling rings and measuring systems for blown fi lm extrusion lines. With this purchase Reifenhäuser Group, a specialist in extrusion tech- nologies, expands its in-house expertise in cooling, control- ling, measuring and calibrating blown fi lms and will give its customers in this segment an even clearer competitive edge in the future. Kdesign remains an independent company within the Reif- enhäuser Group and its business and customer relationships will continue unchanged. Joachim Lange and Richard Zim- mermann continue to head the company as managing direc- tors. Reifenhäuser CEO Bernd Reifenhäuser looks forward to the value opportunities for both companies and the customer bene fi ts resulting from the close association of the two spe- cialists: „In the blown fi lm production process, cooling and controlling have a decisive impact on the quality of the end product. Our colleagues at Kdesign already offer the best technology on the market for this, which we are now bring- ing together with our extrusion technology. Customers will bene fi t from the ideal pairing of cooling expertise and spe- cialist knowledge in hot parts. From now on, we can perfect- ly harmonize our products for optimum performance and together we can develop technologies more quickly.” Current Kdesign customers will also bene fi t. As a member of the Reifenhäuser Group, Kdesign now has access to a large international service network and the world’s largest Acquisition Reifenhäuser Group www.reifenhauser.com Kdesign Group kdesign-web.de privately run research and development centre for plastics extrusion. Richard Zimmermann, managing director of Kde- sign, says: „We will be able to be closer to our customers in the future and have better development opportunities. Our location is just 20 minutes away from Reifenhäuser’s head- quarters. We are looking forward to working together and having a close personal exchange.“ From left: Bernd Reifenhäuser (CEO, Reifenhäuser Group), Richard Zimmermann (Shareholder and Managing Director, Kdesign), Gerd Fähling (Shareholder and head of sales, Kdesign), Joachim Lange (Shareholder and Managing Director, Kdesign), Ulrich Reifenhäuser (CSO, Reifenhäuser Group) (Photo credit: Reifenhäuser)