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Preview
Extrusion 6/2016
• Consumer Convenience, as more con-
sumers lead increasingly busy lifestyles,
they do not have the time to cook meals
from scratch, preferring to opt for con-
venient mealtime solutions instead. This
puts ready meals in new flexible pakkag-
ing formats in a prime position to take
advantage of the current social and eco-
nomic trends.
The future of flexible packaging will also
see Bio-Based applied technologies. In
the past few years, there have been a
number of new product launches involv-
n
2013 was the year of the POD blown
film technology: 5 layers of PE materials
made their appearance on the stage of
the world market and, driven by the en-
thusiastic favour of the collation shrink
film industry, gained quickly a substantial
share of the machinery sales.
Macchi, who believed and invested heavily
in the POD philosophy straight from the
beginning, having sold more than 40 POD
lines all over the world, have been dictat-
ing the pace of the evolution, and have
been able to gain a considerable, unsur-
passed experience which has led to the
birth of a whole range of POD solutions.
At the same time, the range of advan-
tages provided by the POD films to the
world converters has encouraged the re-
sin suppliers to develop a number of
new, innovative resin grades to tackle
new, exciting markets, the first and fore-
most being the Flexible Packaging.
The dynamic packaging sector offers
huge potential for technology suppliers,
packaging converters and brand owners.
Flexible packaging is the most economi-
cal method to package, preserve and dis-
tribute food, beverages, other consum-
ables, pharmaceuticals and products that
need extended shelf life. It can be de-
signed with barrier properties tailored to
fit the products being packaged and
their end-uses, while other barrier pa-
ckaging formats generally provide a one-
size-fits-all approach.
Three main key-trends are driving the
market for flexible packaging:
• Downgauging as the combination of
environmental pressures and high poly-
mer prices make customers demand
even thinner films.
• On the other end of the spectrum to
thinner films is the rise and importance
of high-performance films. The trend in
food packaging films is towards high-
performance film structures that are less
permeable in order to increase shelf life
and enhance flavours. A growing share
of premium products – including pro-
ducts sold in modified atmosphere pa-
ckaging (MAP) – is also favourable for
flexible packaging of baked goods. One
of the advantages of flexible packaging
is the ability of the brand owner to ‘dial
in’ the barrier-based on product and
shelf life requirements.
Technologies for sustainability
ing bio-based plastic packaging. Rather
than focusing on polymers obtained by
non petroleum sources, the interest is to-
ward the development of barrier films
with degradability and compostability
features, as these materials do not fare
well into the mainstream of traditional
polymer recycling. The proliferation of
bio-based plastic films, polylactic acid
(PLA) and thermoplastic starch (TPS) is
now paralleled by G-Polymer, a compost-
able PVA copolymer (modified PVOH),
high barrier, commercially available by
5 layer extruders
New boplus winder