Retal increases their sustainability-focused films portfolio with the introduction of up-to 100& rPET films. These food-grade films are made from all colours and all kinds of PET scrap (post-consumer PET bottle, trays and industrial). Regional sales manager Violeta Petkeviciute says, “We’ve been producing up-to 80% rPET films for some time now, so it’s exciting to show how we’ve upped our sustainability credentials even more with our latest films development.” As well as the 100% rPET films, sealable and BioPET films are also in Retal’s portfolio.
Creating reliable, responsible preforms and closures drives RETAL’s cooperation with beverage brands around the world. Collaborating with many of the world’s leading FMCG brands keeps RETAL leading the way when it comes to cost-effective, high volume PET and rPET preforms, closures and films, with its deep understanding of the latest regulations and trends allowing this packaging solutions company to consistently bring quality and flexibility to its customers.
RETAL cooperates with Spendrups Bryggeri AB, the largest and most well-known independent family-owned Swedish brewery, which produces, imports, and distributes alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages across Sweden’s unique drinks’ industry. Established in 1897, Spendrups is managed by the fourth-generation of the founding family and is ‘convinced that a proactive approach to sustainability is crucial’; an approach that RETAL is proud to share.
Since 2005, Spendrups has been a valued partner to RETAL, thanks to its provision of preforms and closures for its best-selling Loka carbonated water brand, which is the market leader in carbonated water in Sweden, and the world-recognised Heineken beer, which it license brews. RETAL supplies three preform sizes and one type of closure to Spendrups, providing packaging solutions for both beer, water and soda for this ISO 14001 company.
RETAL Sales Director Rimvydas Bazinys works closely with Spendrups’ Purchaser Bjorn Deborg to ensure that the solutions created meet the strict requirements of this Stockholmbased Group. Bazinys explains how the companies started their mutually-beneficial relationship,
saying, “Working with Bjorn and the Spendrups team is a very positive experience as they have an interesting, open company culture and they are very progressive in terms of sustainability. The infrastructure and Swedish mindset around collection and recycling is so strong, it’s an inspiration. It shows what is possible with the right circumstances.”
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Plastic packaging has a sustainable future. Delivering effective, circular packaging solutions that are both convenient for consumers and don’t negatively impact the planet is a challenge packaging manufacturers and global food and beverage brands are stepping up to.
Closures are literally the backstop of preforms. With the perfect preform only as good as its closure, one knows that a closure has many responsibilities, from ease of opening to effective protection of the product within. Closures need to perform in partnership with the preform, both from an application and an environmental perspective. Even if a closure is consumer- and product-friendly, recent legislation on tethered closures highlight how crucial it is that designs are also in accordance with the circular economy.
The EU directive on Single Use Plastics in May 2019 highlighted design requirements to connect caps to bottles from 2024, with regulations extending from the Circular Plastics Alliance launched in December 2018 by the European Commission. This high-level, multi-stakeholder platform gathers the complete plastics value chain to ensure the responsible progression of plastic packaging throughout its entire lifecycle.
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Producing the perfect preform is part of a work in progress; a circular and sustainable preform that allows consumers to enjoy convenience and brands to reduce their environmental impact needs stakeholders across the packaging value chain to take responsibility for their sphere of influence. For preform producers, understanding that their sphere of influence is active on both macro and micro levels means that producing the perfect preform is an exciting challenge.
When it comes to develop preforms, global plastic packaging producer Retal draws in experts from design, recycling and production. These experts come both from within the company and from its vast network of multinational food and beverage brands. The core of a perfect preform lies in valuing the circularity of plastics packaging, states the company: rather than seeing the preform as a one-use unit, it should be seen as a potential source of ongoing value.
Global PET, rPET and HDPE packaging producer RETAL presented its innovative tethered closures at this month's BrauBeviale trade show.
Suitable for water, carbonated soft drinks and aseptic products, tethered closures from RETAL manage to connect the two key industry drivers of sustainability and convenience, enabling its global beverage brand customers to stay in line with the latest EU directive for single use plastics.
Tethered closures increase collection and reduce waste by keeping the closure attached to the bottle. The RETAL tethered closures also provide enhanced convenience for consumers thanks to the clever way in which it opens, creating a smooth contact.
Aleksandr Kachanov, R&D director at RETAL, explains, “We gained the patent certificates in June 2019 for our tethered closures. RETAL is one of very few closure manufacturers that has developed and invested in this special solution – it's the embodiment of the RETAL dedication to creating responsible solutions that are user-friendly. It's not just a response to the EU SUP Directive, our tethered closures aide consumer convenience as they're easy and comfortable to use.”
RETAL packaging development expert Anton Sugoniaev adds, “Thanks to our clever design, our brand owner customers and bottlers are unlikely to need investment in new solutions when they chose tethered closures from RETAL as we utilise our existing injection moulding equipment.”
Initially created for the standard 1881 caps, the RETAL tethered closure portfolio will extend across its range. Kachanov, the inventor of the patent, adds, “We will deliver tethered closures with the same impressive performance soon for virtually all our closure range”.
RETAL’s Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffault also explains how the new tethered closures help to support the company’s progressive CSR goals, which includes design-to-recycle and use of recycled material, saying, “We have employees worldwide and we are all conscious of and worried about the negative environmental impact of our products. Tethered closures are part of our effort towards a circular economy as they mean that the HDPE closure is not separated from the plastic bottle and so is less likely to cause additional plastic pollution.”
Popular in non-food and food-grade packaging for meat, fish, dairy and ready meals, black and metallized films are currently very difficult to recycle as the infrared is absorbed by the carbon instead of being reflected towards the sensor, rendering the material invisible. As part of a global circular economy strategy, RETAL Baltic is installing a state-of-the-art line to process more r-PET and PET scraps, and is gradually moving away from black masterbatch with carbon to create more circular black and metallized films that are easily recognized in standard recycling sorting facilities.
Investment in the new extrusion line at RETAL Baltic means the global plastic packaging manufacturer is continuing to provide greater volumes of rPET film, with 100% rPET films now able to be produced. Robertas Grizas, RETAL Baltic’s APET Production Development Manager, says, “We want to ensure that we are maximizing the value of plastic waste, both post-industrial and post-consumer. By investing in this new extrusion line – which can process all types of PET scrap, we can produce food-grade black and metallized rPET film that can be recognized by recycling sorting equipment as it uses an alternative to black carbon masterbatch, and we can also use up to 100% rPET flakes in its manufacture.”
As thermoformer and brand owner customers increase their demands on the sustainability credentials of their packaging, global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL is proud to move forwards alongside them. Grizas continues, “There’s no need to incinerate or send black and metallized films to landfill anymore as RETAL can effectively reprocess it back into production for food-grade packaging for global brand owners.”
The new RETAL Baltic extrusion line will further boost the company’s commitment to the circular economy by processing waste from multilayer films as well as the black and metallized films. Grizas adds, “RETAL has acquired the technology to use hard to recycle post-industrial waste that we collect from our customers. RETAL produces transparent and colored films, including black and metallized, and though there has been a tendency for thermoforming customers to prefer transparent films to colored and metallised, now RETAL can help with their post industrial waste to be processed it into food-grade films. It is crucial to keep black rPET in the plastic packaging value chain as it allows for all colours of scrap to be mixed when reprocessed into rPET and promotes its use, so RETAL is delighted to be creating more circular black rPET film.”
RETAL’s Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffault appreciates that this latest investment is another positive step in the company’s progressive position on developing and producing more sustainable and circular plastic packaging. Duffaut says, “By investing in new technology that can efficiently process up to 100% rPET flakes and by improving the recyclability of our products using non-carbon black masterbatch, we are further illustrating our commitment to providing thermoformers and brand owners with plastic packaging that combines convenience with sustainability.”
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Staying close to consumer trends is crucial for progressive packaging manufacturers. The global mega trend for greater convenience shows no sign of slowing down1, while the growing understanding for the need for sustainable solutions across FMCG brands is increasingly both a legal2 and an emotional requirement.
As consumers across age, nationality and social demographics identify with being busier and more time-poor, so too do they want to maximise their hard-earned leisure time. Consumers are exhausted! Exhausted by choice, responsibilities, demands on their time. They are constantly accessible to colleagues, bosses, friends and family through smart phones and social media. Expectations to perform are high.
Consumers' stressful on-the-go lifestyles means that they value self-care more than ever before. People are starting to appreciate that being this busy means being more stressed, with a greater understanding of the negative impact on what stress does to our wellbeing. The growing trend for taking better care of ourselves3 – both of our physical and mental health - means that there are unparalleled opportunities for wellness brands to gain brand ambassadors; consumers that identify with their values, whether that's gluten-free, dairy-free, luxurious, organic – and they're happy to shout about it.
Win, win
Balancing these seemingly contradictory trends is a fascinating element of differentiation for packaging manufacturers and their R&D teams. The goal to create desirable, sustainable plastic packaging for bottled water is in everyone's interest; consumers, legislators, packaging manufacturers and beverage brand owners all have a part to play and a dog in the fight.
The multinational team across RETAL's global manufacturing is continually looking at ways to ensure that its products are lighter and smarter, with clever ways to make sure that the PET preforms, closures and containers it creates are taking part of the responsibility on board. From integrating state-of-the-art software so physical prototyping is unnecessary, to installing huge solar panel plants on its factories, to working closely with global beverage brands to guarantee that its plastic water bottles have tethered closures that helps to avoid contaminated recycling and increase their collection due to not being lost in general waste, RETAL is working on active ways to mitigate its impact.
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Innovations in closures and caps give brand-owners an opportunity to differentiate through convenience and style - and helps packaging manufacturers stay ahead of the game. With lightweighting and clever design key in the more visible role of closures and caps, Emma-Jane Batey speaks to players across the packaging value chain to learn more.
Light yet strong
For global packaging manufacturer RETAL, the closures issue is a chance to add an extra level of responsibility to its offering, with its multinational household-name customers increasingly demanding solutions that support their CSR targets. The company showcased its new high-grip closure design at BrauBeviale last year, which offers more options for plastic reduction in beverage packaging. RETAL’s high-grip closure is 19.85mm, the same height as a standard closure, but just 2.45g, saving around 1.3g of weight per bottle compared with standard bottles, thanks to the unique manufacture of the closures that allows for deeper grooves to distribute the weight across a taller surface area.
The innovative design is more sustainable as it uses less plastic, is easy to grip and open, and retains rigidity due to the height. Dalia Petrauskaite, RETAL’s closures director, says, “We worked closely with the market-leading bottle-filling company to create a functional solution that delivers high market acceptance thanks to its consumer-friendly attributes such as being easy to open and grip. Our High Grip closures offer many unique advantages; light yet strong, it also allows co-packers to reuse their existing stacking trays that are for standard 1810 specifications, making the High Grip even more eco-friendly.”
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Investment in advanced CAD software means RETAL can create precise bottle simulations without incurring the cost or time of prototyping.
PET and rPET packaging producer RETAL is dedicated to delivering responsible solutions to its global beverage customers, so this latest development supports its focus on creating lighter, stronger bottles that meet the precise performance and sustainability goals of brand owners.
Designer Andzejus Buinovskis explains, “We searched the market for a dedicated software suite that would allow us to simulate the stretch blow moulding process, but we couldn't find what we wanted, so we worked with Dassault Systemes to add several plug ins to its ABAQUS software product that provided the exact 3D modelling and types of parameters we require.”
The bespoke simulation software now in operation at RETAL's dedicated R&D Centre means that it is able to create precise information regarding performance relating to the distribution of the thickness and stretch ratio of the bottles without needing to produce a physical product. Buinovskis adds, “With the 3D model of the preform and bottle, we can simulate different temperatures, movements, pressures and pre-blow and blow variations. It's a powerful tool that saves the considerable time and money associated with prototyping; in one case, two bottles of the same weight but different geometry showed that one had a better stretch ratio, making it stronger.”
Comparing bottles of the same weight with different geometry, it is possible to choose the most durable bottle in terms of stretch ratio. This means that physical tests can be conducted for the most optimal model, avoiding the cost of testing all intermediate versions.
Investing in this complex software makes it faster, cheaper and easier for its global brand customers to choose the precise bottle for their food and beverage applications.