With brand owners keento lightweighting packaging without compromising on barrier properties, packaging products, that understand the relationship between the materials used in top and bottom films can help reduce time to market and improve shelf life.
Read online at Dairy Industries
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Carbon footprint (CF) calculation study in Retal Baltic Films just showed that such assumption is not quite applicable to all plastics and products.
We’ve made the calculations with different types of our films and found out some interesting results.
But before that, some information to better understand the concept.
Black or brown APET film is a perfect grade for using the post industrial waste for recycling purposes. To produce it, we can collect not only our, but also client’s (brand owner, thermoformer) production waste in film or flake form and produce a new film. By doing this we can return up to 40% of plastic, used in production. It’s not something new to be done, but new is what we found out about it.
Read online at PET Insights
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Citing growing demand, packaging manufacturer Retal PA LLC plans to double its PET preform production to more than 2 billion annually and boost its staff by 43 percent.
Citing growing demand, packaging manufacturer Retal PA LLC plans to double its PET preform production to more than 2 billion annually and boost its staff by 43 percent. "We are buying new injection molding machines from a leading Canadian brand," Maria Jarrar, senior marketing manager for parent company Retal Industries LLC, told Plastics News in recent emails. The facility in Donora, Pa., is getting six new 500-ton presses, she said. "We've chosen these machines because they're energy efficient and will allow us to reduce our energy consumption, as well as allowing us to increase the volume of recycled PET in our preforms and increase productivity."
Read online in Plastics News
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The strong growth of global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL’s Pennsylvania factory continues with the confirmation of an extensive expansion program, which will see its output more than treble over the next three years.
Thanks to an increase in demand and additional funding and investment, RETAL PA, based in Donora, will add additional manufacturing capabilities and hire a number of additional machine operators, lab technicians and people in production, maintenance, and other functions.
President and CEO of RETAL PA Darius Janulionis says, “It’s a true mark of confidence in RETAL PA; over half of the investment is a bank loan, which highlights the credibility of our expansion. We have grown continually since we established our factory here in Donora in 2016 and will commit to producing over two billion preforms a year following this latest investment. We have strategically grown in anticipation of our customers’ needs and we are well-positioned to deliver on their growing demands today and tomorrow. As a proud partner to our customers, we create solutions for all their packaging requirements.”
Janulionis is vocal about the strength of the team being the driving force in the continued expansion at RETAL PA. He adds, “We all stand on each other’s shoulders to keep succeeding and, as we grow rapidly, we continue to rely on each other. I can happily say that our team is motivated, friendly and open-minded, so we’re keen to meet people that would like to join us on a permanent basis. We are increasing our local workforce and are actively looking for suitably skilled people to fill a variety of positions. We are pleased to keep serving our customers through diligence and reliability as we grow, with the additional support of valued new employees from across the Mon Valley region.”
Read online at Business Focus
The strong growth of global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL's Pennsylvania factory continues with the confirmation of an extensive expansion program, which will see its output more than trebling over the next three years.
Thanks to an increase in demand and additional funding and investment, RETAL PA, based in Donora, will add additional manufacturing capabilities and hire a number of additional machine operators, lab technicians and people in production, maintenance, and other functions.
President and CEO of RETAL PA Darius Janulionis says, “It’s a true mark of confidence in RETAL PA; over half of the investment is a bank loan, which highlights the credibility of our expansion. We have grown continually since we established our factory here in Donora in 2016 and will commit to producing over two billion preforms a year following this latest investment. We have strategically grown in anticipation of our customers' needs and we are well-positioned to deliver on their growing demands today and tomorrow. As a proud partner to our customers, we create solutions for all their packaging requirements.”
Janulionis is vocal about the strength of the team being the driving force in the continued expansion at RETAL PA. Headds, “We all stand on each other’s shoulders to keep succeeding and, as we grow rapidly, we continue to rely on each other. I can happily say that our team is motivated, friendly and open-minded, so we're keen to meet people that would like to join us on a permanent basis. We are increasing our local workforce and are actively looking for suitably skilled people to fill a variety of positions. We are pleased to keep serving our customers through diligence and reliability as we grow, with the additional support of valued new employees from across the Mon Valley region.”
The post-Covid world brings with it a greater demand for products that were previously used relatively infrequently. Whereas hand sanitiser was perhaps bought by consumers once a year, now the vast majority of us expect to keep a bottle of this sanity-saving liquid with us most of the time. And it’s not just consumers that want a handy bottle of sanitiser; supermarkets, shops, offices and public spaces are now routinely stocked with bottles of alcohol gel, which are either regularly changed or refilled, with the heavy usage requiring sturdy products. For plastic packaging manufacturers, diverting existing or customisable bottles and closures suitable for this newly-crucial application is a good way to respond to this trend.
Read full article at PetPlanet (page 35)
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For plastic packaging manufacturers, diverting existing or customisable bottles and closures suitable for this newly-crucial application is a good way to respond to this trend, particularly when the manufacturers have extensive experience in food safe packaging, as this can be welcome in hygiene products. For RETAL Iberia, the Girona factory for the global RETAL group of PET preforms, films and closures producers, its fast-acting team has created a range of preforms that are ideal for hand sanitiser applications, as well as other cosmetic products.
Raquel Oller Bosch, commercial manager at RETAL Iberia, explains how the long-term expertise of the team has allowed it to quickly create a viable solution. She says, “We have extensive knowledge of creating and manufacturing PET preforms that can include rPET, and we are always looking for ways to utilise our portfolio. With the increased appreciation for hygienic packaging solutions, and the greater demand for hand sanitiser and alcohol gels, we wanted to offer a cost-effective preform that was available at a range of sizes.”
Read online at Sustainable Plastics
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RETAL design engineer Andzejus Buinovskis presented at the AMI Plastic Closures Innovations Virtual Summit on 2nd - 3rd June, with his informative presentation provoking interesting questions in the Q&A session.
Andzejus created a video presentation highlighting his insight on the RETAL tethered closures journey and the circular economy. “I shared how RETAL has developed a series of tethered closures in accordance with the list of requirements from the leading brand owners. I was determined to add more personal insight too as everyone presenting was working to the same set of criteria.”
This smart approach lead Andzejus to highlight how collecting and recycling play a key role in the circular economy, as well as showing how reusing molds is a big contributor to sustainable development. He adds, “I was also pleased to include details of how Lithuania has integrated deposit schemes and that 80% of bottles come with the closures attached – even though they’re not tethered!”
The 'immersive virtual event' was attended by leading brand representatives, equipment manufacturers and packaging producers, with the presentations and following discussions showing how the focus on tethered closures, lightweighting and the circular economy are still at the forefront of packaging and beverage industry drivers.
The global pandemic has highlighted the need for a reliable supply of PPE to the healthcare professionals and essential workers that the rest of us rely on to keep our lives running as smoothly as possible. The materials used in these products are crucial, delivering comfort and protection to those that need it most, so the development of anti-virucidal films specifically for face shields is welcome.
As the understanding of COVID-19 evolves, the demand for products that support essential workers at this time are changing too, particularly as the wider public is largely ready to get back to the ‘old normal’ now that we’ve had enough of the ‘new normal’. Reliable, practical PPE has been in incredible demand over the past year, and this is likely to continue, as our appreciation for how quickly a virus can have such a devastating impact on our daily lives is evident.
Although the initial scrabble of face masks and hand sanitiser has passed, we now see a great opportunity for the development of added value PPE that deliver on more than just emergency care. Rather, there is a chance to make keeping our essential workers safer in greater comfort.
One such project is the development of plastic film for face and eye shields with anti-virucidal properties integrated into the film at RETAL Baltic Films, which has recently gained funding from the European Union Funds Investment Operational Programme under its ‘aid for tangible investments in COVID-19 R&D projects’ initiative.
The RETAL Baltic Films team prove the potential benefits of a plastic film with anti-virucidal properties in the complex epidemiological situation regarding the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the incidence of COVID-19 specifically with regard to the protection of medical staff.
General manager Viktorija Griziene explains: “In the early days of the pandemic we quickly modified our existing APET film for food and beverage applications so it could be used for face shields, which we happily donated for the production of face shields and now also produce commercially. We have integrated an anti-fog capability which is highly appreciated by essential workers who often have to wear their masks for many hours at a time, so the transparency and anti-fog aspects are crucial. We are now working on taking our face shield film to the next level by integrating anti-virucidal properties to give an additional level of protection.”
Read full-text article online at Medical Plastics News
While plastic bottles get the all the media attention and infrastructure investment, plastic films are quietly sitting there, being useful and, sometimes, recycled.
With only 9 % of all plastic films currently being recycled, the less visible cousin of the plastic bottle has a valuable role to play in the circular economy, particulary with regards to consumer understanding of standard recycling collections.
With nearly 5 million tonnes of packaging films produced worldwide every year and only just over 9 % being recycled, it's no wonder that alternatives such as compostable and biodegradable films are widely touted as the best thing since the bag that prevously wrapped sliced bread. But the convenient consumer disconnect of buying 'more responsible' packaging vs what happens to it after they put it with the rest of their recycling means that vast problems are stored up for recycling collection schemes a little further down the chain.
Read online at Susntainable packaging News (p.60-61)