BOBST oneBARRIER sustainable solutions for MDO PE and paper namely oneBARRIER PrimeCycle and FibreCycle are both officially recyclable. The PrimeCycle clear high barrier mono-material solution obtained a certification of recyclability of 98% by Institute cyclos-HTO GmbH. Whilst FibreCycle, the solution for barrier paper with BOBST AluBond has been assessed as 94.4% recyclable by PTS, the German paper research institute.
Nick Copeland, R&D Director Barrier Coatings at BOBST, has been one of the main people driving the oneBARRIER solutions development. We spoke to him to find out more about what the certification means for BOBST and its customers.
PrimeCycle was the first to be certified towards the end of last year. What was our original target with this project ? And have we reached this ?
The target was to replace or substitute mixed polymer multi-layer based flexible packaging structures with a mono-material PE based solution where we wanted to really maximize the amount of PE in the structure using a simplified 2-layer duplex structure based on a pre-made high barrier laminate for last minute surface print.
In terms of performance or specifically barrier, the target for our AlOx transparent solution was Metallized PET replacement with OTR <1 cc/m2/day and WVTR <1 gm/m2/day. For our AluBond opaque solution, the target was Aluminium Foil replacement with OTR and WVTR needing to be below 0.1. We chose these as our targets as they are the main high and ultra-high barrier mixed material solutions being used in the flexible packaging industry today.
Have we reached our target? Yes, in terms of performance we manged to achieve both the barrier & adhesion market targets needed and in terms of mono-material % we managed to obtain the performance whilst maintaining an extremely high % of PE which satisfied the European CEFLEX guidelines of >90% mono-material for both our non-printed and printed solutions on a relatively thin 100 micron laminate structure.
(Actual level was certified by Institut cyclos HTP GmbH at 98% for the non-printed AlOx solution (based on certain countries where the collection & ‘mechanical’ recycling infrastructure is in place for LDPE films or mixed polyolefins flexibles)))
What does the certification of PrimeCycle mean for the product? What is its importance ?
The recyclability certification is important as beyond assessing if the solution is recyclable, it also provides an independent assessment on the actual recycling percentage of the solution so the industry can compare different mono-material solutions in terms of the recyclability level (which is more difficult when we need to achieve high or ultra-high barrier performance as typically mono-material % are reduced).
It also helps to identify where the collection & ‘mechanical’ recycling infrastructure is in place which is important to understand geographically where the solution can actually be recycled.
This also supports the RecyClass definitions for a mono material, which states it needs to be compatible with current mechanical recycling and contain at least 90% by weight of PP and PE and other components such as coatings (wet polymeric or vacuum coatings), inks and adhesives can be a maximum of 5% each).
How difficult was it to obtain ?
BOBST’S approach to obtaining high and ultra-high barrier performance was through combining extremely thin synergistic or complementary functional coatings via wet aqueous dispersion coatings and dry vacuum coatings. which really helped to minimize the non-mono-material components in the packaging structure improving the recyclability of the overall mono-material PE laminate.
What does the certification mean to you personally having worked on the project ?
Designing high barrier flexible packaging structures for compatibility with mechanical recycling infrastructure was new for BOBST. But for the 25+ years I have been working in vacuum coating I was personally fascinated by the high efficiency of these ultra-think nm coating where resource & materials could really be limited – these ultra-thin coatings really help with reducing non-mono content to help improve recyclability and the certification helped to show me this was the case.
What are our target markets for this solution? And does the certification help ?
Today Europe is the most advanced & developed when it comes to sustainability and also recyclability so this would be an obvious market of choice, but we are also seeing lots of interest in North America, Asia and even Africa. In general, the market has developed to move away from talking about recycle-ready solutions to now looking at solutions where infrastructure exists for collection, sorting and recycling and really creating more circularity.
Based on the fast approaching sustainability deadlines, time to market is becoming an extremely important aspect for solution development and if an available solution exists with the supporting recycling certification, this can really help to provide the confidence to the interested party that the solution meets the current market recycling infrastructure (if applicable in the region or at least in the more developed Europe market) and it provides an accurate independent assessment on the recyclability % to enable solutions to be compared.
Each market has different recycling assessments and protocols and therefore global solutions need testing in each market to make sure they comply with the given market recycling infrastructure (collection, sorting, recycling) and have suitable end markets.
Are they many equivalents out there in the market currently ?
For no or lower barrier applications there are a lot of alternative PE based mono-material solutions that have been developed and are available in the market, but with our solution we were targeting the high or ultra-high barrier applications where typically additional non mono-material barrier reinforcement is needed. For high and ultra-high barrier mono-material structures there are less solutions available and typically thicker co-extruded or wet coating layers are used which then reduce the mono-material % and thus reduces the recyclability of the packaging structure.
FibreCycle has also recently been assessed as 94.4& recyclable. What was our original target with this project? And have we reached this ?
The target was to replace or substitute mixed polymer multi-layer based flexible packaging structures with a paper or fibre-based, mono-web structure where we would need to bring barrier, sealability and print into a single paper substrate.
In terms of performance or specifically barrier we were targeting Metallized PET replacement with OTR <1 cc/m2/day and WVTR <1 gm/m2/day and with an aspiration or stretched target of Al foil replacement where OTR and WVTR need to be below 0.1.
Have we reached our target? In terms of barrier performance, I would say yes, we met the brief and have achieved levels below 1cc and 1gm and our solution is still one of the best barrier performing solutions in the market.
What does the accreditation of FibreCycle mean for the product? What is its importance ?
Recyclability assessments (and certification where applicable) is important as beyond accessing if the solution is recyclable, it also provides an independent assessment on the actual yield percentage, optical impact and potential understanding of any ‘stickies’ or ‘tackiness’ from the solution so the industry can compare different fibre based solutions in terms of the detailed recyclability performance (which Is more difficult when we need to achieve high or ultra-high barrier performance as typically fibre % are reduced and non-fibre content may introduce discolouration or ‘stickies’ into the paper recycling stream).
How difficult was it to obtain ?
Similar to the oneBARRIER PrimeCycle solution, BOBST’s approach to obtaining high and ultra-high barrier performance was through the use of combining extremely thin synergistic or complementary functional coatings via wet aqueous dispersion coatings and dry vacuum coatings. For the oneBARRIER FibreCycle based on a single paper structure the use of specially selected & developed base paper, thin primer coatings, AluBond nm vacuum coatings and then heat seal coatings helped to improve the recyclability of the overall paper-based solution to provide good recyclability without having to redesign the overall structure.
What does the accreditation mean to you personally having worked on the project ?
For me personally, the positive results obtained from the independent recyclability assessments combined with the high barrier performance and the supporting market interest helps to illustrate the advantage of good cross industry collaboration with the relevant industry experts to help fast track a complex development project like the BOBST oneBARRIER FibreCycle
What are our target markets for this solution? And does the accreditation help ?
The collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure for paper or fibre-based packaging is more developed globally compared to polymer flexible packaging and therefore we are observing an increase in interest in markets beyond the mature markets of Europe, North America & Japan in to the emerging markets of Latin America, Asia, and Africa and successful independent recycling assessment data is essential to provide confidence to the interested party.
Are they many equivalents out there in the market currently ?
Based on the more mature and developed collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure, barrier paper is becoming increasingly popular with the large global brand owners and industry players as they can create packaging circularity easier than with the more limited recycling infrastructure for polymer flexible packaging, and in particular high barrier polymer based flexible packaging. Based on this, many low and medium barrier fibre based solutions are already commercialized and are available in the market from both the paper mills and supporting converters.
For high barrier aluminium foil free solutions providing both oxygen and water barrier there are only very limited options available and currently some solutions are using metallized polymer laminated to paper to provide the barrier performance but with the limitation of minimizing the polymer content particularly for smaller pack formats. For direct metallized paper-based solutions only very limited options are available but the market interest remains high and many convertors are in various stages of development and commercialization with such solutions.
For both PrimeCycle and FibreCycle, BOBST worked with various partners. How does working on such a project change when you work with different partners? How important is the collaboration side ?
Stakeholders throughout the value chain are setting ambitious sustainability pledges & commitments which have really started to impact the general packaging and also the flexible packing industry. In summary the pledges/commitments are to ‘work towards’ using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging. Timelines vary but most of them are for solutions to be ready by 2025 or earlier.
Although the packaging substrates and associated materials are changing to provide more circular or sustainable opportunities. The performance requirements are still the same and the market expectation is to provide the same ‘like for like’ performance as the traditional non-recyclable, compostable or biodegradable solutions, which creates a real challenge for the packaging designers, as the inherent properties of the new generation materials are generally inferior to the materials we are trying to replace or substitute.
In general, the circular or sustainable materials are more mechanically extensible, thermally sensitive and have inferior barrier properties, which can impact the shelf life of the product the packaging structure is trying to protect.
Based on these really ambitious and fast approaching time-lines combined with the requirement to create comparable performance on less performing sustainable materials, substrates & packaging structures, cross industry collaboration with the relevant industry experts to help fast track complex sustainability projects like the BOBST oneBARRIER solution is absolutely key to the success.
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