PP sheets in focus

Der Markt für Kunststoffverpackungsfolien in Europa steht vor bedeutenden Veränderungen. Sowohl neue Gesetze und Vorschriften aus Brüssel und Berlin als auch selbstauferlegte hohe Standards der Unternehmen in Bezug auf Nachhaltigkeit und Recyclingfähigkeit fordern neue Lösungsansätze. Michael Roth, Geschäftsführer von Fernholz und Leiter des Bereichs Folien, gab dem Fernholz-Insider Einblicke darin, wie Fernholz aktiv daran arbeitet, innovative Lösungen zu entwickeln und sich den wachsenden Anforderungen des Marktes anzupassen.

Mr Roth, the PPWR (Plastic Packaging Waste Regulation) recently cleared another hurdle in the EU and now only needs to be confirmed by the Council. What does this mean for the packaging industry and so also for Fernholz?
Michael Roth: Regardless of the fact that the current content of the PPWR is certainly not ideal for our industry, we must accept that these new requirements are coming and must be observed without delay. It is unavoidable. The PPWR calls for a reduction in plastic waste and promotes the recycling of plastic packaging.

How is Fernholz dealing with this?
Michael Roth: In September, we will be presenting our holistic approach embodied by our motto Optimise – Minimise – Reduce – Reuse at the Fachpack 2024 trade fair being held in Nuremberg, Germany.
We will demonstrate how Fernholz combines very different approaches to achieve greater sustainability and resource conservation. One of our strategies, for instance, is to replace composite materials with mono-materials wherever possible. For example, our research and development department has managed to successfully convert packaging solutions for coffee creamers, which were previously mostly based on PS-PE-PS, to PP mono-material in the bottom sheet.

We also give our customers the option of replacing PP-EVOH-PP sheets with PP mono-material with or without special additives. Having said that, there are no off-the-shelf solutions. That is why we work in close dialogue with our customers, questioning which properties a packaging really needs and working together to develop suitable mono-material solutions.

But why have you chosen PP? You would think that PET would be much more suitable as a secondary raw material from the recycling loop in terms of resource conservation and sustainability.
Michael Roth: There are many reasons Let’s start with its recyclability. It is indeed true that the PET recycling loop is implemented in an exemplary manner in the bottle production field. However, if PET is used as a raw material for other packaging products, things look very different. PET is hardly recycled at all outside the bottle sector. Bowls and trays, for example, are made from a PET-PE composite material. This combination makes it almost impossible for recycling companies to recycle it effectively on a large scale. So all in all, PET is categorised as a category 3c packaging material that is particularly difficult to recycle.

But PP is different. PP is a mass plastic that makes up around 25% of all plastic production and is frequently found in recycling streams. But when it is used as a mono-material, PP can be sorted out and recycled with great efficiency.
There is already a large market for this sorted stream. This is why PP has a rating of 3a, the best by comparison.

Other aspects include material procurement and the high availability of PP. There are a large number of production facilities for PP across the world and the number is even growing in Europe. PP is produced extremely efficiently, in some cases in huge plants, making it more cost-effective than other plastics. These high volumes combined with a reliably economical raw material price enable us to reliably calculate the cost of our packaging solutions in the long term.

But, from our point of view, PP has still other advantages to offer. Let’s consider the recycling levy. This and other levies are calculated based on weight. PP has a density of 0.9 kg/dm³, making it the lightweight amongst the bulk plastics. The levy for PP is therefore lower than levies for heavier plastics, such as PET, which weighs around 1.36 kg/dm³.

I could also mention other factors, such as the excellent technical properties of PP or the processing advantages. But for us, it is all-important that the PP sheets we produce are a mono-material solution that is recyclable, conserves resources sustainably and so ultimately has a positive impact on packaging’s carbon footprint. So, at Fernholz, we have created the ideal production conditions for this.

Which are?
Michael Roth: We have started an extensive investment programme at our sheet production site in Schkopau in Germany. We first expanded the site and now have over 2250 m2 of additional room for production and storage.

This made space for new machines that will let us double our extrusion output at the plant and implement our PP mono-material campaign in the long term. We also augmented our team of experts, particularly with regard to PP sheets and the increased use of high-performance sheets made from recycled raw materials, such as rPS sheets. But that is another, equally exciting topic.

Mr Roth, thank you very much for this fascinating interview.