‘Energy-efficient solutions are vital for Europe,’ remarked Dr Stefan Engleder, CEO of the ENGEL Group, headquartered in Austria and represented in South Africa by GreenTech Plastics Machinery. He adds that with K 2022 focusing on energy efficiency as well as digitalisation and the circular economy, these topics play an important role in reducing energy consumption and protecting the climate.
There were many examples of these aspects on show at ENGEL’s two exhibition stands, which showcased eight injection moulding applications as well as ENGEL’s e-speed injection moulding machine for the energy-efficient processing of recycled plastic waste.
Recycled PET for a wider range of products
‘Building a circular economy requires new ideas,’ said chief technology officer, Dr Gerhard Dimmler, who is responsible for research and development. The example presented at K 2022 concerned food packaging and PET, the material used for drinking bottles. It can be recycled as often as desired and, according to EU law, is the only plastic to date that can also be reused as a recyclate for the production of food packaging.
In recycled form, the material is called rPET. So far, mainly bottles made of rPET have been produced. ‘Together with partner companies, we are working to broaden the range of applications,’ said Gerhard. ‘These packages are produced using thin-walled technology, which means that they require very little material and energy and weigh almost nothing in order not to consume unnecessary energy in logistics and trade. This is a very sustainable approach, but the production of these shells has so far required other materials – polyolefins or polystyrene – for which there is still no recycling loop in the food sector.’
‘In contrast to polyolefins and polystyrene, it has thus far not been possible to process PET or rPET into thin-walled packaging with competitive efficiency. The ENGEL e-speed injection moulding machine now makes this possible,’ he explained. ‘The machine series was developed by ENGEL specifically for the high-performance requirements in thin-wall injection moulding. The e-speed is one of the world’s most dynamic injection moulding machines on the market and at K 2022 it was demonstrated how the robot removed four trays from the e-speed machine every 2.9 seconds.’
Networks promote a circular economy
‘ENGEL bears a great deal of responsibility not only for its machines, but also for the products that are produced on them,’ Patrick Bracke, MD of GreenTech Plastics Machinery told PPM’s Susi and Samantha Moore. ‘That’s why we work closely with partner companies along the entire value chain. Especially when it comes to the topics of circular economy and recycling, cross-company cooperation is critical for the success of the project.’
In addition to individual development projects, ENGEL is strongly involved in sustainability initiatives, which also bundle interdisciplinary know-how and launch many new ideas. Examples include packaging with a future, Alliance to End Plastics Waste and R-Cycle.
The R-Cycle initiative pursues the goal of enabling a high-quality recycling process with digital product passports. Recycling-relevant information is automatically recorded during production so that it can later be made available to the recycling company. In this way, waste sorting plants can identify recyclable plastic products more precisely and provide homogeneous fractions for recycling. ‘The food trays that ENGEL produced at K 2022 were provided with a QR code and visitors could easily call up the digital products such as food trays themselves on their smartphones,’ Patrick stated.
