Under newly appointed executive director Luke Crouch, the South African coatings specialist is increasingly focused on paper-based packaging.
Established in South Africa in 1966, the business has evolved through changing technologies, ownership structures and packaging requirements, eventually becoming an independent company in 1987. It commissioned its purpose-built manufacturing plant in 1996 and has continued to expand its technical capabilities and international reach. Today, its coatings, barriers, seals, primers and other technologies are supplied to packaging markets around the world.
Its 60th anniversary comes at a point where the company positions its chemistry as a way of replacing plastic with paper-based structures that can enter established recycling and repulping streams.
For Luke, that transition is a logical extension of the company’s history rather than a reinvention. ‘SealGlobal.Co’s success has come from being in the right place at the right time,’ he says. ‘But it’s also the company’s ability to adapt to the change of times.’
Luke points out that the business established itself in a very different packaging environment from the one it operates in today. ‘I don’t think Doug [Knox, CEO] envisaged in 1987 when we did the management changeover that we would be doing wax-alternative coatings,’ Luke says. ‘But here we are, and it’s our flagship product.’
Improving paper performance
Paper has many of the attributes required for a circular packaging system, but its limitations become apparent when products require resistance to grease, oil, moisture, water, condensation or heat. Historically, the answer has often been to laminate paper with plastic or foil, creating structures that perform well but are difficult to separate and recycle.
SealGlobal.Co’s approach is to use chemistry to give paper some of those performance characteristics without fundamentally changing what happens to it at end of life.
Its portfolio includes water-based barrier coatings designed to provide grease, oil, fat and moisture resistance, as well as technologies aimed at replacing polyethylene films, waxes, polyester and foil-based structures. The company says the solutions are paper-compatible and repulpable, with applications ranging from fast-food packaging and confectionery wraps to ream wrapping and other FMCG formats.
‘If we can replace plastic with paper, we should. The infrastructure is already there, the recycling rates are already there and the technology now exists to make paper perform in applications where plastic was once the only option,’ Luke says.
Luke puts the local paper recycling rate at around 70%, versus a global plastics recycling rate of less than 10%.
Rather than trying to solve every weakness in plastics recycling, SealGlobal.Co’s strategy is to question whether some packaging needs to be plastic in the first place.
SealGlobal.Co’s success has come from being in the right place at the right time,’ Luke says. ‘But it’s also the company’s ability to adapt to the change of times.
‘Our job is to make paper capable of doing what packaging has traditionally relied on plastic to do. If we can achieve that without compromising performance, there’s a strong case for making the switch,’ Luke comments.
SealGlobal.Co’s long-serving employees include Clint Angamuthoo (technical sales director), Richard Marrier d’Unineville (finance director), Shalane Knox (MD), Clive Moonsamy (national sales manager), Doug Knox (CEO), Lucky Mngoma (factory foreman) and Stanford Muango (factory operator).
From formula to factory floor
A key part of SealGlobal.Co’s approach is the extent to which its technical team works alongside converters during implementation. Moving from a familiar plastic structure to a coated paper alternative can involve changes to machinery, converting conditions and performance requirements. The company’s response is to work through those issues rather than simply supplying a drum of coating and leaving the converter to solve the problem.
‘We go to the customer and work alongside them on the machine, running the trials and troubleshooting whatever comes up until we know the product is working exactly as it should,’ Luke says.
That technical service model is supported by an experienced workforce. Several employees have been with the company for two or three decades, while some have spent more than 30 years there. Luke says the low staff turnover is closely connected to the company’s culture. ‘SealGlobal.Co’s success has never been down to one person. It’s the collective effort, experience and commitment of the whole team that makes the business what it is,’ he says.
The company also benefits from seasoned technical expertise, with technical and sales director Clint Angamuthoo contributing process knowledge and long-standing customer relationships.
The company is now extending that capability with an expansion of its existing laboratory and warehouse. The laboratory upgrade will increase capacity while placing greater emphasis on R&D and the development of customer-specific solutions.
Different substrates, food products and converting processes place different demands on a barrier coating, from grease and oil resistance to moisture protection and heat-seal performance. SealGlobal.Co’s aqueous coatings use water-based chemistry to build those functional properties into the paper surface, offering an alternative to plastic films and laminations while preserving the paper substrate’s recyclability and repulpability. The formulations can be adapted to suit the application rather than forcing the converter to work around a standard product. ‘That’s where our R&D capability becomes important,’ says Luke. ‘We can adjust the chemistry to the substrate, the application and the converter’s process, then work through the trials with them until we have a solution that performs in the real world.’
The next 60 years
SealGlobal.Co now exports to around 19 countries, with Germany, Turkey, Brazil and the UK among its international markets, while further expansion into Africa is being explored. Luke says growing that international footprint is one of his primary objectives.
He says regulation, economics and advances in packaging technology are creating new opportunities. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), tightening international packaging legislation and growing pressure on brands are increasing demand for more sustainable packaging. At the same time, volatile fossil-fuel prices are affecting the cost competitiveness of plastic.
‘The pressure is no longer theoretical. Regulations are coming into force, costs are moving and there are real consequences for companies that don’t adapt,’ Luke says.
For the next decade, SealGlobal.Co is focusing particularly on retail, fast food and pharmaceutical packaging, three sectors where large volumes and demanding performance requirements create opportunities for paperisation.
Luke says the focus now is on demonstrating that sustainable packaging can work commercially, at industrial scale and without compromising performance. ‘The technology is already here. The challenge now is getting brands and converters to have the confidence to use it and move beyond the way packaging has always been done,’ Luke says.
Working with SealGlobal.Co has shown how strong partnerships can turn innovation into market impact. By combining Seal’s formulation expertise with BASF’s chemistry innovation, we have developed high-performance, water-based packaging solutions that support brands in their drive towards more sustainable packaging.
