Dow will showcase a comprehensive suite of products and capabilities at K 2019 that it says can help brand owners and converters to address recyclability targets with flexible polyethylene (PE) packaging.
Jointly developed with more than 20 global companies, 30 packaging prototypes enabled by Dow’s Pack Studios will be on display at K 2019, the world’s No.1 trade fair for plastics and rubber. Designed for recyclability, these prototypes represent different food, home and personal care packaging applications, using Dow’s resins, coatings and adhesives on the most common extrusion and packaging machinery.
“Plastic packaging designed for recyclability offers multiple opportunities to help address the European Commission’s recycling targets as well as the industry’s sustainability commitments,” said Romain Cazenave, EMEA marketing director for Dow’s Packaging & Specialty Plastics business. “With this unique offering, we can help provide brand owners and converters with complementary and combinable PE-based technologies to create packaging designed for recyclability while helping maintain food preservation, shelf-appeal, and consumer experience as well as production efficiency at high levels.”
Dow’s offering comprises concepts for simple multilayered structures without barrier, more complex packaging with customised barrier for food protection, as well as conversion process redesign – including the use of compatibilisers to help enhance the mechanical recyclability of multilayer packaging and a spout insertion technology. PE-based solutions have been developed for pouches and thermoformed packaging.
In addition to technologies and materials, Dow says brand owners and converters can accelerate their innovation cycle by accessing the capabilities and services of its Pack Studios.
“At Pack Studios, we are able to give customers and industry comprehensive support in designing, testing and validating fully functioning PE-based packaging for recyclability,” said Peter Sandkuehler, global application technology leader for Dow’s Packaging & Specialty Plastics business. “We have gathered global technical and market expertise from across the packaging value chain to create this array of tailor-made solutions with global facilities to conceptualise, develop, and test ideas on site.”
