Companies such as ULMA, ITC, HIPERBARIC, PLÁSTICOS ROMERO, DUPONT and AMPACET will launch their innovations in the meeting. From IML labels with aluminium sheet and barrier function to packages that support new processes guaranteeing the food safety, such as hydrostatic high pressures.
Other innovations will be presented, such as new biodegradable multilayer films with advanced properties, pouch packages with different compartments and new textures and scents incorporated to the polymer to attract the customer and allow to highlight the product on the supermarket shelves.
On 30 and 31 May, Valencia will be again the meeting point of the food plastic packaging sector with the celebration of the third edition of MeetingPack. This international event, gathering the entire value chain of the food plastic packaging sector, has prepared a complete programme for these days, where companies and experts will show the last innovations in which the industry is working on, as well as the challenges and opportunities raised.
This edition of MeetingPack2017, will be focused on the trends in convenience packaging, under the title Driving Barrier Packaging Innovation. The functionality of food packaging or its capability of adapting itself better to the needs of the new consumers or those with special needs will be discussed within the framework of the innovations presented at MeetingPack2017. Plastic offers to the packaging sector easy-open solutions, even for the youngest and eldest consumers. Besides, different use situations are taken into account; from those requiring heating in ovens and microwaves to those making possible the consumption of the content anywhere with the great comfort and preservation guaranty.
In this line, Dupont will talk about the advantages of their new pouch packages with compartments. It is a flexible packaging that guarantees a long duration of this content without needing to be in a fridge and with the advantage of having the product in two or more compartments that can be mixed anytime without the need to proceed to open the packaging. This is an innovative packaging solution that besides reduces the volume of wastes generated.
The transparency to be able to see the content, as well as the flexibility for the creative and attractive packaging design are also some virtues of this kind of packages. Sensorial innovations will be presented at MeetingPack2017 thanks to Ampacet and its incorporation of textures and fragrances by extrusion in the polymer, to provide a new tool to give an added value to barrier packages to companies, from a soft touch to a snake skin texture.
Industry 4.0 and the interconnexion between the manufacturing processes and even the consumer will have a place at MeetingPack2017, too, thanks to Ulma. In this presentation, the company will show the advantages related to the packaging manufacturing process. Firstly, concerning safety, since all the manufacturing stages are integrated in the line of packaging and the process safety is higher. Moreover, thanks to this connectivity, the different manufacturing processes are made continuously, so the machine can adjust itself automatically and the product quality is better. Other aspects can be controlled anytime, such as parameters as thickness distribution, what entails a lower use of materials and a time saving, with the result of more sustainable and economic packages.
Barrier packaging and shelf life
ITC will present to the attendees a review on the evolution of barrier solutions in packages to reach the most recent developments, such as its IML label with aluminium sheet, which has been already patented and the developments with polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).
In this event, Hiperbaric will talk about some innovations on preservation, allowing to offer to customers fresh and natural food, with guaranteed duration and safety. It has developed packages that withstand the innovative technology of high hydrostatic pressures (HHP), allowing to eradicate any microorganism through the high pressures emitted by water for some minutes. It is a technology that demands flexible packages resistant to water and compression.
Plastics allow the incorporation of solutions for active and smart food packaging, what represents a step forward on the extension of shelf life by incorporating devices such as RFID labels to monitor temperature or moisture changes that may affect the integrity of the product, absorbents and gas emitters acting like preservatives and even in the future, biosensors detecting the presence of microorganisms.
Sustainability
Plastic packaging represents the most sustainable alternative. On the one hand, it allows an important weight reduction in the packaging. A decade ago, plastic packages used to have a weight of 28 per cent more than nowadays. In the present, more than 50 per cent of the products are packaged with plastic in Europe, but they only represent a 17 per cent of the weight of the packaging solutions used, what contributes to the saving of raw materials. On the other hand, progresses made on the recyclability of this kind of packages has allowed the carbon footprint reduction of plastic packages to only the 0.6 per cent of the average European consumer’s carbon footprint. Besides, the recycling ratio increases each year at an annual rate of two per cent.
Another way towards which innovations on sustainable plastic packaging go, is the use of bioplastics, both those made from raw materials from renewable sources and those which does not need to be subjected to recycling treatments at the end of its shelf life, since they are compostable. Plásticos Romero will present at MeetingPack2017 a new generation of biodegradable multilayer films that, thanks to their advanced properties, are able to replace conventional materials with advanced properties in medium-barrier food packaging applications with the added value of sustainability.
On the other hand, Danone will talk about its programme Nature 2020, aligned with the principles of circular economy, which implies new practices related to all the areas of production, from packaging eco-design to the use of plastics with up to 20 per cent of raw materials of renewable origin.
Technology partnership AIMPLAS- AINIA: a big technological potential
The organisation of MeetingPack2017 is framed within the strategic alliance between the technology centres AIMPLAS and AINIA as a European platform supporting innovation and research on food plastic packaging.
In the previous edition, MeetingPack brought together more than 300 experts, a figure that is expected to exceed in this new edition that is going to be held within the framework of the fair Made from Plastic.
These are some of the partners that have joined the event: TER Group, Anaip, Gomensoro, Mesbook, Mitsui, Polyram, Schur Star Systems, TecnoCaucho, Ampacet, Comexi, EHEDG, Mocon, Plásticos Romero, Repsol, TPL, UBE y Witt. Además, como marcas colaboradoras destacan Feria Valencia, Anguilas Aguinaga, Campofrío, Consum, Coren, Danone, Grupo IAN, Grupo Siro, Gullón, Pescanova y SADA.
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