EU stated new rules on packaging and its subsequent waste, which covers both the aspects of packaging design as well as packaging management. Their aim through new directives is to deal with large amounts of packaging waste in a precise and timely manner. EU Packaging Directive of 2019 states that there is a dire need for recovering and reusing raw materials from the packaging sector. For instance, they have regulated the recycling quota for paper which from now on would be close to 80%, which would gradually be increased to 90% by the year 2022.
To achieve this new target SternMaid has brought forth a novel way. It has added elastic filing equipment or spiral-wound cardboard cans at one of its packaging factories. This might be an enormous contribution to the Sustainable Packaging Market as the “can” can now be closed through a cardboard base resulting in a “can” that is 95% recyclable. Before, such bottoms were made from tinplate, and the new approach is a big advancement from that.
SternMaid, a contract manufacturer, is known to work in several sectors such as pharmaceutical auxiliaries, foods, foods for special medical purposes, and nutritional supplements. And so it had a personal interest in investing in R&D for new development.
The new can has a body that consists of a cardboard bottom that has 95% paper. The interior and exterior lamination of the body is extremely thin, so it can be easily disposed of along with the waste paper. Furthermore, this would also facilitate cans with a lower weight. For instance, a can with a cardboard bottom having diameter of 99mm and length of 180 mm would be about 13.6% lighter than a similar can made up of tinplate.
Looking at the directives set by the EU Packaging Directive, the research team decided to invest and put their resources into cans with cardboard bottoms as an alternative solution to tinplate. This idea led to a great enhancement of the can’s recyclability. The conventionally used tinplate was a major setback as it was hard to recycle the materials included. However, with this new approach, the company can successfully fill several of its powered products on the line. Such as food for special medicinal purposes, dry beverage bases, food supplements to products for athletes, and diet drinks.
More importantly, this innovation would help the country deal with plastic wastage that is critical to its environment. This approach might also help other corporations to come up with new and novel ideas as well.