Convertech International 2022 4th
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Plastic recycling methods have acronym for Circular Economy.Environmentally friendly films al-ready in circulation include films made from plastics containing plant-derived materials or materials made from used beverage PET bottles. While these are films with low environmental impact, Masafumi Nishina of the Film Sales Department says that there are some issues to be addressed.“For example, it is pointed out that the physical properties of films blend-ed with plant materials are slightly dif-ferent from those of films made from 100% petroleum. Also, in the recy-cling of post-consumer products, it is not easy to prove hygienic proper-ties for food packaging. In addition to these physical properties and hygiene concerns, the company is particularly concerned about the issue of supply stability.”In addition to these physical and hygienic issues, the company is par-ticularly concerned about the stable supply of plant-derived plastics and ethylene glycols, which are imported and prone to price variations.“With PET bottles, the trend toward bottle-to-bottle, especially among beverage manufacturers, is likely to limit the raw materials that can be used for the flexible packaging. Since a stable supply of flexible packaging materials used for food packaging is a prerequisite, we thought we needed an environmentally friendly film that could solve this problem,” said Mr. Nishina.Material recycling issuesIn terms of film recycling, the company has long been engaged in material re-cycling, in which cut-off materials gen-erated in the film manufacturing pro-cess are crushed, melted, and reused as raw materials. While this method has the advantage of allowing easy re-cycling within the factory, it has an un-deniable impact on strength and qual-ity because the film is melted again after it has been made and stretched. PET film of conventional product on the left and EMBLET CE on the right34three main categories: ma-terial recycling, thermal recovery, and chemical recycling. Compared to material recycling, which in-volves re-melting used materials, chemical recycling reduces quality degradation. This approach con-tributes to reducing the use of pe-troleum-derived materials and is getting the attention of film man-ufacturers. Meanwhile, UNITIKA LTD. developed EMBLEM CE, a BOPA film and EMBLET CE, a PET film, in 2020. They adopted both recycling methods. By using these two recycling methods together, greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 38% for EMBLEM CE and 27% for EMBLET CE com-pared to the case where recycled materials are not used. These grades can be used for food pack-aging, and the company aims to expand its application in the flexible packaging field.Environmentally conscious films with stable supply“EMBLEM” and “EMBLET” are the brand names of the company’s BOPA and PET films for food packaging, re-spectively. “EMBLEM CE CEN” and “EMBLET CE CEP” are part of the company’s lineup. Currently, gener-al grade products are sold under the names “EMBLEM CE CEN” and “ EM-BLET CE CEP. Note that CE here is an

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