Sustainability is a trend that is not just a name but also requires a serious action to be taken, to be responsible to our planet we all live on.
Production of flexible packaging has high risk of various environmental pollution possibilities, and all companies are strictly monitored and followed by many directives, and regulations to what all production process must be obliged to. Although in general flexible packaging production from one perspective is less resource requiring, more efficient, impacts less carbon footprint than other packaging production, on the other hand it still requires to manage all production processes from operational to management – of how every single action is taken towards sustainability.

Polipaks- responsible flexible packaging producer

Polipaks is investing into all production processes to make sure of the least impact made on environment throughout our production process.  In 2014 just right before when newly built production plant was working on full speed, we managed to implement various systems that leads our company towards sustainability targets and improves our impact on environment being less polluting.

Waste management is one of key factors of efficient and sustainable company goals- both production residual waste and emissions of VOC and CO. Every month during flexible packaging production process there is amount of approx. 50 tons of plastic waste produced which either has to be recycled on outsource or managed internally. Smart sorting system is required to sort and manage all materials to be put back into a production flow- sorted, stored and recycled. Our PIR management combined with smart production let us to recycle almost all produced waste and produce new products from fully recycled post production materials.

Emissions – high risk polluters

Process of post-industrial recycling has an impact on what could actually be produced from recycled material granulate- more accurate the process is- more added value to end product is assured. High demand on market through Polipaks Group company Multipack is on recycled high quality post production granules garbage bags- that are sold both for industrial and commercial use. Therefore approximately 45% of all PE category waste is used to produce high quality, durable garbage bags. Process of production requires to heat up polyethylene up-to 120°C and during this process thermo-oxidation parts containing VOC are emission approximately 1,5g/m3 including acetic acid and CO=2.5mg/m3. Those VOC and acids are toxic and very dangerous to all human beings, animals and live plants. To avoid any toxic emissions to be polluted into atmosphere all polluted production air is directly transported to regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) that oxidates all VOC and CO compounds at high temperature (800-840°C) to CO2 and H2O in a condition of steam. Number of CO2 emission is less than 1mg/m3 although legally allowed number is 100mg/m3.

Meanwhile flexography printing process during printing are emitting VOC compounds over 3g/m3. All of them are also directed to RTO to use as autothermal energy provider- fulfilling whole cycle of emissions to be used into production cycle, recycled and cleaned to pure air.

Full cycle production- with own energy

Usually, to provide RTO to constantly work at the high temperatures, natural gas is used- which is an unrenewable energy source. For particular case it would be 7m3 of natural gas per hour. Instead, as end of result of emission transformation – emissions of flexography print process are turned into an energy provider, that let RTO accumulated heat energy to be used back into production plant by two options.  First one- heat is used back into flexography printing machine running process, second- heat is used back into production plant for hot water in heating systems and technical purposes, as well as for preheating of ventilation system. By re-use of produced heat at RTO there is highly re-cleaned gas emissions into air with temperature 100°C with significantly reduced CO2 content. All this process is very significantly changing numbers of greenhouse effect – by being more environmentally friendly, reducing CO2 footprint and being more sustainable, meanwhile very self-sufficient- by not using unrenewable energy sources.