According to Siegwerk, as a committed member of the initiative, it is said to contribute its extensive ink expertise to enhance performance and recyclability of flexible packaging to help realise the full potential for a sustainable future.

“CEFLEX is the most significant and solution-oriented industrial initiative for flexible packaging,” said Jorg-Peter Langhammer, head of global PSR and sustainability at Siegwerk.

“It offers a perfect platform to network and exchange with experts from other areas and to cooperatively shape the future by redesign and innovation, along with the parallel development of a strong infrastructure to collect, sort and recycle flexible packaging. I am firmly convinced that together we can make a real difference,” he added.

The CEFLEX initiative unites almost 100 companies and associations from the entire value chain of flexible packaging – from manufacturers of packaging films and processors (including ink providers), to brand owners, retailers and specialized companies for recycling.

The collaborative and its stakeholders are said to be fully committed to the goal of 100 per cent collection and recycling of all plastic packaging. The initiative’s underlying goal is to prepare comprehensive sustainability and circular economy roadmap for flexible packaging by 2020. By 2025, CEFLEX wants to establish a collection, sorting and reprocessing infrastructure based on the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly processes, concretely developed for post-consumer flexible packaging across Europe.

Alongside with CEFLEX, Siegwerk fully supports the Global Commitment and Common Vision issued by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) on a New Plastics Economy envisaging a future where plastic, including flexible plastic packaging, is never becoming waste and is in line with a circular economy.

According to Siegwerk, it’s contribution applies to printing inks and varnishes and their essential role in the future of flexible packaging. Today, the company’s experts are participating in three of the seven overall workstreams that were established to achieve CEFLEX’s defined goals. These include-design guidelines for a circular economy, sustainable end markets and facilitating technologies.