Five talking points at the WPC

Can-Pack’s managing director Marek Kura said the two-piece aluminium cans for beverages is a product which is fully recyclable. This mirrors the present scenario of recycling of aluminium beverage cans in India. Can-Pack’s RVM i.e. Reverse Vending Machine is currently used by many countries for recycling of metal cans. It helps by giving incentives in exchange for recyclables. The attractive advantages of RVM are: customised graphics, varied capacities, special software and online monitoring, built-in wall and multimedia versions. This initiative gives advanced, modern solution which can affect environmental awareness of the society and increase % of recycled packaging.

Vimal Kedia, managing director of Manjushree Technopack said PET is not a luxury but a necessity. He added, next to metals PETis the safest polymer. “Much has been said and debated about PET’s future, its use, and its utility. And today, I am here to put an end to all the superstition,” said Kedia backing his favourite polymer, PET.

According to Kedia, the packaging industry is valued at 24.6-bn USD and is growing at the rate of 15% per annum. By 2025, it is expected to reach 32-bn USD. Rigid plastics account for 26% of this growing market where 80% is from beverages and food products. This is the terrain, where PET holds a major share.

Kedia reasoned the preference of PET over other polymers due to five major benefits – preservation and increasing shelf life, safe and non-toxic, saves resources, reduced carbon footprint and recyclability. Not less than 210 billion bottles are recycled every year in our country and 70% of PET in India is recycled.

A 2010 study on recycled PET found that producing one ton of recycled PET in place of virgin PET saved an additional 14067 kWh of energy and reduced GHG emissions by another 1360 kg. Recycling plastics saves at least 30% of carbon emissions that original processing and manufacturing produces.

Marek Miszczak, R&D director, Gerresheimer Plastic Packaging,Germany said quality by design is a systematic approach to product and process design and development which is a standard at Gerresheimer Plastic Packaging. This approach has replaced “quality by inspection” and it is required by manufacturers of pharma primary packaging.

The approach and close cooperation with pharma companies enables to combine product and process know-how during the development phase. By defining quality at an early stage of the product development process, one can supply even safer products and have better control of their functionality. The new approach, as claimed by Miszczak is FDA recommended. He stated some benefits of the system to ensure pre-defined product quality like identification of all critical sources, longer development but shorter quality control, higher degree of confidence during development and most importantly, achieving quality at the beginning.

Mukul Somany, chairman of Hindustan National Glass and Industries said, no other packaging material is completely inert other than glass. The global glass market share is 3.9% and is expected to reach a whooping figure of USD 60-bn by 2019. Asia Pacific (India and China) dominates the total market share and contributes to 33% of it. Alcoholic beverages alone makes up to 58.3% market share. Other than beverages, pharma industry has shown highest growth rate of 4.2% pa. Quite true, the inert world of glass packaging is growing.

Pradeep Tyle, senior president and CEO of Uflex said, “Merely 5% of packaging products is sold in packaged form and a majority, that is, 95 % is unpackaged. He said India does not lag in technology but market penetration is still low: “Among the major changes are that the selling of commodities is shifting from small shops to hypermarkets and that is bringing major opportunity for the packaging industry.”

Today India’s flexible packaging market is growing at 14 percent a year, and accounts for 24 percent of the consumer packaging market. It is expected to be a $32 billion industry in 2020. India’s consumption of polyolefins for film and sheet is projected to increase from 2.5 million metric tons in 2014 to 4.2 million tons in 2020, an average annual growth rate of 9.4 percent. The two fastest growing areas are in lamination for food packaging and shrink film.