Pascal Leroy, Marketing Manager at Sleever International
Premium Beauty News - Sustainable development are the new buzzwords in the packaging industry?
Pascal Leroy - As far as we are concerned, considering the six billion cylindrical covers we produce every year, we cannot afford not to integrate sustainable development in our strategy. Our responsibility is even greater as we are a global company, with manufacturing facilities in Europe, North and South Americas.
Our commitment to sustainability can be summarized into three points:
minimizing raw materials and energy intakes, in particular through recycling and waste valorisation,
limiting emissions into the air and any kind of pollution,
securing the environment from industrial risks linked to our production processes.
In order to achieve these goals, we intend to improve and adapt manufacturing processes of our thermo-shrink plastic labels, and find solutions to address our customers’ concerns about recyclability and biodegradability.
Premium Beauty News - So what about your labels, what kind of decisions did you take?
Pascal Leroy - As far as TPE [1] films are concerned things were quite easy. As you may know, once the have been collected for recycling, plastics need are sorted in separation water on the base of their different densities. As the density of PET exceeds 1 (which is for the density of water), PET products immediately sink into the water. On the contrary, in order to avoid any contamination, our Petsleev raw-material, which is the base of TPE films, is the only one to float in water, thus facilitating the recycling process.
We also worked on Biosleeve, a solution using plant-based polymers such as PLA. We succeeded in producing glossy and highly transparent films, that can be easily integrated into the machinery process, able to stop contamination.
Regarding the reduction of film’s weight, we made tremendous progress as a 30 microns OPS [2] shrink film (with good optical properties, and providing good quality of printing) weights 40% less than a 50 microns OPS shrink film, and 50 microns PVC shrink film. Furthermore, a 30 microns PET film weights 40% less than a 50 microns PET or PVC film.
Eventually, in order to reduce the impact of packaging on the environment, we developed a new generation of inks. Thanks to their specific formulation these inks cannot be spread away, thus eliminating contamination risks during the recycling process. Furthermore, solvent-free technologies are being generalised, whether for photoengraving or flexographic printing, as water-based inks have lower impact on the environment.
Premium Beauty News - Do you think over-packaging practices still have a future?
Pascal Leroy - Actually, we think that thermo-shrink plastic films can partly address this over-packaging issue. Thanks to their inherent qualities in terms as tamper-evident seals, as informative printed labels or as decorations, they help to avoid certain types of over-packaging.
