Driving Circularity: Flint Group’s innovations pave the way for sustainable packaging solutions
The complex topic of sustainability has emerged as a critical priority across industries worldwide. This is critically evident in the printing sector, where circular economy principles and regulations are driving innovation and reshaping traditional print methods.
Data from research firms like McKinsey[1] shows that consumers are factoring packaging sustainability heavily into their purchase decisions, which gives it significant commercial importance. As the demand for sustainable packaging grows, so too do the challenges associated with achieving true circularity.
Historically, circularity has been a challenge
Until recently, a primary obstacle to achieving circularity has been the diverse range of materials used in packaging and label design. When various elements of packaging—such as substrates, adhesives, inks, and coatings—are washed together, it compounds the circularity challenge.
Traditional inks, adhesives, and coatings often 'bleed' during the caustic bath phase of the recycling process, leading to discolouration, clouding, or contamination of the wash solution. This results in recycled material that is not clear in colour, can emit a rancid odour, and has reduced mechanical properties.
Consequently, the processed plastic is often down-cycled, repurposed into lower-quality products instead of maintaining its use in packaging. Down-cycling removes valuable food packaging and label substrates from the packaging material loop, limiting their reuse to non-packaging products like ‘plastic wood.’
To achieve lasting circularity in packaging and label printing, we must focus on keeping materials in the loop rather than down-cycling them. By removing ink before the re-granulation step in the recycling process, we can generate higher-quality recyclate with better colour, odour, and mechanical properties.
At Flint Group, we are focused on innovation that will support our customers in their drive towards a circular economy. A great example is the development and accreditation of inks for crystallizable PET (cPET) sleeves to increase the amount of recycled PET (rPET) available to the market. This technology enables cPET sleeves to be cleanly deinked and processed alongside PET bottles in the recycling infrastructure.
Introducing the Evolution Range
Our Evolution range showcases our strides towards supporting circularity and features a UV curable Deinking Primer and a UV curable Caustic-Resistant Overprint Varnish (OPV). Both products are built using Flint Group technology and know-how to increase the yield of material from shrink sleeve recycling processes by up to 10%.
Evolution Deinking Primer is applied to the substrate before the ink to provide strong ink adhesion throughout the life of the label. It enables the ink to be released (de-inked) into the recycling caustic wash and the substrate to be broken down into flakes, allowing for more than 99% recyclability.
The deinking process occurs after a PET bottle is shredded during the caustic wash. The wash-off coating ensures that the crystallisable PET shrink sleeve sinks to the bottom of the washing tank while inks float to the top, meaning the PET flakes can be collected together in one clean recycling yield.
In contrast, Evolution Varnish ensures that inks remain on the label during the caustic wash used in the recycling process. The varnish application avoids contamination of the washing solution while not impacting the floatability of the label. Therefore, the resulting quality of the reclaimed material is significantly improved. The protected ink can then be skimmed off with the floating label and directed to an alternative waste stream.
The Evolution range enhances the recyclability of shrink sleeves by ensuring clean separation of ink and substrate without compromising on print quality or fidelity. By facilitating this de-inking, shrink sleeves can be effectively separated and processed, maximising the potential yield of recyclable PET material.
Products like Evolution can play an essential part in packaging manufacturers’ sustainability strategies, enabling them to keep plastics in the supply chain and reduce the industry’s reliance on raw material extraction. With the Evolution series, we are ensuring the recyclability of bottles and packs for years to come and contributing to a healthier, circular packaging economy.
Our collaborative approach
We believe that achieving meaningful progress towards a circular economy requires collaboration across the industry. That's why we partner closely with organisations like the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Recyclass, CEFLEX and EuPIA to develop and validate sustainable ink and coating solutions.
By aligning with industry standards and best practices, we are not only supporting our customers with the highest-quality ink and coating products, but also ensuring those products meet the rigorous requirements of contemporary recycling processes. We commit to advancing sustainability across every aspect of our operations, from optimising manufacturing processes to minimising waste and resource consumption.
Our team remains at the forefront of innovation, driving positive change within the printing industry. Together with our partners and stakeholders, we are shaping a more sustainable future for generations to come.
Click here to learn more about Flint Group’s commitment to sustainability throughout the printing industry.
[1] Sustainability in packaging: US survey insights | McKinsey