Packaging firms have shown a willingness to be flexible during both lockdowns. By switching production lines to making antibacterial products such as hand sanitiser, packaging companies can keep trading, while serving the nation’s health needs.

This article was first published in the December 1st 2020 issue of Warehouse & Logistics News, subscribe to the magazine by clicking here.

According to Spectra Packaging, many companies have had to radically alter their typical manufacturing schedules to produce essential products around the clock at speed, often introducing staggered shift patterns to minimise social contact. Many others have provided supplies to the NHS and other vital services at cost price, or in some instances free of charge, despite the pressures encountered on their own businesses.

Mick Carless, Sales and Engineering Manager for the Antalis Packaging Machinery Division, says it’s worth automating the stretch wrapping process. “Automated stretch wrapping offers lots of benefits, but the key one for most businesses is the considerable cost savings it can realise – when it’s being used at its optimum,” he explains. “A client of Antalis who was already using an automated stretch wrapper recently saved over £40,000 a year in film costs simply by switching their stretch film to the correct specification for their machine.” Advantages of automating the packing process include health and safety, as employees can trip over pallets while in a rush, load containment, packaging waste reduction and film economy, as Lantech machines can pre-stretch film by up to 300%, thereby increasing a roll of film by up to four times its original length.

In order to shrink wrap food and drink items, plastic film needs exposing to heat to make it shrink and this requires the use of heat tunnels. Unfortunately, heat tunnels are very energy intensive, generating extremely large amounts of heat which make them environmentally unfriendly. To counteract this, companies should use alternative packaging methods which eliminate the use of heat tunnels from the packaging process entirely, according to Martin Leeming, CEO of secondary packaging manufacturer TrakRap. Orbital wrapping systems which apply ultra-thin stretch film to items are becoming more common in food and drink manufacturing factories.

From April 2022 a Plastic Packaging Tax will apply to all plastic packaging being either manufactured or imported into the UK containing less than 30% recycled plastic the government has announced. This tax will be charged at a rate of £200 per tonne where less than 30% recycled plastic is used in packaging. According to Jemac Packaging, businesses that import or manufacture less than 10 tonnes of plastic packaging over the period of 12 months will not have to pay the tax.

Storopack has announced it has joined CEFLEX, a new European organization committed to improving the circular economy of flexible protective packaging. The new organization comprises of 130 member companies and brings together companies that represent the entire value chain for flexible packaging.

It is refreshing to see packaging companies adapting to the ever-changing circumstances of 2020.

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