Blow Moulding R-Cycle
Blow Moulding R-Cycle optimizes recycling How is extrusion blow moulding driving the future circular economy? Together with raw material manufacturer Braskem (São Paulo, Brazil), plastic packaging manufacturer KautexTextron (Bonn, Germany) and Dutch recycling specialist Morssinkhoff Plastics (Zeewolde), Kautex Maschinenbau (Bonn, Germany) has launched a second R-Cycle pilot project “Smart digital watermark packaging in Blow Molding”. The aim of the project is to make a further contribution to the future functional circular economy. extrusion blow moulding and feature a single-layer wall made of PE. The bottle caps are also made of polyethylene or polypropylene. The mono-design and the use of the same material for the packaging components significantly improve the recyclability of the packaging. Document packaging properties with digital product passport Improving the recyclability of plastic packaging in extrusion blow moulding The project aims to cover as many consumer packaging application areas as possible. The target products are 250ml beverage bottles, 1-litre cans for solid detergents, 3-litre handle bottles for household chemicals and 20-litre canisters for chemicals. All bottles were produced by R-Cycle provides an open and globally applicable traceability standard for an automated data transfer process. All recyclingrelevant information: the manufacturer, the types of plastic contained, the proportion of recycled and biobased material, and details of the packaging’s application in the food or non-food sector are recorded by the Kautex blow moulding machine during production in the form of a digital product passport and stored on the R-Cycle server in the GS1 Global Tracing Standard. A mark is placed on the containers to identify and read this information in further processes up to the waste sorting system. R-Cycle is open to a number of different marking technologies, such as a QR code or a digital watermark. Info You can scan this image with the Digimarc Discover app 38 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/22] Vol. 17
In the pilot project presented here, a digital product passport is generated for each bottle in the form of a digital watermark. These codes, which are invisible to the human eye and extend over the entire surface of the packaging label, can be linked to the data in the R-Cycle database. All the relevant information mentioned above is then located here. In this way, waste sorting systems with the appropriate recognition technologies are able to identify recyclable packaging. This creates the basis for obtaining high-quality materials for a truly effective recycling system. Moreover, these codes can be read on any smartphone using the Digimarc app, for example. R-Cycle system ensures packaging traceability along the entire value chain As part of the pilot project, the recycling-relevant data was recorded on machines of the participating customers and partners and stored on the R-Cycle server in accordance with the global GS1 standard. This transmission process makes the data immediately available along the entire value chain. The most important know-how of Kautex Maschinenbau within the pilot project is the development of a data acquisition system R-Connector as an interface between the extrusion blow moulding production and the cloud-based R-Cycle platform. The necessary data along the entire value chain can therefore be transmitted to the common R-Cycle database and is immediately accessible to the entire value chain. By using the R-Connector in machine control systems from Kautex Maschinenbau, production data is collected, analysed, and uploaded directly to the R-Cycle server, which significantly increases production efficiency and transparency. As a result, waste sorting systems supported by standard detection technologies can more efficiently identify recyclable packaging by type. This open and globally applicable traceability standard is the key to obtaining highquality recyclates for true recycling in the future. MT www.kautex-group.com Blow Moulding bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/22] Vol. 17 39
