Thomas Kolbusch | Director Sales, Marketing, Technology, VP
Smart packaging is becoming increasingly important in the context of steadily rising packaging waste. Plastic films and paper materials are used in a wide range of daily life products. The largest amount of this use is attributable to the packaging industry e.g., food and pharmaceutical packaging. Global production of packaging-related materials is continuously growing and as a result the industry and consumers are producing more packaging waste than ever before without considering the recyclability. The response from politicians, industry and society is to introduce new policies and stricter regulations, as well as new societal expectations to the industry. To handle the resulting ecological requirements, the industry faces new technological and logistical challenges. Beside the use of recyclable and biodegradable materials for products, the digitalization of production processes and the implementation of intelligent and smart products are essential for maintaining competitiveness. In this context, this presentation emphasizes the rising importance of printed electronics in terms of sustainable smart packaging and addresses how the aforementioned challenges can be overcome by implementing ecological solutions on an industrial scale. Work from various EU-funded projects dealing with the further development of sustainable and smart packaging as well as the introduction of industrial roll to roll process steps for the realization of the developed approaches will be presented.
Comentarios