Südpack and Leibinger have partnered to address the increasing demand for sustainable food and beverage packaging.
Their inaugural joint project focuses on testing the suitability of Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) inks for printing on recyclable films used for packaging sterilised food products.
This innovative combination of packaging and printing solutions offers food manufacturers significant time savings while ensuring investment security, according to both companies.
As packaging films are expected to be resource-efficient and recyclable to support a circular economy, the new EU Packaging Regulation mandates that all packaging in the EU market be recyclable by 2030.
Moreover, composite materials are increasingly being replaced by monomaterials. However, if these monomaterials lack a barrier function to prevent ink components from migrating to food, they can only be printed with harmless ink. This development raises the standards for the production, coding, and marking of food packaging films.
In response to the fundamental changes in the packaging market, Südpack is actively expanding its portfolio of recyclable films. The company specializes in developing mono-materials that offer comparable convenience and protection to traditional composite materials.
For printing and coding this type of food and beverage packaging, Leibinger provides industrial inkjet printers and collaborates with SIS Ink Solution, a Leibinger Group company, to develop specialized CIJ inks.
Südpack and Leibinger are currently examining the effectiveness of CIJ inks on recyclable food packaging, followed by sterilisation.
Experts from both companies investigated this matter at Südpack’s technical centre. They printed single-material solutions based on polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) using advanced CIJ ink.
Following steam sterilisation, the printed films were subjected to heating at 121°C for 30 minutes. Assessment of the print samples, both before and after sterilisation, confirmed that the print remained fully legible.
The inks employed are compliant with food contact materials regulations, containing only raw materials approved under the German Printing Inks Ordinance and the Swiss Commodities Ordinance.
“The sterilisation resistance of ink is always a major challenge. I am delighted that we have succeeded in developing a food-approved CIJ ink that is this effective when printing on monomaterials,” explains Dr. Thomas Paul, ink expert and managing director at SIS Ink Solution, a Leibinger Group company.
