Frequently asked questions
You have the questions – AKK INNOVATION has the answers
We are confronted with questions about packaging solutions on an almost daily basis. What design is best? How can we noticeably raise the recycling quota? Here, we have collected together the most important questions and present them with expert (and honest) answers.
We are wondering where the market is heading. What does tomorrow’s customer want, and how can we already make arrangements to meet his requirements today?
A lot of experience is involved, but also market knowledge combined with a fundamental understanding of the product and technology is required to analyse and understand the interactions. Naturally, that usually takes the short straw because one is bound to daily business and also because specialist expertise is lacking. This makes an outsider’s view all the more important. Unprejudiced, neutral and honest.
Which company areas are involved in the topic “sustainable packaging”? Does this primarily involve production?
To answer this precisely: In many cases, here, all the departments or areas are involved. In addition to market research and marketing, primarily product management and production are incorporated into the process. Not forgetting the service department and the whole logistics team, as well as storage and transport.
We are discussing the opportunities for recyclate use in the company. Are there any statements regarding where other companies stand on this or what they are currently doing?
Naturally, one question whether one should tap into the dwindling crude oil sources and squeeze out every last drop, and that at any cost. The fracking discussion is another which is not going to go away so fast. We at AKK INNOVATION are investing a lot of energy into the question of how alternative materials can be used sensibly. “Intelligent chemistry” also plays a role, which we can use to help us produce very high quality mixed plastics products. In the ideal situation, we achieve a second life application and in doing so save a lot of raw materials.
AKK INNOVATION also supports the CEFLEX project team. Here, new technologies for materia l recovery from flexible packaging are investigated and developed. The entire packaging value added chain is involved. It is also a CEFLEX designated goal to develop new end applications for the use of recyclates.
The incineration of plastics is considered the “last resort” or not? Regardless, one hears of more and more combined heat and power plants being converted to using plastics in their burners.
It can make sense to burn plastics, even if at first glance it appears to be environmentally unsound. Some plastics have an excellent heating capacity, which is almost equivalent to that when burning crude oil. If we cannot find a second life application, then these plastics can be used as a surrogate fuel, for example in a cement factory.