At Drinktec 2022 (Messe München, Messegelände, 12-16 September 2022) SACMI Beverage will be presenting a comprehensive range of products that focuses on process sustainability, with ready-to-use innovations that are instrumental in fostering the creation of a returnable PET and food-grade resin recycling chain. SACMI Beverage’s new “Packaging Center” was also presented, to accompany the customer from the product idea to the best technologies available for it to be produced.

At the centre of renewed social and regulatory awareness, sustainability in the field of beverage and food packaging technology is at the heart of SACMI Beverage's range of products. This has developed technological and plant engineering solutions designed to support its customers adapt to the sector’s “green deal”.

Profitability and new standards are the two key concepts. The first understood as the competitiveness of the proposed solutions, the second as ease in making the technological switch towards a more environmentally friendly way of producing, while at the same time providing the best consumer experience for the customer, containing investment costs and facilitating the integration of new solutions on the standard machine range.

The development of a returnable PET supply chain in the beverage industry focuses on proper management of the filling and labelling stages. This includes development of specific applications that can particularly facilitate the recovery and cleaning of the container, which must be separated from the label at the end of the product life cycle.

Developed by SACMI Beverage on its range of labelling machines is the innovative system for applying glue dots exclusively to the label and not to the container. This minimises their use as well as facilitates separation of the label from the container during recycling. With the REFPET project, SACMI is also proposing the use of special “washable glues”, basically substances soluble to soda and at low temperatures, a solution particularly suitable for returnable PET where high washing temperatures could damage the container.

Already marketed by SACMI - which also supplies, on request, the relevant special glues - this solution involves the installation on the labelling machine of the special “Speed Coat” kit. This, starting from the specific geometry of the container, limits the application of the glue to a few well-defined points, favouring perfect adhesion but also the possibility of being easily detached during the recycling-reuse phase.

Moreover, in the case of wrap-around labels the glue can also be applied exclusively to the parts in contact between the two label edges, then separated at the recycling stage by means of a cutting accessory (also supplied by SACMI). This eliminates any problems relating to container cleaning at the outset.

Alongside the topic of “returnables”, the recycling of resins for food-grade use has become increasingly important from a green perspective, applied firstly to PET (the recyclable resin par excellence), but also, prospectively, to the entire capsule-container system. SACMI has responded to this challenge by developing a set of solutions that, on the standard machine range, facilitate the customer along this path.

For some years now, SACMI has been adapting its range of IPS preform presses to process up to 100% of rPET and up to 50% of PET in flake form. The possibility of increasing the latter percentage to 70-75% by making the entire process more linear - optimal management of flake and granule mixtures without the need to use two separate processing hoppers - is among the latest developments, which SACMI is presenting at the Munich trade fair.

One of the plus points that SACMI offers its customers is a high level of expertise and complete know-how of the process, from the processing of resins to the production of the cap as well as container to the ready-filled and labelled bottle.

In particular, through the new Packaging Center recently presented to the market and operating in close synergy with the Laboratory, SACMI Beverage has the facilities as well as skills required to accompany the customer at all stages, from design to product and the best technologies to produce it, with solutions certified and approved by the leading global players in the industry.

More than 1,000 neck-capsule designs have been developed by the Laboratory in recent years. This approach, through the Packaging Center, aims to involve the world of bottlers more extensively, as they work in close contact with the market on a daily basis and perceive its constant demand for sustainable innovation.

The international trade fair in Munich is also an opportunity for SACMI Beverage to present its new comprehensive package of advanced customer support services. These, starting with machine testing, accompany the supply throughout its life and beyond, with customised maintenance and service plans as well as a new set of high added-value digital services.