Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) aims to make the packaging industry more sustainable and to reduce the negative environmental impact of packaging waste. However, it presents manufacturers with major challenges due to extremely tight deadlines, different implementation timelines and the current lack of detailed regulations. Companies need to evaluate as quickly as possible how they will respond to the often complex requirements. This can have far-reaching consequences for their packaging and production processes – and requires efficient, compliant implementation, for which PCC provides a wide range of support.
As Michael Graf, Head of the PCC and a sustainability expert at Schubert, explains: “Manufacturers are dealing with very practical considerations. What are the implications of packaging a chocolate bar in paper instead of a flowpack in the future? Or how does an existing cartoning machine run when blanks are resized, when they behave differently in the machine or when they can no longer be glued? These issues are significant and require answers along the entire value chain.”
The Schubert packaging consulting team of specialists (from left to right): Pascal Kurz, Stefan Horvath, Michael Graf, Laura Gascho and Valentin Köhler
Combined expertise in the new PCC
This is where the Packaging Competence Center comes in. The PCC’s key advantage is that, due to the comprehensive expertise of two companies, the Center can offer regulatory advice, packaging development and machine feasibility – all from a single source. While the experts from bp Consultants clarify the PPWR and explain its impact on the respective packaging portfolio, Schubert evaluates the machinability of new packaging solutions, thereby ensuring the automation which is essential for packaging processes. Marcel Kiessling, Managing Director of Gerhard Schubert GmbH, points out: “As a leading machine manufacturing company, we are proud to be working with Berndt+Partner, an equally leading-edge consulting group for packaging issues in Europe. The Packaging Competence Center is a collaborative partnership that provides technical consulting services for packaging processes and technologies – all targeted towards making our customers’ production processes more efficient and sustainable.
Sustainable packaging solutions put to the test: The Impact Check as a guide
The PCC aims to support consumer goods manufacturers in finding sustainable, future-proof packaging solutions and to develop viable solutions.
