CCL Industries Inc., a provider of specialty label, security and packaging solutions for global corporations, government institutions, small businesses and consumers, is planning a multimillion investment in new capacity at its Innovia Films unit.
A new six-metre multi-layer co-extrusion line will be installed at its Innovia Films extrusion site in Plock, Poland to produce Ecofloat shrink films.
Ecofloat, a sustainable, hybrid polyolefin-based TD sleeve material, has been engineered to improve the sink/ float separation process relating to PET bottles and other types of plastic containers in the recycling process.
“Many consumers and brand owners value the convenience and reclose capability of plastic bottles and containers but also recognize these can no longer clutter the world’s waste streams and must become circular in use. Easy removability of labels to avoid contaminating post-consumer resins is therefore mission critical,” explained Guenther Birkner, president of Innovia and CCL’s Food & Beverage business.
The film separates easily from the container and floats to the top of the wash basin, bringing bottle-to-bottle circularity well within reach.
“CCL developed a floatable polyolefin shrink film to meet the new market demands and to help brand owners reach their sustainability and recycling targets set by the EU. We see this as the sustainable decoration solution of the future – for a whole range of packaging in the beverage, dairy, home care and other industries,” said Birkner.
“We anticipate a considerable portion of the new capacity will be used internally by our CCL Label operations, which supply many of the world’s leading brands.”
Birkner added that in making the decision to invest in the added capacity, it first worked to secure the long-term supply of the raw material - cyclic olefin copolymer - to produce the film.
“We are very pleased that our partner Polyplastics decided to invest as well in additional capacities to support us long-term on our journey towards providing sleeve materials which have been designed to support recycling,” he said.
Polyplastics is the leading global supplier of cyclic olefin copolymer under the Topas brand. The company recently announced plans to construct a cyclic olefin copolymer production facility in Leuna, Germany to meet growing demand for its Topas COC polymers.
“The cooperation with CCL/Innovia has been a pivotal factor allowing us to make this investment and setting up a second manufacturing site for COC,” confirmed Gregor Bommel, managing director of Topas Advanced Polymers.
The new Ecofloat film capacity will come on line in early 2022 with most of the capital deployed in 2021.
CCL Industries Inc. employs approximately 21,700 people operating 183 production facilities in 42 countries with corporate offices in Toronto, Canada, and Framingham, Massachusetts and is the world’s largest converter of pressure sensitive and specialty extruded film materials for a wide range of decorative, instructional, functional and security applications.