Technological innovation
For greater control of finished product quality and guarantees on film specifications, the company avails of an in-house POLY ENGINEERING team: a group of 15 highly specialised technicians who conduct the following activities:
- RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: research into new formulations to guarantee the continuous improvement of film properties.
- PROCESS ENGINEERING: industrialisation of new products, development of new technologies for the automation of extrusion, welding and packaging processes. Support to suppliers for customisation of machinery.
Investments in R&D
The Plastic Packaging Research & Development team constantly invests in process engineering and technological innovation to drive further improvements in recovery and recycling activities aimed at the production and industrialisation of new products, developing new technologies for the automation of extrusion, welding and packaging processes.
All steps of the process are structured to ensure
- optimisation of the selection of materials
- careful sorting of film originating from separate waste collection
- improvement of the rotation grinding stage which enables uniformity of particle size
- installation of high-tech filtration systems
The fruits of research
The results of these innovative processes lead to the production of
- blends of recycled, stable granules of optimised quality
- excellent, highly flexible films
- low-thickness extrusions with high percentages of recycled granulate
- carbon footprint 50% lower compared to that originating from LDPE (1870g CO2eq, public data Plastics Europe, www.plasticseurope.org)
Process control and quality
Plastic Packaging avails of a high-tech, multifunctional in-house laboratory; all the equipment is SIT certified with annual checks.
Lab
The Lab is equipped to carry out screening of polyethylene film. The laboratory carries out continuous process checks and analyses the technical quality characteristics of PE film in order to guarantee its quality.
The vital job of quality control is carried out with the support of process operators, who monitor film characteristics and record the results on special charts which represent the product’s passport in terms of quality and traceability.
Quality controlReLife Plastic Packaging - Silvano D'Orba plant
During the granulation stage, IR analysis is carried out to determine the origin of the polyethylene sheet entering the recycling process and to check for the presence of any foreign materials other than PE which could jeopardise the quality of the end product or its weldability. The melt index of the granules at outfeed is checked to ascertain fluidity, which is linked to superior performance during the extrusion stage.
Quality controlReLife Plastic Packaging - Tagliolo Monferrato plant
During extrusion, each extruded reel of film is analysed with checks on the dimensions, weight, and appearance of the film. Results are duly recorded.
During welding, tests are carried out on a sample of every finished product, checking the dimensions, weight, and weld strength. Results are duly recorded.
The following tests are conducted in the laboratory:
- Leak test: the bag is filled with a set amount of water and monitored to verify whether any leaks occur over a given amount of time (weak welds).
- Tearing strength test: special equipment is used to simulate the fall from a given height of a bag filled with different weights depending on litreage. After the fall, the bag is examined for tears.
- Bag tie endurance test: a dynamometer is used to apply traction force to the bag tie, whose tensile strength must exceed a certain limit.
- Thickness test: a strip of film is passed over a special instrument which measures its individual and average thickness, in order to verify compliance with given tolerances.
- Opacity test: a strip of film is passed over a special instrument which measures the light intensity in Lux that passes through the film, and the recorded value is compared against given limits.
TEST STAGES
Patents
Plastic Packaging holds many patents covering products and production processes, thanks to the continuous activities of the Poly-engineering team in the field of R&D and process industrialisation.
ATTENTION to water consumption
Plastic Packaging pays great attention to water usage in the various stages of the production process: from water treatment to purification, efforts are made to greatly reduce waste and optimise water usage.
To this end, it has implemented:
• integrated collection tank systems to store rainwater
• 4 closed-loop washing tanks, each measuring 700 m²
• continuous closed-loop water treatment plant
• washing system with reduction of fractions other than LDPE.
CERTIFICATIONS
Over the past ten years, the ReLife Plastic Packaging division has invested in circularity, achieving a number of certifications.
CertificationsReLife Plastic Packaging
Silvano D'Orba plant
- ISO 9001: quality management systems
- ISO 14001: environmental management systems
- SECOND LIFE PLASTIC: product environmental certification systems for materials and items obtained from the recycling of plastic waste
- EUCERPLAST: European certification for environmentally friendly management and control that allows companies who recycle post-consumer plastics to certify the quality of their processes and products
- CO2 CARBON FOOPRINT CERTIFICATION: The carbon footprint is a measure that expresses in equivalent tons of CO2 the total greenhouse gas emissions associated directly or indirectly with a product, organisation or service. SECOND LIFE PLASTIC: product environmental certification systems for materials and items obtained from the recycling of plastic waste
Savings statistics
In 2018, thanks to recycling, ReLife Plastic Packaging saved CO2 emissions equivalent to 12,000 passenger flights from Rome-New York.
In 2018 the amount of recycled film produced was enough to cover:
- Twice the area of Milan
- Three times the area of Turin
- Four times the area of Florence
Since 1976 ReLife Plastic Packaging has recycled more than 360,000 tons of PE: the equivalent of enough post-use plastic film to go round the Earth 100 times.
CertificationsReLife Plastic Packaging
Tagliolo Monferrato plant
NF EN 13592 product standard on compliance of refuse bags
HPB (High Performance Bags – CSI) in accordance with UNI EN 13592
- RPP (use of recycled material – CSI) product standard relating to the percentage of recycled material contained in the refuse bag.
- NF 082 product standard on refuse bags
- NF 170 product standard on environmental sustainability of refuse bags
- NFX EN 30501 product standard on refuse bags for hospital waste
- UNI EN 13432 product standard on biodegradable refuse bags
- UNI EN 15593 product standard on the hygiene of bags 100% suitable for food contact
- ISO 9001: quality management systems
- SECOND LIFE PLASTIC)(PSV): product environmental certification systems for materials and items obtained from the recycling of plastic waste
Granules and bags boast prestigious certification issued by IIP (the Italian Plastics Institute) on behalf of IPPR (the Institute for the Promotion of Recycled Plastics): Plastic Second Life.
Authorisations
- AUA DDAP2-376-2018 Single Environmental Authorisation pursuant to Presidential Decree no. 59/2013;
- Register of companies which carry out waste recovery operations, Province of Alessandria: no.56
- Registration number in the environmental managers register TO00322
We put our know-how at your disposal to make your company an active participant in global changes towards a circular economy of recycling.