The Austrian manufacturer of machinery for the production of woven plastic packaging and plastics recycling reports a very positive trade fair with several business deals concluded.
“The open house, which we always organize before and after K at our factory near Vienna, was already very well attended in the days leading up to the trade fair, and this continued in Düsseldorf,” said Harald Neumüller, CSO of Starlinger. The Austrian machine manufacturer set the focus for its current innovations on automation and process support and offers its customers in addition to solutions for closed packaging loops also bags with improved barrier properties for food packaging. "Circular economy and sustainable use of plastic packaging have been a concern of ours for years. In woven bag production, we consider everything—from the manufacture of a bag to its reuse. With our plastics recycling plants we create closed packaging loops such as for PET bottles or big bags; this know-how is an advantage that benefits our customers."
The Starlinger booth in Hall 16 featured a conversion line for Starlinger's patented AD*STAR block bottom valve bags. They can be produced with high proportions of recycled post-consumer polypropylene from used AD*STAR cement bags, achieving the same quality as bags made from virgin material. “This does not only result in significant reduction of CO2, but enables a closed packaging loop without downcycling and meets possible mandatory recycling quotas. AD*STAR sacks are designed for recycling and thus represent the future of dry bulk packaging,” stated Neumüller.
In Hall 9 Starlinger showcased its latest plastic recycling systems – a recoSTAR PET art for PET bottle-to-bottle recycling and a recoSTAR dynamic art for processing post-consumer polyolefins such as PE and PP. “In line with market requirements we now also offer an extruder capacity of up to 4.5 tons per hour in the PET bottle-to-bottle sector,” explains Paul Niedl, Commercial Head of Starlinger recycling technology. “And for the processing of post-consumer plastic waste, our new recoSTAR dynamic art systems offer, compared to the previous model, 20 % more output on average as well as greater efficiency while reducing energy consumption.”
The plastics industry is operating in a challenging environment given the current difficult global economic conditions. “In economically tough times, investments are made with particular caution,” confirmed Neumüller. Starlinger felt the industry's reluctance to invest during the first half of the year; however, orders continued to come in at a good and steady level. Once again, K has proven to be a global platform for the innovative strength and dynamism of the plastics industry: “Customers wait for leading trade fairs such as K, where the latest developments are presented, and then make their decisions. Our innovations convinced them,” said Neumüller.