Page 12 - Packaging News magazine May-June 2022

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT | www.packagingnews.com.au | May-June 2022
Amcor advances sustainable healthcare packaging
Scott Jackson, general manager, Southeast Asia Healthcare at Amcor, discusses how Amcor’s new ISO 13485-certified medical packaging facility in Singapore will drive sustainable change in the healthcare packaging industry, and more. PKN’s Colleen Bate fires the questions.
reusability and to reduce the carbon footprint. At the same time, we need to be able to meet stringent standards, especially for the healthcare industry.
For us, it’s an exciting time. We recently announced customer tri- als for AmSky, the world’s first recyclable polyethylene-based thermoform blister packaging. It
is a more sustainable and carbon footprint optimised alternative for in-demand healthcare packag- ing. Based on polyethylene (PE), it is designed for recycling in rigid and flexible recycling streams.
Our customers are responding well to AmSky, which when produced, achieves approximately 70 per cent reduction in the carbon footprint.
PKN: HOW IS AMCOR HELPING OTHER INDUSTRY PLAYERS TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE PACKAGING?
SCOTT JACKSON: It’s dynamic and chang- ing at a more rapid pace than we have ever seen before. As a leading global packaging company, we’re uniquely positioned to provide customers with a global approach to innovation, and we’re probably the only pack- aging company with the size and scale to establish a Global Innovation Network, and to foster and reward new ideas and create that continuum of innovation. This allows customers and partners to tap into our expertise to help realise what’s possible.
Amcor also has a proprietary technology called Advanced Sustainability Stewardship Evaluation Tool (ASSET), which is a life-cycle assessment service using a Carbon Trust-certified toolkit to improve the environmental perfor- mance of packaging solutions for our customers.
ASSET works by considering each step of the packaging lifecycle. It starts with the source of the raw materials wherever they are from in the world, and then looks at how they are harvested and produced. It also brings into consideration the energy used to transform them into pack- aging materials; and looks at water consumption levels, emissions into the environment, transport to get it
PKN: HOW WILL THE SINGAPORE PLANT DRIVE SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE PACKAGING?
SCOTT JACKSON: The new facility in Singapore is exciting for us; we’ve made significant investment to help drive a more sustainable future.
One of the things we have at the site is water-based printing technology, so we don’t emit solvent into the atmo- sphere as part of our printing process. The facility also has new blown film lines that are highly efficient and can produce ready-to-recycle products. And we’ve invested in multi-layer blown film lines, so we’ve got higher capability than we previously had, and that allows us to scope for new product innovation with a lower carbon footprint.
Our focus is really to drive advance- ments in coextrusion blown film technology, to produce sustainable packaging that fully satisfies the health- care industry’s stringent needs around safety and regulatory requirements.
Having these innovation capabilities and the assets and the infrastructure surrounding us, and being able to offer them to our customers, allows us to be more nimble and help shorten the lead time to market and get products out there that are sustainable.
PKN: HOW WILL AMCOR’S SHIFT TO PRODUCING SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE PACKAGING MEET GROWING INDUSTRY DEMAND? SCOTT JACKSON: One of the unde- niable trends is the increasing consumer demand for more sus- tainable products. It’s reshaping the packaging industry and creating a powerful incentive for companies to lead through innovation. There’s growing interest from government to invest in environmental and social governance. And I think we’re going to see that continue to drive sustainable change for the packaging industry.
The infrastructure needed to han- dle and process recycled material is an important consideration as well. It’s also important for countries around the world to have access to the right amount of recycled mate- rial to be able to deliver upon the commitment of putting recycled material back into production.
Amcor helps drive cross-industry standards that can make the packag- ing that we produce not only more responsible and sustainable, but also visible to the end consumer.
Innovations are needed to help to continue to focus on recyclability,
ABOVE RIGHT: PE-based AmSky is designed for recycling in rigid and flexible recycling streams.
BELOW: Amcor’s new medical packaging facility for Asia Pacific.