Reifenhauser's move to plastic recycling underpinned by green consciousness

Mehta adds, "We are involved in sustainable methods such as water-based inks and electron beam curing. Also, water-based coating and flexo and digital machinery with new rationalised ornaments have been developed." 

Reifenhauser is also focusing on the recycling space. For this, the team is working with NGR, including LSP Technology and Herbold for washing lines.

Today, the Mumbai-headquartered company works with R-Cycle which is a digital passport for plastic packaging, be it flexible or rigid. She says, "Reifenhauser is committed to sustainability with the R-Cycle technology. R-Cycle stores recycling-relevant information during production and makes it available as a standardised data record for the waste sorting process. It enables a data-based method and, thus, more precise sorting for high-quality recycling."

The entire supply chain, including brand owners and machine suppliers, is part of this ecosystem as R-Cycle serves as the traceability standard for plastic packaging.

Mehta says, "The idea is to provide a solution for MLP material." She adds, "Many companies have adopted recycling principles. We need to rethink the MLP issue seriously. The blend of materials causes a bottleneck. I have a simple principle in packaging: If it is broken, then fix it. Most importantly, policymakers should work with manufacturers to find solutions to ensure effective plastic recycling and management including collection and segregation."

She highlights the importance of mechanical recycling as well as the integration of smart tracking solutions. She says, "This will help detect the content and authenticate packaging so that it can be segregated better and reused for a better realisation."

In addition to flexible packaging and labels, a priority area for Reifenhauser is paper bags. Here it works with Somtas from Turkey for paper bag machines. Jinali Mehta provides an overview about the paper bag industry. She says, "There are various segments in this industry like quick commerce (Zepto and BlinkIt), food delivery platforms (Swiggy, Zomato), HORECA (Hotel restaurants and cafe) and QSR (Quick Service Restaurants), eCommerce (Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon) - and paper bags cater to this segment."  

In terms of trends, Mehta says, "The demand for side gusset (V-bottom envelopes) is growing. This is true for apparel applications." Today a majority of the paper bag manufacturers in India cater to the flat bottom paper bags. Mehta says, "This is the most common category and is deployed for apparels and packaging of smaller goods like cosmetics etc." She states, square bottom bags are deployed for secondary packaging.

However, for the time being all eyes are on Labelexpo India 2024 which returns to the India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida, Delhi NCR from 14 to 17 November.

In addition to digital print, Reifenhauser will focus on mid-web flexo presses (between 600–800mm). Mehta adds, "Also there is an increasing awareness and importance in high-end plate mounting  since converters have realised that a quick set-up time ensures negligible wastage. Which is why, Reifenhauser has allied with AV Flexologic, a manufacturer of automatic mounting machines in flexography. One reason, Mehta says, is, "Accuracy is the key. AV Flexologic talks about five microns which is its global patent."