Engel Signs New Plastics Economy Global Commitment

In mid-March 2019, Engel was one of the first plastic machine manufacturers to sign the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The aim of the initiative is to create a circular economy. In cooperation with more than 350 other companies, universities and organizations, Engel has committed itself to actively contributing to the transfer of plastics into closed material cycles.

The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with UN Environment, and is signed by many of the worlds largest packaging producers, brands, retailers and recyclers, as well as governments and NGOs. Signatories include well-known consumer businesses such as Danone, H&M Group, L’Oreal, Mars, Incorporated, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Unilever; major packaging producers such as Amcor; plastics producers including Novamont, and resource management specialist Veolia.

Engel supports its customers in designing and producing packaging according to the rules of the circular economy and in opening up a wider range of applications for recycled materials. In this regard, the focus is on the following topics:

• To guarantee a high process consistency and to prevent rejects with the help of intelligent assistant systems, even when the raw material is subject to strong quality fluctuations, as is often the case with recycled materials.
• To further increase the proportion of recycled material in sandwich components with the aid of innovative processing technologies.
• Working closely with processors in the course of product development with the goal of reducing material usage and enabling the subsequent recycling of products.
• To further strengthen the consulting services in the area of upstream processes in order to optimize the processing of recycled materials for injection molding.

The Global Commitment aims to create ‘a new normal’ for plastic packaging. Targets will be reviewed every 18 months, and become increasingly ambitious over the coming years. Businesses that sign the commitment will publish annual data on their progress to help drive momentum and ensure transparency.

“As a member of the international plastics industry, we are not only responsible for our own products, but also for the products that are produced on our machines," says Stefan Engleder, CEO of the Engel Group, headquartered in Schwertberg, Austria. “It is important to us to utilize our experience and knowledge to ensure that people in all regions of the world will handle plastics responsibly and that the conditions are created for plastic products to be returned to the material cycle at the end of their useful life. As an individual company, our influence is limited. This is precisely why we are involved in the New Plastics Economy Initiative. It networks the global players and makes our common concern more heard."