Sustainability in Packaging – WEIMA at WestPack 2022

trade show April 1, 2022

WEIMA is excited to return to the tradeshow floor, educating show-goers on size reduction machinery for a variety of industries. WestPack 2022 in Anaheim, California will be an incredible opportunity to educate attendees about the efficient recycling of packaging through shredding and compressing technology.

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California, here we come!

The WEIMA sales team will be on the show floor in Anaheim, CA in early April! WestPack 2022 is co-located with a few other shows, including ATX West, Design & Manufacturing West, MD&M West, and Plastec. The proximity of these shows adds value to attendees who may be interested in products and machinery from more than one sector. WEIMA’s booth at WestPack will focus on sustainability in packaging through shredding and compressing.

Set of various eco friendly packaging, disposable recyclable containers and tableware. Zero waste concept.

WEIMA at WestPack

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Sustainability in film packaging applications

Packaging comes in a variety of materials, and the manufacturers of these materials often create scrap in the production process. Shredding is often the first step in any recycling process, and it is necessary to have a shredder that is robust enough to handle these tough applications.

For example, producers of plastic film can shred excess film scrap and re-pelletize it for easy reintegration. This can supplement the need to purchase virgin materials required in film production. Manufacturers of bubble wrap and shrink wrap specifically can benefit from efficient shredding, which offers economic and environmental benefits.

a pile of film/bubble wrap in a super-sack

A collection of film/bubble wrap waits to be shredded.

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Rethinking corrugated cardboard packaging

Paper and cardboard manufacturers can maximize production scrap by shredding it as well. If reintegration is not an option, reinvention may be possible!

Easy2Cool is a company that developed a creative way to transform material that would otherwise go to a landfill. This Bavarian company shreds corrugated cardboard for use as insulation material in festival beverage coolers. Reimagining this scrap material decreases waste and adds value to the world by creating a secondary useful product from something that would otherwise be discarded.

Cardboard scrap is introduced to a WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder.

Once the cardboard is shredded, it can be made into insulation for festival coolers.

The insulation is packaged and inserted into the individual cooler boxes.

The festival coolers are completed, packed and shipped on site.

The festival coolers are completed, packed and shipped on site.

easy2cool employees stand in the production area with the coolers in their hands

The coolest employees in the region.

Read the story of how Easy2Cool turned corrugated scrap into festival cooler insulation! Read Here!
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Drainage presses for canning lines

WEIMA recently introduced a new line of machinery for the drainage and compression of filled aluminum cans. Canning lines specifically can benefit from the PUEHLER machinery from WEIMA, which drain and compress underfilled or out-of-spec product in a single step. This machinery is easily integrated into existing canning lines and can be hand-fed and/or batch-fed, depending on the needs of the company.

WEIMA employees aside PUEHLER E.200 drainage press for aluminum cans

WEIMA PUEHLER E.200 drainage press at Fiddlehead Brewery, USA

aluminum cans on a conveyor of a canning line

A canning line in operation

The hopper of the WEIMA drainage press can be hand-fed or batch-fed.

The contents of the out-of-spec cans are drained from the machine and into a floor drain within the facility.

Compressed aluminum cans are easy to recycle.

Compressed aluminum cans are easy to store and recycle.

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Fiddlehead Brewing Co. in Shelburne, Vermont, uses a drainage press to ensure quality control standards are met while decreasing unnecessary waste. The brewery had been disposing of out-of-spec products manually, meaning an employee opened each underfilled can and poured it down a drain. A drainage press punctures the aluminum cans and simultaneously compresses them into discs, simplifying the recycling of aluminum and decreasing the need for excess storage space.
More about Draining + Compressing Machinery

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Quality control is key

The PUEHLER machinery from WEIMA is a great fit for canning lines, but it also allows manufacturers of other types of fluid-filled packaging to maintain control of the quality of their product. One-step product destruction ensures that only the highest-quality merchandise makes it to market and that the out-of-spec product is diverted from a landfill.

Other applications that may benefit from a drainage press range from plastic condiment jars, cooking oil bottles, cosmetic containers, milk jugs, yogurt cartons, drink pouches, filled Tetra-paks, and more.

Rework configurations are also available for operations that aim to reuse the drained material.

The size reduction of packaging materials is of the utmost importance following the pandemic. The increase of online shopping resulted of the increase of cardboard and bubble wrap in waste streams worldwide. Individually-wrapped food products and single-serve beverages became more necessary in preventing the spread of the virus, resulting in increased waste. Recycling these materials is paramount to relieving the strain placed on MRFs and the overflow of landfills.

WEIMA is excited to show attendees the benefits of packaging recycling. See you in Anaheim!

Contact

Marketing

WEIMA America, Inc.

3678 Centre Circle

Fort Mill, SC 29715

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Additional Information

About WEIMA

More than 40,000 machines sold worldwide! WEIMA has been manufacturing robust shredders and briquetting presses for the disposal and processing of all types of waste for more than four decades. Our machines include single-shaft shredders, four-shaft shredders, cutting mills and briquette presses. The popular blood orange machines are used in the wood, plastics, paper, metal and waste-to-energy industries.

Made in Germany. Built for the world.

Shredders and briquette presses from WEIMA are exclusively made in Germany and come from production plants in Saxony-Anhalt and Baden-Wuerttemberg. Every year, more than 300 employees work on around 1,200 customer solutions from around the globe. We have long-standing sales and service locations in the USA, Poland, India and China. More than 80 representatives supplement this global presence.

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