WOLF succeeds step towards 100% recyclability
Schwandorf, May 2022. 100 percent recyclability and 35 percent material savings with full product safety and the usual stability and transparency at the same time - with a packaging innovation for their sausage products, the WOLF Group has taken a decisive step towards more sustainable, attractive packaging. WOLF worked together with the technology companies GEA and wattron for the innovation. The challenge: Although mono-materials have the best properties for recycling, they place special demands on the heating system in production operations. It was crucial for WOLF that the slides remain transparent so that the presentation at the POS remains as attractive as usual.
“Our major goal is to significantly reduce the amount of plastic in our packaging without compromising on product safety. That's why we were happy to make ourselves available as a pilot customer for testing and adapting the new heating system," says Bernhard Oeller, Managing Director of the WOLF group of companies. As a family company, WOLF has always thought in terms of generations and therefore strives to align its actions with a sustainable future. For several years, the focus has been on the development of environmentally friendly packaging. The food manufacturer has come a big step closer to this. With the use of the alternative matrix heating systems PowerHeat Z and M for the PowerPak thermoforming packaging machines, mono materials are now used as packaging, which ensure both the required sustainability and the necessary product safety and product quality. With the innovation, WOLF achieves 100 percent recyclability and material savings of almost 35 percent in relation to the overall packaging and compared to the composite film previously used. The packaging remains stable, which means that product safety is 100 percent guaranteed and the product can be presented upright on the shelf as usual. The new heating technology also enables the film to have the desired transparency. Important for WOLF: The system is also characterized by high energy efficiency, which is important for WOLF on the path to reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions.
While GEA is currently presenting the systems with the innovative heating system from wattron to the public for the first time at the IFFA, these are already being used at WOLF. In the first step, the food manufacturer is offering fresh sausage slices in the new packaging, thereby serving the consumer's desire for resource-saving packaging. They simply put the empty packaging in the yellow bin or sack as usual and thus feed it into the recycling cycle.
In the past few years, WOLF has already taken measures for more resource-saving packaging by reducing the slicer packaging by 17 percent and switching to a largely recyclable large tray in the convenience range. WOLF is currently developing opaque PP trays with PP monofoil and PP labels, which will make the large tray 100 percent recyclable. In addition, WOLF is taking steps in the direction of more sustainable management, including the use of green electricity, investments in energy efficiency and the preparation of climate balances for the three locations in Schmölln, Nuremberg and Schwandorf.
