With more than 40 years of experience in aluminium products processing, Symetal is capable of offering new sustainable solutions to different types of food packaging, such as to the specific type of packaging, intended for chocolates in individual packaging.
The rapid growth in the packaging and materials technology sectors has made it necessary to establish laws and regulations, to ensure the safety of the consumers, as well as to reduce the negative effects that the packaging sector may have on the environment.
The new product promoted by Symetal, intended to replace the currently used material (aluminium foil laminated to paper), consists only of lacquered or plain aluminium with special mechanical properties that could also be embossed. The embossing on the aluminium surface gives the product the properties required by the customer concerning the folding of it, which ensures the protection of the packaged food.
Aluminium, which is characterized as "the green metal" (mainly thanks to its properties and infinite recyclability), is light, shiny with strong mechanical properties, good barrier properties and fully recyclable without losing its properties. At the same time, its recycling leads to significant energy savings, as the energy required for the recycling process reaches only 5% of the energy required to produce the primary aluminium.
In comparison to the new product, as described above, the current product has a recyclability rate of 35-38%, depending on the thickness of the aluminium layer, since only this can be recovered from the recycling process of the aluminium foil laminated to paper.
In any case, as a packaging material, embossed aluminium has a better environmental footprint compared to aluminium laminated to paper.
Moreover, in 2020, in collaboration with one of our customers, a trial production was carried out at its premises, in the presence of Symetal's specialized technicians, to ensure that the new material can be properly used, without requiring significant changes that may affect the customer's production process. The test was completely successful, in terms of both the production stage and the final result of the food packaging.
