Sev-Rend Combines Sustainable Converting Practices with Innovative Films for Single-Use Packaging
Demand for single-use plastic packaging is growing at the same time that pressure is mounting for more sustainable & recyclable packaging. As a producer of high-performance single-use food packaging, Sev-Rend is leading the way in both its operations and product development to meet customer demands while being stewards of the environment.
In its Collinsville, IL facility, Sev-Rend creates food grade packaging including tags, labels, pouches, produce packaging and extruded netting. Known for quality and short lead times, the company has numerous printing presses, a solventless laminator, a blown film line and equipment for producing knitted soft netting used in packaging.
Making Operations Greener
The company’s environmental commitment includes using all water-based inks for printing and solvent-free laminating technology in the production of its products. Several years ago, Sev-Rend converted a flexographic printing press from solvent inks to water-based inks. This required the addition of a corona treater and the company decided to go with a High Definition Corona system from USA-based Enercon Industries Corporation. The treater enables the use of water-based inks by increasing the surface energy of polymer films to ensure successful ink adhesion.
Another Enercon treater is incorporated on a newer wide web flexographic press, as well as a narrow web press and a solventless laminator.
Sev-Rend Manufacturing Engineer Jesse Porterfield says, “The Enercon treaters have a great design. They are a piece of cake to work with and easy to maintain. Other corona treaters that we have worked with are subject to high voltage trips and required a lot more maintenance.”
While Sev-Rend’s operations are optimized for low VOC output, they’ve also invested in developing more environmentally friendly products for their customers’ packaging.
The Enercon treaters have a great design. They are a piece of cake to work with and easy to maintain. Other corona treaters that we have worked with are subject to high voltage trips and required a lot more maintenance.
Jesse Porterfield, Manufacturing Engineer
Bio-Able Solutions Target Recyclability & Sustainability
Sev-Rend’s product development team are giving produce packagers and consumers a new option when it comes to being environmentally responsible. Product Development Manager Darren Harvey explains the challenges of conventional films and sustainability.
“The sustainable effectiveness of recyclability and composting are dependent on a consumer’s access to these infrastructures and use of those methodologies. If traditional films don’t make their way through these processes, they sit in landfills and take hundreds of years to decompose. With our new Bio-Able films, we’ve developed a recyclable film with the added benefit of a significantly faster rate of decomposition than traditional plastic films.”
The ingenious Bio-Able polyethylene film formulation is designed for an 18-month shelf stable life before decomposing. Decomposing can occur in a terrestrial environment, like a landfill, as well as a marine environment. In the following six months, it rapidly decomposes to CO2, bio mass, and unlike other film formulations, the decomposed film leaves behind no micro plastics.
Sev-Rend Customers Share in Their Environmental Stewardship
Sev-Rend customers in both the USA, Canada and Mexico are using the new Bio-Able Solution for their produce packaging. Like Sev-Rend, these packagers are stewards of the environment as they proactively ensure the environment is well taken care of so it can continue to yield the produce we collectively count on for our own sustainability.
