Why is cooperation with industry – i.e. companies like Brückner, Reifenhäuser or Pöppelmann – important?
Schmitz: Cooperation with industry is of great importance and depends in its way on the respective industry. However, an important aspect that has not been sufficiently considered so far is the consideration of the entire value chain. In order to achieve optimal sustainability, changes have to be made at various points in the value chain, which may not be initiated and implemented out of their own motivation. For example, the responsibility for more sustainable plastic packaging could be shifted to the collection and reprocessing process alone, but this would certainly not be the most effective and sustainable approach. Instead, it makes more sense to develop incentives and business models that enable global change and load-sharing along the entire value chain.
To achieve this goal, it is essential to understand the hurdles and potentials for each participant. Through the AI Application Hub, which networks project partners from established machine manufacturers to technology start-ups, as well as from research institutes to food manufacturers and distributors, the possibility of a direct exchange along the entire value chain is created. Only in this way can we achieve a common understanding of the potentials of more sustainable packaging production.
What will the plastic packaging of the future look like?
Schmitz: It is difficult to predict what packaging will look like, because we will also be able to develop and produce sustainable plastic packaging in great variety in the future. These will be individually tailored to the specific application, so that they fulfil minimal material consumption and at the same time reliable suitability for the application. At the same time, however, this packaging will have to be returned to the cycle with the minimum possible losses.
What can already be predicted with great certainty, however, is that the packaging of the future will contain a maximum proportion of recyclate. It will preferably contain only one type of polymer and be easier to handle when sorting and separating. In order to improve and simplify the sorting processes, digital – and at best global – product or material passports, which are currently being developed through various initiatives, will play a decisive role. And in this area, we will not make progress without digitalisation and artificial intelligence methods.