HPP Packaging

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04/02/2025 Added

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HPP packaging by Zach Muscato. 2025 High Pressure Processing and Dehydration Workshop

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[00:00:00.040]Well, welcome everybody to our HPP packaging lab. Good news is you get to finish the day by
[00:00:10.280]watching a bunch of videos, so I feel like a good professor in granting you that. We're gonna start
[00:00:18.240]by talking about thermoforming. So, thermoforming is just one type of plastic processing method
[00:00:25.880]that's used to make packaging. It's my favorite because it's what we do at PI. Anyone here familiar
[00:00:32.360]with thermoforming in a prior life? Ever seen a thermoforming process? All right, well, hopefully
[00:00:39.440]this video will shine some light on that. The thermoforming process begins with a roll of
[00:00:47.900]plastic sheet. That plastic sheet is made in an extrusion process. Let's talk more about the
[00:00:54.860]extrusion process before we dive deep into thermoforming, since extrusion is a critical
[00:01:00.320]input to thermoforming. The roll stock materials, namely resin and colorants in the form of pellets
[00:01:08.880]or flake, are conveyed to and precisely blended in a hopper system. The blended formulation
[00:01:16.120]is then fed into the throat of the extrusion system.
[00:01:20.020]Inside the extruder barrel, the materials are heated to their melting point by heater
[00:01:33.500]bands and the friction caused by a large rotating screw. The rotation of the screw forces the
[00:01:40.620]molten plastic to exit the point of the extrusion system, known as the die. The die spreads
[00:01:47.240]the material out to a flat shape.
[00:01:49.700]The material exits the die to a series of rollers. The rollers cool the material and
[00:01:56.920]pull it through the system. The final thickness of the sheet is measured in line for instantaneous
[00:02:04.020]feedback. The scrap from the process, known as edge trim, is fed back into the blending
[00:02:10.300]process for reintroduction into the sheet.
[00:02:15.100]Thermoforming can happen in line with the extrusion process or off-line.
[00:02:19.380]Back to our video, the extruded roll stock is fed into the machine where it is heated
[00:02:27.820]to a pliable state in the oven. These oven temperature settings are specific to the type
[00:02:35.380]of plastic being processed. The sheet then enters an aluminum mold where it is formed
[00:02:42.460]to its designed shape by air, vacuum, and sometimes a mechanical assist.
[00:02:49.060]On the table here we have some examples of thermoform mold components.
[00:03:07.680]This is a cavity plate with four cavities machined into it.
[00:03:13.060]You can see here this is the female cavity that the sheet gets formed down into
[00:03:18.740]to form the shape of the part.
[00:03:23.540]And here we have the plugs.
[00:03:27.520]So this is a plug plate with four plugs.
[00:03:30.960]The plugs match up with the cavity and push the sheet down into the cavity
[00:03:36.680]to maximize the material distribution.
[00:03:46.200]The next step in the process is part trimming.
[00:03:48.420]Trimming can happen by two primary die cutting methods known as steel rule or match metal.
[00:03:58.020]Steel rule knife dies are essentially industrial size cookie cutters.
[00:04:02.380]Thin but very strong bands of steel punch the desired shape of the part.
[00:04:11.380]Match metal dies resemble industrial sized paper hole punches.
[00:04:18.100]This video shows how match metal dies function at very high speeds.
[00:04:41.820]Trimmed parts exit the die in nested stacks.
[00:04:47.780]In this video, stacks of nested lids are sealed inside of a sleeve bag.
[00:05:02.840]The sleeves are conveyed to a manual packaging station where they are placed in corrugated
[00:05:07.860]cartons.
[00:05:09.500]The cartons were erected automatically at the point of packing.
[00:05:14.140]The packed cartons are then sealed with tape through a machine.
[00:05:17.460]They are stacked on pallets.
[00:05:43.340]One very important note before we move on.
[00:05:47.140]Plastic waste from the process, known as web scrap, is ground up into flake where it is
[00:05:53.940]then conveyed back to the blending unit for reintroduction back into the part.
[00:06:00.720]We aim for zero waste.
[00:06:04.320]Any questions about thermoforming?
[00:06:08.300]Surprises?
[00:06:09.300]Very high volume.
[00:06:16.300]What I want to talk about.
[00:06:16.820]with the remaining time that we have is recycling, plastic recycling.
[00:06:22.960]So we're going to start with a few just high level stats and then we're going to talk about
[00:06:26.820]where our material goes here in the U.S. when we recycle and what happens to it.
[00:06:31.240]There's a lot of questions about, well, does my stuff actually go to a place where it gets
[00:06:35.960]recycled and what happens?
[00:06:37.560]What's the fate?
[00:06:39.580]So high level in the U.S., we recycle about five billion pounds of plastic after use by
[00:06:46.500]consumers every year.
[00:06:47.680]So that's post-consumer recycling.
[00:06:51.540]When we recycle, when you're at home and you put something in the bin and they come to
[00:06:55.960]collect it, it goes to what's called a single stream material recovery facility or a MRF.
[00:07:03.380]Has anyone ever been to a MRF or seen a MRF?
[00:07:06.880]Have you?
[00:07:07.880]All right.
[00:07:08.880]You're the first one today so far out of everybody.
[00:07:12.520]These smell great, as you can imagine.
[00:07:14.380]Do you remember how bad they smell?
[00:07:16.180]Terrible.
[00:07:17.180]But there are about 500 material recovery facilities in the U.S., 500.
[00:07:24.820]I've toured about 20, and they're all different.
[00:07:28.540]I've yet to tour two that are identical.
[00:07:31.880]A majority of MRFs are at least co-owned and operated by the government, by the local municipalities.
[00:07:39.980]Some are privately funded, and a majority of the MRFs that were built in the U.S. were
[00:07:45.860]built in the '70s and '80s, back when our packaging material stream looked a lot different.
[00:07:51.160]It was mostly built to capture newspapers and other paper products, and think about
[00:07:56.140]the plastics that we were using in the '70s and '80s, it's pretty nil.
[00:08:01.260]So basically what we have is we have this aging infrastructure.
[00:08:06.540]We have these 500 different MRFs across the U.S., we have 9,000 different community recycling
[00:08:12.600]programs in the U.S., 9,000.
[00:08:15.540]So one of the questions I get the most from family and friends is, "Well, why can I recycle
[00:08:20.480]this tray where I live, but if I go somewhere else I can't recycle it?"
[00:08:26.580]And I see that all the time.
[00:08:28.780]I work in a place called Cross Plains, Wisconsin, where we can recycle certain things that I
[00:08:34.380]can't recycle when I go home 20 minutes away in DeForest, and that's because we have three
[00:08:39.980]different materials.
[00:08:41.300]recovery facilities in Madison alone and the material recovery facilities servicing those
[00:08:47.780]different areas have different capabilities and different end markets and different products
[00:08:51.700]they're trying to find so the material recovery facility is only going to collect materials from
[00:08:58.420]consumers that it can effectively sort and ultimately sell it's a business it's an industry
[00:09:05.700]so that's why community to community can vary and it creates so much confusion by consumers
[00:09:13.140]and really complicates the process unfortunately the other thing is again being primarily
[00:09:20.340]funded by the governments the municipalities you think about where they're getting their funding
[00:09:26.660]from property taxes am i going to spend investments on schools on roads or in waste
[00:09:33.620]management so those are the types of things that are going to be involved in the process so that's
[00:09:35.620]of decisions that they're juggling speaks to the need we really need to improve and just invest
[00:09:42.260]capital into our recycling infrastructure the big question is where is that capital going to come
[00:09:47.940]from we did have 25 million or 250 million that came from the bipartisan infrastructure agreement
[00:09:56.980]those funds have been frozen so we'll see hopefully ultimately those end up getting down
[00:10:01.940]into recycling because we we really need it um so after the the murph they take this mixed stream
[00:10:10.740]and the output is bales of materials it could be bales of paper plastic types you name it
[00:10:17.380]it then goes to a reclaimer and there are many different types of reclaimers again spread across
[00:10:25.620]the world there are plastic reclaimers there are paper reclaimers there are steel and aluminum
[00:10:31.860]reclaimers this is an example of a pet plastic reclaimer basically we're going to walk through
[00:10:38.900]a video that shows it step by step but essentially it starts by breaking the bales they do some
[00:10:43.700]additional sorts they grind it and then essentially goes through a multi-phase washing process then is
[00:10:53.620]repelletized into pellets that companies like mine buy to make new products out of so that's high
[00:11:01.780]level but this video is going to go into more detail my colleague and friend sarah will walk us
[00:11:09.220]through it pir stands for post-industrial recycled pir encompasses plastics that never reach an end
[00:11:17.220]consumer pir is created during the manufacturing process and often arises from scrap originating
[00:11:24.100]from shaping of products trimming modifying production lines or performing quality checks
[00:11:31.700]for the purposes of this lesson we will be focusing mainly on pcr
[00:11:37.300]or post-consumer recycled content at this point you may be wondering why is using pcr
[00:11:43.620]and packaging so important well introducing pcr into packaging keeps valuable material
[00:11:49.220]out of our landfills so it can recirculate in our economy the demand for pcr also fuels
[00:11:55.300]the economic incentives for our recycling industry outside of economic benefits using
[00:12:01.620]pcr significantly lowers the carbon footprint of a package and reduces the virgin materials that are
[00:12:07.860]used lastly brands are also discovering that using pcr can enhance brand equity
[00:12:13.940]among sustainably minded consumers
[00:12:15.860]now when we are preparing and designing our packaging to be recycled we must understand
[00:12:24.820]what the term recyclable really means so let's define it here what does it mean for packaging to
[00:12:31.540]be recyclable well we must consider all four pillars of the practice of recycling collection
[00:12:38.660]sortation reprocessing and end markets as best practice the association of plastic recyclers
[00:12:47.380]defines recyclable as number one sixty percent of consumers must have access to collection
[00:12:53.460]number two the item must be sortable into material bales number three it can be processed in the cost
[00:13:01.460]effective manner and number four it must have an end market value a great resource to ensure
[00:13:07.940]your package design meets recycling guidance is by using the association of plastic recyclers design
[00:13:14.100]guide the recycling process begins with the collection of materials this can happen
[00:13:21.140]through a variety of methods the most common method is through curbside pickup
[00:13:26.500]where households will place their recyclables in a designated bin or container which
[00:13:31.380]are collected by municipal or private waste management services another method is through
[00:13:37.380]drop-off centers where individuals can take their recyclables to a centralized recycling location
[00:13:42.580]a common example of this would be a store drop-off for recycling program of plastic bags
[00:13:48.100]lastly commercial collection is used for businesses and institutions who have separate
[00:13:54.340]recycling for their waste materials once the materials are collected they are transported
[00:14:01.300]to a material recovery facility also known as a MRF this is for a process called mechanical
[00:14:08.100]recycling mechanical recycling is the most well-known form of recycling and it refers
[00:14:13.860]to the operations used to recover materials through mechanical processes such as sorting
[00:14:19.700]grinding and washing the sorting process at a MRF involves a series of events to separate
[00:14:25.300]and categorize recyclable materials from mixed waste materials that are typically
[00:14:31.220]sorted for recycling at a MRF are paper including newspapers magazines office paper and mixed paper
[00:14:38.980]OCC which stands for old corrugated cardboard glass bottles and jars metals such as aluminum
[00:14:47.060]and steel and plastics typically number one PET number two HDPE and number five polypropylene
[00:14:54.580]the exact sequence of events can vary depending on a MRF's design and technology
[00:15:01.140]but let's go over a few key steps that can happen in the MRF process the material is
[00:15:07.540]dumped onto a tipping floor where it is loaded into a sorting system this starts with a conveyor
[00:15:13.700]belt feeding the system where it enters a primary mechanical sorting process
[00:15:18.020]materials pass through a trammel screen to separate items based on size smaller pieces
[00:15:25.300]like broken glass will fall through while larger items will continue on the conveyor belt
[00:15:31.220]disc screens are used to separate flat items like paper and OCC from other materials
[00:15:37.060]and magnets are used throughout the conveyor belt to attract and sort out metals
[00:15:42.820]throughout the MRF there are manual sorting stations where workers are positioned
[00:15:50.420]across the conveyor belts to manually pick out recyclable materials
[00:15:55.140]or remove contaminants a secondary mechanical sorting process typically
[00:16:00.980]includes optical sorters such as near infrared or NIR sorting machines
[00:16:06.580]this is a technology that is used to identify and separate materials based on their chemical
[00:16:12.740]composition since materials have a unique spectral signature this process uses sensors
[00:16:18.980]to analyze the amount of light absorbed by the material for example NIR sorting can sort out PET
[00:16:26.180]HDP and polypropylene into separate pathways
[00:16:30.900]so once a material is identified the sorting system will trigger air jets
[00:16:35.940]or a robotic arm to divert the material to the appropriate conveyor belt or chute
[00:16:40.740]once all the materials are sorted they are compacted into bales to be sold and transported
[00:16:47.460]for plastics further reprocessing will occur at what we call a reclaimer a reclaimer is a
[00:16:54.900]specialized facility where sorted recycled plastic is processed and prepared for reuse
[00:17:01.380]the primary goal of a reclaimer is to transform recycled plastic
[00:17:05.380]into high quality flake or pellets that can be used as raw materials by a manufacturer
[00:17:11.540]like plastic ingenuity all right well thanks so much it was nice meeting everybody
[00:17:17.060]you
[00:17:17.300]you
[00:17:17.540]you
[00:17:17.780]Thank you.

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