Open any newspaper or industry related magazine and you can be sure to see at least one article relating to the growing trend in encouraging organisations to reduce the amount of packaging associated with their products.

In recent news features, many large retailers, including supermarkets in particular, have come under fire for the amount of packaging used on their products which many critics consider as "wasteful".

Supported with funding from WRAP's (Waste and Resources Action Programme) Innovation Fund, International Food Partners (IFP) commissioned Ceetak to develop the Integrity Seal System: - designed to assist manufacturers reduce the amount of plastic film waste created on their packaging production lines.

The Integrity Seal System incorporates a unique blade and anvil design in order to produce an accurately controlled temperature and weld pulse time.

This creates a narrow width seal (typically 1 - 1.5mm wide) with superior performance characteristics, e.g potential to increase the shelf life of certain types of produce from 5 to 8 days.

The Integrity Seal System has eliminated many of the usual drawbacks associated with conventional film sealing.

Mark Franklin of Ceetak , says, "The equipment is highly durable and can be fitted onto any packaging production line involving film sealing".

"The machine is not an excessively complicated design - there are no moving parts, and with the element contained in the sealing bar, no anti-stick cover or thermal expansion compensators are required".

"This means reduced maintenance costs and allows a longer service life- the risk of downtime (and associated costs) is considerably lessened - an essential benefit for any production line manager." As part of the WRAP funded project to reduce packaging waste, the Integrity Seal System has been trialled, with great success, on the salad bagging production line for a major retailer.

These trials demonstrated that hermetic seals delivered better product quality and longer shelf life.

A machine was installed and tested for a period of 3 months, during which time it consistently produced high integrity seals on different film gauges and depending on bag format, reduced the amount of plastic film required for each bag by at least 10%.

Graham Clough, of International Food Partners says, "By heating the polymer film to above the melt temperature, a completely fused, hermetic seal is produced".

"After the weld is created, it is rapidly cooled, therefore ensuring the seal is not weakened during handling as it would be if left to cool naturally".

" The trial was so successful that systems are scheduled to be retrofitted to all production lines, and in addition to the original project, further funding has been granted for development work on an improved back seal system.

Machine design for the back seal of the salad bags is already underway-with trials planned to commence on production lines by summer 2007".

"The Integrity Seal System offers manufacturers a cost effective way to reduce the amount of film packaging waste related to their products without compromising the quality of the seal," says Mark Franklin".

"With growing concerns over the environment, we are pleased to offer this sealing technology to supermarkets and retailers who, by making a small change to their packaging production lines, can make a big difference to the amount of waste annually produced by households in the UK.".

The news.come from www.bossgoo.com

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