Forty years of "green" know-how

About four decades ago, Arburg, one of the world's leading manufacturers of injection molding machines, based in Lossburg (Germany), was already processing starch-based granulates with Allrounder injection molding machines.

Now that sustainability has become a necessity for each sector of the economy, the goal of the German multinational is to constantly increase the production efficiency of plastics processing in all industries, promoting the use of recycled materials and bioplastics.

Recently, Bertram Stern, Arburg's Sustainability Manager said: “Bioplastics are particularly in demand when the packaging and contents can be composted together. However, the realization of thin-walled disposable products is particularly difficult because the biomaterial often has different fluidity».

Compared to this quote, in the context of the green approach of the German multinational, it is possible to observe that, unlike thin-walled products, reusable thick-walled glasses have already been produced by Allrounders in the context of various projects, such as for example the glasses made of Arboform lignin composite material.

Furthermore, in July 2021, the company Smart Factory OWL of Lemgo (Germany), partner of Arburg, started the production of reusable cups, with the Cuna brand, in plant-based plastic. In this regard, Bertram Stern said: «In this way we show how the added value is created and how the 'cradle-to-cradle' principle works. The glasses are customized according to the customer's requests; they can be used for years and subsequently recycled into new products ".

Christian Homp, group leader of the Arburg technical consultancy, added: "In principle, Allrounders can process all types of bioplastics."

This type of technological innovation fits perfectly into the arburgGREENworld program, which includes all the actions that the company takes to meet the requirements in terms of sustainability with a view to a greater circular economy and conservation of resources.

As evidence of its "green" approach, with its first sustainability report (relating to 2020), Arburg has shown, for the first time, at a global level how it acts and operates in a sustainable way in the long term in all sectors to which it addresses.