AMB Spa, headquartered in San Daniele del Friuli in northern Italy, has established a reputation as one of the leading international suppliers of sustainable solutions for rigid and flexible films. AMB delivers an innovative "all in one place" approach that covers the complete packaging process: packaging design, prototyping, toolmaking, high-barrier rigid, and flexible film production and printing. With its focus on sustainability, the company is committed to finding solutions that close the loop of the circular economy. As part of its overall sustainability strategy, it has recently developed the new AMB Tray Revive which utilizes post-consumer trays to create new trays.

Sustainability in action

On the basis of the expertise and valuable insights gained through the company’s long-standing bottle-to tray recycling solution, it soon became clear to AMB that demand for recycled bottles would divert rPET away from tray solutions. It is expected that the demand for bottle-to-bottle recycling from the bottle industry will use up to 0.5 million tonnes of rPET, therefore causing shortages for the production of recycled tray material. In collaboration with an Italian recycler, AMB launched an initiative to collect the material from post-consumer trays with the aim to promote the circularity of the food PET trays. This material is broken down into flakes which are then used to manufacture a tray-to-tray product. As the demand for PET flakes is continuously growing, European design recycling guidelines for multilayer PET/PE transparent trays are currently being developed.

AMB’s Tray Revive guarantees high-performance quality

To ensure the exceptional quality of the final trays, the raw material comes from 95% of food trays stream and undergoes a strict process of analysis. Post-consumer tray material is processed to avoid contaminations, and the quality of the flakes is then evaluated. AMB assesses the material for its impact on the extrusion process and its mechanical performance. Additionally, the new film is subject to controls that evaluate its optical aspect and quality as well as its impact on the thermoforming process. All these checks ensure that AMB customers can rely on the outstanding quality of the final trays: mechanical performance and thermoforming performance on FFS remain unchanged, and the gauge remains the same as for standard PET/PE or Mono PET. AMB Tray Revive drives the tray recyclability and helps AMB customers to boost their green credentials and attract retailers and consumers, who are increasingly heedful of environmentally friendly packaging solutions.

Minimising the use of natural resources

Recovering used food packaging and recycling post-consumer bottom PET trays has established AMB as one of the leading sustainability experts in the manufacture of packaging. Complying with the European Action plan, AMB are committed to boost the EU market for recycled plastics to 10 million tonnes by 2025, reducing the environmental impact of AMB products.

AMB’s all-in-one place approach is matched by the company’s end-to-end sustainability drive. The Tray Revive is part of a wider strategy that includes improving collaboration and cooperation among all of AMB stakeholders with the goal of improving and developing the right actions and infrastructure to a sustainable and recycling packaging that works. Once again, AMB demonstrates its commitment to innovations and close the loop initiatives that combine high performance with the necessity of environmental protection.   

Source: AMB