ITENE will display at HISPACK its solutions for a sustainable and safe packaging and will interview representatives of companies that are ambassadors of sustainability

• Under the slogan ‘Be part and parcel of the circular economy’, ITENE’s stand will be focused on solving the current challenges of packaging, such as the development of sustainable materials, the improvement of recycling technologies and the safety, design and functionality of packaging.
• The technology centre is organising SUSTAINTALKS by ITENE on 24 and 25 May with professionals from companies such as Campofrío, Mercadona and Pack2Earth.

ITENE will participate from 24 to 27 May in the next edition of the HISPACK fair in Barcelona, where it will deploy its latest technological developments to ensure the sustainability and safety of packaging, will hold interviews with leading companies in the transition to the circular economy and will participate in two round tables on legislative developments and challenges around sustainable packaging. 

Under the title SUSTAINTALKS by ITENE, the research centre will organise a series of interviews, which will take place in Hispack Unboxing – Hall 2, in which professional ambassadors of sustainability from different companies of the packaging value chain that lead the change towards circular economy will give their vision and testimony. On Tuesday 24 May, Mercedes Hortal, R&D CoE Packaging Leader of Campofrío Food Group, will speak. On Wednesday 25 May, Patricio Carpena, Circular Economy Manager at Mercadona, and Françoise de Valera and Emma Cándido, CEO and director of packaging development at Pack2Earth, respectively, will speak.

On the other hand, the technical director of ITENE, Carmen Sánchez, will explain how companies can adapt to the requirements of the future Royal Decree on Packaging and Packaging Waste in a conference organised by the technology platform PACKNET entitled ‘Sustainability as the backbone of technological innovation in the various packaging solutions’, which will take place on Thursday 26 May from 12.30 to 14.00 in Hall 2.

In addition, the Head of Packaging and Circular Economy Unit of ITENE, César Aliaga, will participate on Wednesday 25 May in a round table discussion on the challenges of sustainability in packaging for companies in the chemical sector, moderated by the Packaging Innovation Cluster, to be held between 11.30 and 12.30 in the Hispack Unboxing space, in hall 2.

A stand to solve packaging challenges

With the slogan ‘Be part and parcel of the circular economy’, at the stand of ITENE (B159 in Hall 2) at Fira Barcelona, visitors to the HISPACK fair will find technological solutions focused on the development of new materials and recycling technologies for the circular economy and will find answers to the requirements in terms of safety, design and functionality in packaging.

In this way, solutions will be presented to meet the needs of the industry in terms of sustainable packaging, for which all stages of the life cycle of a package will be covered, including the development of new sustainable and advanced materials; the introduction of recycled material in packaging; the development of sustainable inks, adhesives and coatings; the assessment of whether a package is recyclable, reusable or compostable (through tests in ITENE’s laboratories, recognised by the main certifying bodies); and the eco-design and optimisation of packaging, as well as the analysis of the carbon footprint and the life cycle of the packaging.

In addition, solutions for verifying compliance with food safety requirements – with an emphasis on new developments – and the shelf life of packaged products will also be on display.

Regarding the end-of-life management of packaging, innovative processes for the reuse of packaging will be presented, as well as composting, recycling and recovery of waste, including its use for the development of new materials for the industry.

ITENE Tech Transfer Corner

At the Hispack fair, ITENE will also transfer to companies the results of several R&D&I projects carried out with the support of the Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial (IVACE) and the Conselleria de Innovación de la Generalitat Valenciana. For this purpose, a Tech Transfer Corner will be set up at the ITENE stand where, on 25 and 26 May from 1.00 p.m. to 2.00 p.m. and from 4.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m., personalised transfer sessions will be organised for companies. Appointments can be booked in advance at transferencia.tecnologica@itene.com.

Among the developments that will be shown are new compostable packaging materials with properties and processability similar to conventional ones (COMFUME); the improvement of properties of recycled polyolefins and virgin PET for their application in pallets and packaging for dangerous goods and bottles (REFUPLAS); obtaining biopolymers from organic waste thanks to biotechnological processes (BIOWASTE2PACK), and new bio-based inks and surface treatment to facilitate the emptying of packaging (BIOSURFINK).

This last development will be presented by Jesús Palenzuela, Head of the Printing Technologies and Functional Surfaces Unit at ITENE, on Thursday 26th from 17.30 to 18.00 at Graphispag, the trade fair for the graphic arts and visual communication industry that is held together with Hispack.

Again in the Tech Transfer Corner of ITENE, and as part of its effort to promote the generation of talent for companies, on May 25th the technology centre will present the 15th edition of the Master in Packaging Technologies, which is organised together with IATA-CSIC. Carmen Sánchez, Technical Director of ITENE; and Victoria Aledo, Training Coordinator, will tell at 12.15 pm all the news of this new edition, which will start in October 2022 in online format.

This Master’s Degree, which can be reimbursed by FUNDAE, consists of 300 hours of theoretical and practical contents that include synchronous classes taught by experts from ITENE and IATA-CSIC and professionals from the world of packaging, universities and research centres, as well as business experiences from experts. All the information is available at www.masterenvaseyembalaje.com.

Expansion in the period 2018-2021

ITENE participates once again in Hispack after closing 2021 with an increase of 20.6% in its total revenues, reaching 10.9 million euros. These results are the result of the expansion achieved in recent years. Between 2018, when the last edition of Hispack was held, and 2021, ITENE has worked for more than 1,600 customers and has developed 375 R&D projects, 1,037 technology consulting projects and 2,357 testing services. In addition, between 2020 and 2021, more than 7,800 professionals attended 173 courses and meetings organised by ITENE. To further increase its capabilities, the centre will expand its current headquarters, in the Technology Park of Paterna (Valencia), and will build a new building located in front of it that will house new laboratories and pilot plants.