Guest Article – VDMA Circular Economy Forum: LEONHARD KURZ Presents Solutions for The Circular Economy
At the K 2022 trade fair, VDMA member companies focused on the circular economy and presented their technology highlights. LEONHARD KURZ showed how high-quality post-industrial recyclate can be obtained from production residues in the graphic industry.
Which solutions enable the creation of new types of materials from recyclates? How can manufacturers and processors in the plastics, printing, and packaging industries efficiently recycle production residues? These and other questions relating to the circular economy were the main focus of K 2022.
As the conceptual sponsor of the world’s largest plastics and rubber trade fair, the German Engineering Federation VDMA offered its members the perfect platform to present their pioneering solutions and start a conversation: the VDMA Circular Economy Forum. LEONHARD KURZ also took advantage of the opportunity. The thin-film specialist has been committed to environmental protection in the plastics industry for decades. KURZ is continuously developing its products and processes to reduce the company’s CO2 footprint as much as possible.
Intensive exchange with like-minded industry representatives
“Sustainability is a top priority for us, so it was a special opportunity for us to be part of the VDMA Circular Economy Forum,”
explains Johannes Romming, Project Manager Innovation & Sustainability at LEONHARD KURZ.
“We were surprised about the passion and conviction with which the other participants and visitors to the forum dealt with aspects such as environmentally friendly solutions, resource-saving processes, and technologies in the spirit of the circular economy. We were able to exchange ideas with like-minded people, and it was the perfect platform to present our approach.”
Johannes Romming, Project Manager Innovation & Sustainability at LEONHARD KURZ
Experiencing sustainability live
At the VDMA Circular Economy Forum, Johannes Romming and the team presented the post-industrial recyclate RECOPOUND®, a high-quality compound obtained from production residues in the graphic industry. As part of the globally unique PET take-back system RECOSYS®, customers of the thin-film specialist can return their carrier materials after the application. In the next step, KURZ uses those to produce the recycled compound, which is suitable for manufacturing robust plastic components through injection molding. KURZ demonstrated what the products could look like by showcasing a watering can made entirely from RECOPOUND®. At the VDMA Circular Economy Forum, the exhibits were decorated live with a metalized logo using hot stamping.
“The process allows a highly efficient and sustainable process for decorating surfaces and is therefore suitable as a sustainable alternative to other printing and decoration processes and thus once again underpins the fact that sustainability and attractive decoration do not have to be mutually exclusive,”
explains Johannes Romming.
“We are pleased that we were able to demonstrate live at the VDMA Circular Economy Forum how environmentally friendly surface finishing works. To let our visitors participate in this and to make sustainability tangible, we decided to demonstrate the process on a compact machine from our subsidiary BAIER. With this, we allowed people on site to directly observe every step and see for themselves why our solutions are sustainable – the ideal basis for an in-depth exchange with interested visitors, which was very enriching for us.”
About KURZ:
The KURZ Group is a global leader in thin film technology. KURZ develops and manufactures decorative and functional layers applied to carrier foil for a wide range of industries, from the packaging and printing industry through to the automotive, electronics, card and textile sectors. KURZ offers a comprehensive portfolio of products for surface finishing, decoration, labeling, and counterfeit protection, rounded off by an extensive range of stamping machines and stamping tools. The company is also continuously investing in new technologies and developing innovative solutions for integrating functionality into surfaces. The KURZ Group has more than 5,500 employees at over 30 sites worldwide and produces under standardized quality and environmental standards in Europe, Asia, and the USA. A global network of subsidiaries, representatives and sales offices ensures short paths and individual, on-site consulting.
Thank you for your insightful guest article as well as your contribution to our drupa blog, the LEONHARD KURZ team. We are looking forward to witnessing your circular solutions live at the upcoming drupa 2024.
