Cabka produces 10 million plastic pallets annually. It isn’t the world’s biggest producer, as there are larger players in Asia. It is, however, the hands-down leader in utilizing recycled content. And as companies increasingly look to improve their sustainability stories, an obvious solution is reusable packaging, particularly reusable packaging made from recycled content.
“We think that we are the global leader in engineering recycled materials,” commented Jean-Marc Van Maren, Cabka’s Chief Product Officer. He spoke recently at Cabka’s Event on Circular Economy and Business Transformation, along with Steve Russell, Cabka’s VP of Sales and Marketing. In business since 1994, the company has accumulated a database of over 3,000 post-consumer plastic (PCR) blends that the company can use and optimize. “That’s impressive for a company of our size,” he said. Cabka has six plants. Five are in Europe, and one is in West St. Louis, Missouri. Its research lab is in Valencia, Spain.
Why so many blends? The fact of the matter is that the PCR waste stream can vary depending on geography, local infrastructure, seasonality or regulation, to name some of the variables. Additionally, PCR blends must be formulated to meet the exacting needs of particular products.
Van Maren is watching a shift in the supply chain toward automation, digitization and sustainability. “We see this as an opportunity,” he said. High-quality plastic pallets are a good match with automation, and the company offers IoT and RFID-equipped products to support digital transformation. And the use of recycled content makes a compelling sustainability argument.
The company currently uses 86% recycled material, with a majority of that amount recycled in-house. It uses 14% virgin resin, which is needed for applications requiring halogen-free flame retardants, direct food contact, or colors such as blue and red. Van Maren said that Cabka’s goal is to use 100% recycled content and recycle 100% of its end-of-life packaging.
Cabka’s operations span from PCR material processing to final product creation and end-of-life recovery. Aside from PCR material processing and material design, the company designs and co-creates products in collaboration with customers, makes and tests its own tooling, implements IoT devices, and closes the loop on material recovery.
“We take back our used pallets or use plastic waste from any other company, and we do that continuously, Van Maren said. “That results in materials with the lowest environmental impact that you could possibly imagine.”
Reusable packaging must not only be durable but also designed using the least amount of material and energy possible. For complex products, design should minimize the assembly requirements. Products must also support product repair and recycling at the end of life.
Co-creation of Reusable Packaging – Allow for Development Cycle Time
Reusable packaging should never be an afterthought when planning for automation or transforming processes. A customer having a great idea but needing it in six months isn’t practical, Van Maren cautioned. The process starts with understanding the application and requirements and then developing concepts. Cabka utilizes 3D printing to create miniature versions to review. From there, building a full-size prototype and testing it is followed by validation and tooling creation. With injection molding a new complex product, it can easily take a year and a half up to two years.
Cabka actively co-creates reusable packaging with customers and works with them to find opportunities to utilize their plastic waste stream to make new products. Those customers include poolers such as CHEP, IFCO and Tosca and major players from beverage, retail, chemical, pharma and automotive.
Leveraging Customer Waste Streams to Make Reusables
The company encourages programs where customers sell their plastic waste to Cabka to produce plastic pallets and containers. One customer purchases 75,000 plastic pallets annually, each weighing 46 pounds, utilizing its own plastic residuals to make them.
“That’s over 3 million pounds that did not go into a landfill that the customer uses as an opportunity for its sustainability messaging,” said Steve Russell. “Everybody wins,” he continued. That’s closing that circle.” In a world where sustainability and environmental consciousness are increasingly crucial, Cabka’s dedication to innovation, co-creation, and recycling positions them as an industry leader.
To find out more about Cabka’s Event on Circular Economy and Business Transformation, visit our previous reports from that meeting:
Recycled Plastic Packaging and the Circular Economy: Experts Explore Business Transformation at Cabka Event
Straight Talk on Circular Economy and Reusables