Engel commits to sustainability; joins New Plastics Economy

Injection moulding machine maker Engel says it is one of the first machine manufacturers in the plastics sector to sign the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The aim of the initiative is to create a circular economy. In cooperation with more than 350 other companies, universities and organisations, Engel says it has committed itself to actively contributing to the transfer of plastics into closed material cycles.

In concrete terms, the initiative founded in 2018 is about avoiding unnecessary packaging and ensuring that by 2025, all plastic packaging will be reused, recycled or composted. Each member company is asked to set individual goals and report regularly on its progress to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

As a supplier to the plastics processing industry, Engel says it supports its customers in designing and producing packaging according to the rules of the circular economy and in opening up a wider range of applications for recycled materials. In this regard, the focus is on the following topics:

I) To guarantee a high process consistency and to prevent rejects with the help of intelligent assistant systems, even when the raw material is subject to strong quality fluctuations, as is often the case with recycled materials.

2) To further increase the proportion of recycled material in sandwich components with the aid of innovative processing technologies.

3) Working closely with processors in the course of product development with the goal of reducing material usage and enabling the subsequent recycling of products.

4) To further strengthen the consulting services in the area of upstream processes in order to optimize the processing of recycled materials for injection moulding.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is one of the leading global drivers of the circular economy. Since 2010, the organisation founded by British sailor Ellen MacArthur has been committed to a sustainable, resource-saving economy.