Into the future with canisters made of 100% recycled material

In addition to the development of very low-emission, health and environmentally friendly products, the UZIN UTZ Group has been pushing sustainable packaging solutions for years. Now the construction chemicals specialist has developed canisters made of 100% recycled plastic material for the PU and dispersion primers produced at the Ulm site.

"The recycling of plastics makes a significant contribution to environmental protection and resource conservation and is part of our consistent sustainability policy," emphasizes board member Julian Utz. "It was important to us to have canisters made of recycled material available for the Ulm site as well. After more than a year of development and testing with our regional packaging manufacturer, we have now succeeded in doing so". As early as 2018, UZIN UTZ Nederland, together with the Dutch Houweling Group, had developed the world's first 10-litre canister made of completely recycled waste plastics.

Successfully tested: Canister made of 100% recycled plastic

The new canisters consist of 100% recycled post-consumer recyclate, so-called PCR-HDPE. This waste is collected, cleaned, sorted and processed into granulate. "The new canisters have a new design," explains Patricia Mang from the purchasing department of the UZIN UTZ Group, who accompanied the entire development process. "They had to be tested intensively for stability, tipping and pressure behaviour, stackability and minimum shelf life of the ingredients". For example, they have lateral beads that give the canister additional stability. "Because the canisters are not only a product packaging, but also a transport packaging," says Mang. Now they are proven to be robust - with a stable handle and easy to stack - with the same reliable properties for the user as previous canisters.

5, 6 and 10 litre canisters meet all requirements

The new canisters made of 100% PCR plastic meet all necessary quality requirements and are used for PU and dispersion primers of the brands Uzin, Codex and Pallmann. We already fill 75% of our primers and thus our canister volume requirements into PCR canisters," explains Julian Utz. "This means that fewer natural raw materials are used for packaging and 50% less climate-damaging CO2 emissions are produced in relation to the raw material used". To mark the new canisters made of recycled old plastic, they are provided with the UZIN UTZ Group's own embossing "manufactured from recycled material". There are 5, 6 and 10 litre canisters - all from the same manufacturer in Germany. "This enables us to bundle our entire canister requirements in an optimal way," says Patricia Mang.

Saving resources with sustainable packaging

In order to achieve its declared sustainability goals, the UZIN UTZ Group has increasingly focused its activities on sustainable packaging systems. For example, since 2013 the company has already been using plastic buckets which partly consist of recycled plastic.The proportion of recycled material in buckets in general is now to be further increased - tests are underway. The "Cube-it-Simple" bag-in-box packaging consisting of an outer carton with a plastic inner bag, which is used for water-based primers from Uzin, also reduces packaging waste on the construction site. Furthermore, the bubble wrap used as packaging material for parquet adhesives is to be converted to 50% recycled material.