South African packaging giant Mondi (Johannesburg; www.mondigroup.com) said it is investing EUR 5 mn in a new research and development centre in Steinfeld, Germany, to assist its customers in developing sustainable packaging solutions.

Construction of the facility at Mondi Steinfeld has commenced and is expected to be completed at the end of 2023. Once up and running, the centre will include pilot lines for both plastics- and paper-based solutions, as well as an analytical laboratory and a customer experience centre, the company said.

Extrusion coating, aqueous coating, and siliconisation will be available at the centre as well as various printing machines. Filling lines for different materials including both horizontal and vertical filling, and forming and sealing equipment will allow for customer trials. The investment contributes to the Mondi Action Plan 2030 goals, which aims to make 100% of its products reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.

Mondi also collaborated with Austrian food company Handl Tyrol (Pians; www.handyltyrol.com) to develop a mono-material PP high barrier packaging film for the latter’s bacon product that can be recycled into existing mixed polyolefin streams. The two companies employed Mondi’s collaborative EcoSolutions approach to create packaging that seals securely with both a high-barrier top and bottom film.

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