The emergency could only be averted at the last minute by implementing rigorous measures. Water consumption was limited to 50 liters per person in comparison to the 300 liters consumed per capita per day in the United States. Toilets are flushed only when absolutely necessary and with rainwater if possible. Hands are washed less frequently and instead disinfected more often. The price of water doubled within just three months. The agricultural sector is also contributing by reducing its water consumption by 50%. This has led to a loss of jobs for 37,000 people and a drastic increase in food prices.
As large water consumers, beverage bottlers such as CCPB are particularly under the scrutiny of the public in situations as dramatic as this. “We’re of course expected to set a good example,” explains Morse. “We have to be accountable to our customers and the public – not only in times of crisis, but every single day.”
The beverage manufacturer sees the awareness of corporate social responsibility as a key success factor for a very good reason. “The full focus is on sustainability,” Morse emphasizes. “We’re working relentlessly to minimize our carbon footprint at all levels. We started doing so in the early 2000’s by combining the four manufacturing plants within our territory to form a mega manufacturing facility in Parow Industria, a suburb to the east of Cape Town.” Today, this includes activities such as Coca-Cola’s “World Without Waste” program, with which, by 2030, the company plans to collect and recycle as many bottles and cans from refuse as can be sold worldwide. CCPB is involved, for example, in organizations that want to expand the recycling of PET and glass bottles in South Africa. This is a logical step considering that the bottler makes its own preforms and is desperately searching for rPET in order to achieve its goal of using an average of 25% recycled material. Even the PET bottles for the Bonaqua water brand are made of 100% recyclate.
CCPB’s sustainability strategy also includes using more returnable bottles made of both glass and plastic than some of its competitors: the share of the product range is currently around 20% and should reach 40% by 2025. This not only significantly helps to prevent waste and thus achieve ecological sustainability but is also viable from an economic standpoint. If a refillable PET bottle is returned, the product is sold for about 30% less – benefiting not only price-sensitive consumers but also the company itself, as in doing so it’s able to reach wider groups of buyers.
The returnable PET bottles are produced on a KHS InnoPET Blomax V stretch blow molder that was put into operation in 2019 – one of the first ever on the market. It scores above all with resource savings and a production process with a significantly smaller carbon footprint. Thanks to its optimized near-infrared (NIR) heater, this machine from the latest generation of KHS stretch blow molders consumes up to 10% less energy. The AirBackPlus air recovery system also included in the returnable bottle blowing process uses up to 40% less high-pressure air. The new technology also saves on resources when it comes to material consumption: the improved material distribution of the stretch blow molding process now uses the PET located below the neck ring that to date has remained unstretched, enabling lighter preforms to be used.
“We’ve had a good business relationship with KHS for more than forty years,” is how Morse describes relations with the Dortmund engineering company; you can sense the unshakable confidence in the company’s technological expertise accumulated in this time. “We purchased fillers from KHS, for instance, even back in the days of predecessor company SEN. And if bottle formats like the 1.0-liter glass bottle were still on the market today, I’m certain that the machines would still be in operation.”
“We don’t limit ourselves to just delivering machines,” explains Stephan Mürset, regional sales manager at KHS. “We maintain an intensive dialog on an equal footing and understand the specific needs of Greg and his colleagues, for example concerning matters such as CCPB also producing bottles for other bottlers. We have a very similar understanding of technical issues.” Morse confirms that they’re on the same wavelength. “The price isn’t our sole guideline; we buy from people. Of course the technology has to be right; we were really impressed by the simple functionality and downright solidity of the equipment we saw in action at the KHS factory,” he adds.
However, the good relationship thrives not only on sophisticated technology but also on the system provider’s strong service presence in South Africa. “We have a very efficient team here at the Cape,” emphasizes Mürset. “Our local engineers carried out the installation and commissioning work.” The highly competent specialists, some of whom were trained in Dortmund and some at KHS’ own training center in Johannesburg, are of course also available during ongoing operation for activities such as audits, maintenance or repairs.
A major issue in connection with sustainability in South Africa is of course the responsible use of resources – water in particular. Water-saving technology helps in the production process: this modification was successfully completed with two new bottle washers the Dortmund system provider installed and put into operation in Parow last year. One of the machines processes returnable PET at respective capacities of up to 26,400 1.5-liter bottles an hour and up to 19,200 2.0-liter bottles per hour. The other washes up to 36,000 returnable glass bottles an hour with volumes ranging from 300 to 500 milliliters. Thanks to a number of innovations, each of the two uses about 25% less water than their predecessors. Based on this investment and a number of other measures with which CCPB achieves remarkable results, they have greatly helped to save on resources by reducing the water consumed per liter of finished beverage from 3.6 liters to 1.7 liters within the past twelve years.
Since some of the water used comes from their own boreholes, the focus here is also on sustainability in the sense of constant replenishment of the wells. The suitability of each borehole is tested in advance by geological institutions, only 50% of the permitted delivery rate is utilized and pumping is carried out at certain intervals to enable the groundwater to regenerate. Before it’s used to produce beverages, the water is filtered through a nanofilter in six cleaning stages to ensure top-quality water.
Greg Morse is particularly proud of CCPB’s conscientious use of scarce water resources. “There’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be pleased with our achievements. On the contrary: at the end of last year we and two other companies were awarded a five-star water rating by the City of Cape Town for our exemplary water management.” This commitment also includes participation in various regional initiatives, which among other things ensure that more people have access to clean drinking water.
When the long and persistent rainfall finally began in the Cape region in June 2018 – shortly before the continuously postponed Day Zero – the water levels in the reservoirs slowly rose. This by no means signals a happy ending, however: due to climate change, the people of Cape Town are well aware that droughts can be expected in the future. This is why they continue to exploit all options of using water conscientiously and economically as an invaluable resource. With the help of smartphone apps, the population is constantly kept up to date on the water levels in the reservoirs. Water consumption in the city today has leveled out to between 600 and 800 million liters since the peak of up to 1.2 billion liters per day before the droughts of 2015 to 2018. The entire industry is also investing in technologies to increase its water efficiency. CCPB intends to maintain its position up among the pioneers. “We should never find ourselves in this situation again,” Greg Morse is convinced. “People are much better informed and clearly aware of their responsibilities. Cape Town mastered this challenge very well; other cities with comparable general conditions can benefit from our experience.”
KHS bottle washers score lots of points with technical innovations – also available as retrofits for existing machines.

• Capacity-dependent fresh water control: Adjustment of the fresh water supply to the current machine capacity by a control valve
  Much less fresh water consumed at a reduced machine output
• ECO carriers: Bottle pockets which are 25% lighter with side openings for improved rinsing
  Less caustic and heat carryover in the machine
  Less heat absorption, better energy balance
  Cleaning media saved
  Less mechanical load on the drive system
• LESS (Liquid Efficiency Spraying System): Power-saving function for spray pumps which reduces the spray pressure to approx. 0.3 bar during downtimes
  80% less energy consumed in standby mode
  Option: flexible spray pressure enables processing of lightweight glass and PET bottles
• ECO chain: Weight-optimized bottle pocket chain
  Service life 25% longer
  Less transfer of heat

TU Graz researcher Samir Kopacic wants to help ensure that less plastic and more biodegradable materials are used in the future. And develops its own, paper-based packaging.

The young researcher is working on various multi-functional biopolymers that can be applied to paper or even completely replace plastic and renewable biomass, from which valuable biopolymers can be obtained, ”is how he explains the economic and technological aspects behind his work.

The love for nature runs in the family

“From an academic point of view, I can do a lot with this topic because it is a mixture of technical chemistry and process engineering – that is, combining my two studies.” Samir Kopacic was born in Gracanica, a small town in the northeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina , attended the international English-language secondary school and then studied technical chemistry and process engineering at Graz University of Technology.
“I already realized in high school that my strengths lie in the natural sciences. Even then I was interested in experimental science subjects and the choice of course was easy. The question was whether I should go in the technical, medical or scientific direction, ”he looks back today. “My 3-year-old daughter feels exactly the same today – she is already very interested in plants, animals and microorganisms.”
Already in high school I realized that my strengths lie in the natural sciences.
Besides his work, he devotes his free time to his families, friends and shared hobbies. He likes to cook for his daughter and his wife – who is also a chemist at TU Graz: “Yesterday, for example, we had chicken breast with a special cheese-like filling and various herbs,” he reveals. He also spends every free minute with his family and outdoors, enjoys hiking and gives living room concerts with his daughter. “She just got a ukulele and I play the guitar. We’re not professionals, but there is potential, ”he smiles.

Heinzel-Mondi-Sappi Award for young researchers

In the future, he would like to continue to work in the technical area, develop his professional and personal skills and use them in innovative fields. “Thanks to a wide range of academic training and professional experience, I could imagine my future professional activity in both the academic and industrial sectors,” he says. “Together with project partners from industry and academia, I do a lot of applied research and am currently involved in an invention that is to be patented. Some of the results could be further developed into products in the next few years. ”The Heinzel-Mondi-Sappi Award shows that the Austrian paper and packaging industry also has a similar opinionthat the young researcher received in October 2020 for his research activities. In any case, Kopacic himself is firmly convinced “that we need a change of course in Europe with regard to plastic consumption and must rely on biomaterials in the future.”
https://www.tugraz.at/

Mexico is one of the world’s ten biggest producers
of Municipal Solid Waste on account of its vast size and large population. The country
generates around 120,000 tonnes of waste a day, which add up to 44 million tonnes a year.
This situation has been further aggravated by an increase in waste (estimated at between
3.3 and 16.5% according to a study conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Ecología y
Cambio Climático de México – the National Institute for Ecology and Climate Change) due to
the country’s lockdown period, which has affected patterns in consumption and medical
treatment. In this situation, the new sorting plants based on the automation of waste
management, take on even greater importance for their potential to improve the
environmental situation in Mexico and boost the circular economy.
“STADLER aims to be a driver in the change that Mexico needs to achieve a green economy
standard shaped by technological innovations and business models. Both will undoubtedly
bring environmental, social and economic benefits,” explains Natalya Duarte, Sales Manager
for Mexico at STADLER.

The new sorting plant inaugurated by Operadora de Ferrocarril y Manejo de Rellenos
(OFMRS) is testament to this trend towards automation. This private company, which
specialises in final disposal for MSW, has joined forces with STADLER to develop a plant in
the city of Cuautla (Morelos, Mexico) capable of managing comprehensive waste treatment
for 16 municipalities in Morelos and a small part of Mexico City.
“This project was born of the vision shared by OFMRS and STADLER on waste
management. This vision has led to a technological proposal and the development of a new
operating model,”, says Natalya Duarte. “The aim was to recover different types of recyclable
packaging and materials and re-distribute them back into various production chains, as many
times as possible. This innovative business and management model makes such projects
feasible, as well as making them more profitable due to the highly-efficient sorting process
and high purity levels of the materials.”
Crisóforo Arroyo, General Manager for the La Perseverancia landfill, underlines his
confidence in STADLER: “Our decision to invest in the project with STADLER was not only
based on their reputation as a serious leading German technology firm in the sector, but also
on the fact that this comprehensive project was sustainable and took domestic market
conditions into account.”
“This new plant fulfils our objectives on many levels: generating a purer biogas; reducing the
carbon footprint; strategic alliances with firms that recycle and transform recycled input
materials into green packaging; re-distribution of recycled input materials within a circular
economy; and the creation of shared value based on sustainability and quality,” adds
Crisóforo Arroyo.
“Our aim is to turn this project into a knowledge exchange platform for the various parties
involved in the recycling chain and an ongoing laboratory where new waste management
processes can be tested across the country,” says Natalya Duarte.
OFMRS, a process based on automation and technology
Within this circular economy-based approach, the most important points that set OFMRS
apart are its high degree of automation (among the highest in the country), its ability to sort
by type of polymer and color, and its management model.
With facilities spanning 3,800 m 2 , and a maximum output of 640-700 tonnes/day, OFMRS
sorts, classifies, compacts and commercialises MSW, recovering materials including
cardboard, paper, carton packaging, plastic, glass, and ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
Biogas is also recovered from organic waste and fed to two Guascorde 1 mW power
generators with a power output of 2mW. The energy generated is supplied to two companies
in the state of Mexico through the power supply network owned by state-owned power utility
CFE.
The plant’s automated closed-loop system comprises ten cutting-edge machines and thirty-
five recirculating conveyor belts.
The process starts with reception of the MSW, which undergoes several processing stages,
including the removal of ‘non-recoverable’ waste. It is then sorted into three groups: firstly,
fine, metal and organic waste, which is sent to a reject container; secondly, flat or 2D waste
(cardboard, paper, plastic wrap and carton packaging); and finally, bottled or 3D waste (PET,
HDPE, PP, carton packaging and aluminium). The last two types of waste are forwarded to a
manual sorting area. Finally, the conveyor belt feeds the materials into the compactor and
the final product is ready: recoverable waste bundles (cardboard, paper, plastic wrap, carton
packaging, PET, HDPE, PP and aluminium).
In the spotlight: the circular economy and environmental protection
In order to improve work practices, productivity, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and
environmental protection, OFMRS has been operating to international ISO 9001 quality, ISO
45001 OHS, and ISO 1400 environmental standards since mid-2020.
According to Natalya Duarte: “This is the first project in Mexico that involves different parties
in the recycling chain with the aim of protecting the environment. It is also the first national
project that sets out to industrialise and professionalise the process, seeking the highest
efficiency and purity levels and adhering to the strictest quality standards, including ISO.”
“The adoption of tried and tested German STADLER technology results in an attractive
business model for using, recovering and recycling waste. By recovering waste in this way,
the consumption of natural resources, water and energy is reduced,” according to OFMRS.
STADLER, integrated projects that can be relied on
STADLER works closely with clients to optimise its integrated projects. It provides clients
with advice and support throughout the whole project and during the business model
proposal: working out the project’s financial structure, developing the distribution channels,
operating advice, designing the technical proposal based on the project’s specific
requirements, and providing after-sales service, which includes maintenance plans and
spare parts stocking in greater volumes and for longer periods.
“Also, and even more importantly, STADLER provides ‘operational assistance’ which means
that the technology provider continually oversees the client’s facilities. This guarantees
maximum operational efficiency for the plant, which supplies its end product to leading
companies in the food sector. These services include input/output waste profiling studies,
quality control on selected materials and production, and more,” Natalya Duarte notes.
OFMRS confirms that the German company’s approach was a crucial deciding factor when it
came to choosing a partner for the project: “Our decision to work with STADLER was not
only based on their experience in the MSW sorting and recovery process, we also knew that
they could help us to consolidate the project from a technical, administrative and financial
perspective. STADLER also understands our needs and adapts the design of their
technology to our new processes to professionalise MSW management.”
www.w-stadler.de

Covestro has developed a sustainable cast elastomer solution that enables the offshore industry to reduce its environmental impact and carbon footprint. The polyurethane elastomers are based on so-called cardyon^® brand polyols, which contain CO₂ and offer the same good performance as corresponding petrochemical-based elastomers. A new technology from Covestro makes it possible to produce these precursors from carbon dioxide in a proportion of up to 20 percent by weight, thereby replacing some of the fossil raw materials used up to now. The development contributes to recycling carbon and underlines Covestro’s intention to focus all its activities on the Circular Economy.

In its search for a more sustainable solution for the offshore industry, molding company Polarttech opted for a Desmodur^® elastomer system containing cardyon^® polyols. This cast polyurethane elastomer offers the following advantages:

• The part produced with this system shows very good hydrolysis resistance, as expected from such an offshore application, and is more durable than other elastomers such as rubber.
• The polyurethane system enables the production of elastomers with high-performance or even better mechanical properties such as tensile strength and tear resistance than corresponding conventional cast polyurethane systems made from fossil raw materials.
• The solution offers the possibility to reduce the carbon footprint and dependence on fossil raw materials.

“The use of CO₂ in chemical raw materials is a groundbreaking innovation that is in perfect harmony with our vision of recycling,” comments Thomas Braig, Head of Covestro Elastomers. “What is important to us, of course, is a successful application in practical use. We are pleased when manufacturers choose this sustainable solution, and appreciate the trust they place in our innovations, especially in our Desmodur^® elastomer system, which contains cardyon^® polyols.”
“Our goal is to provide our customers with the quality products they need,” adds Arthur Brouwers, CTO of Polarttech. “The tests we conducted confirmed both the property profiles and the processing conditions of the system developed by Covestro.” The newly developed solution surpasses Polarttech’s previous system in terms of resilience and abrasion resistance. Moreover, its processing is easier thanks to a long pot life and excellent detaching wen the part is demoulded. “The use of cardyon^® polyol in our system rounds off this project and makes it a perfect solution for everyone involved,” says Arthur Brouwers, “especially for the environment!”
About Covestro:
With 2019 sales of EUR 12.4 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 17,200 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2019.
Covestro.com

Back in 2018, Kistler achieved a breakthrough in industrial charge amplifier technology by introducing its 5074A digital charge amplifier. Launched on the market as the world’s first digital charge amplifier, the 5074A is the ideal solution for control and monitoring of industrial processes such as press-fit, assembly and joining operations. It was the only amplifier on the market with communication consistently based on Industrial Ethernet (IE): for the first time ever, it gave plant and machinery manufacturers the possibility of integrating any desired piezoelectric sensors directly into their real time-capable Ethernet systems. Users could comfortably make settings on the measurement amplifier via the control – something that was never possible in the past. Maximum flexibility was ensured by an extremely wide measuring range – from 20 to 1,000,000 pC – coupled with an extensive range of measurement functions for diverse applications, opening up virtually unlimited operational possibilities. All these advantages made the 5074A amplifier the perfect product for applications requiring dynamic and quasistatic measurements via Industrial Ethernet. Another key benefit: high performance by today’s standards, allowing acquisition rates of up to 50 kSps per channel and real-time transmission of measurement data with cycle times as low as 100 μs.

 
“The new 5074B digital charge amplifier, available as of now, supersedes the 5074A – and it retains the range of tried-and-tested benefits offered by its predecessor,” says Stefan Affeltranger, Product Manager for Production Monitoring at Kistler. But the 5074B also comes with two features that deliver major operational improvements. The new amplifier is ready to operate within around six seconds, as compared to the previous time of 30 seconds for each startup procedure – so users save valuable time. This improvement has a direct impact on plant availability, especially for modular plants with swappable hot-plug modules. Another innovation: the two energy paths in the M8 connectors are now separated so that additional standard devices can be connected as per the industry standard without extra considerations. This also makes it possible to switch off the peripheral power. “With the new 5074B, additional devices can be installed in the machine very easily and reliably – and what’s more, this doesn’t result in any further functional restrictions,” Affeltranger explains.

Simple implementation at low cost

Like the 5074A predecessor model, the 5074B can also be implemented simply and at low cost. Integration into an existing Ethernet does not require any additional software. Complex and costly cabling for analog and control signals is also eliminated. Configuration via the control means that industrial processes benefit from excellent data security. “The newly available 5074B is a major addition to the family of charge amplifiers from Kistler, which includes analog and digital models as well as a miniature charge amplifier with IO-Link technology,” Affeltranger points out. “We’re continuously developing our portfolio so that we can respond to users’ widely varying requirements by offering innovations and cutting-edge technologies. And this also opens the way for digitalization of the measuring chain in many areas where such a step did not seem technically or economically viable until now.”
https://www.kistler.com/