Indian Flexible Packaging & Folding Carton Manufacturers Association (IFCA) organized a one-day seminar on inks, adhesives and related machinery on 6 June at Mumbai’s MIG Club. The seminar was inaugurated by Suresh Gupta, president IFCA and chairman Huhtamaki-PPL, along with other dignitaries. There were close to 100 guests at the event, which was sponsored by Huhtamaki-PPL, Hubergroup India, DIC India, Henkel India, Morchem India, and Reifenhauser India Marketing. One of the main themes of the event was food safety. The event also discussed issues such as ink technology, special adhesives, machinery and latest trends, among others.
Suresh Gupta delivered a short keynote address and touched upon the debate that is going on about plastic and its impact on environment. He emphasized that there is a lot of misinformation about plastics and its impact on environment. “Plastics, a very important and common component in our industry, are not the largest component in the overall waste. It is just 6.5% but the impression is that it is 96%! Plastics have in fact saved a lot of planetary resources. Unfortunately, not many people know about this,” Gupta said.
According to him, the problem lies in inadequate segregation and collection. “What is most important is segregation and collection of waste. And that is not being done. That is where the problem lies.”
Jaychandran Nair of Henkel Adhesives spoke on food safety and various regulations in force across major regions of the world. “Packaging has changed from what it was few decades ago. Earlier one had to take care of paper and ink, it was okay. But today there are so many variables and complexities about packaging. Spread of news is lightning fast and one incidence can dent a brand’s image. So, these brands need to be careful about food safety,” said Nair. He stated that global companies are pushing their standard in India and it would be great if local Indian brand owners too should focus on issue of food safety.
Sudhir Srivastava of Hubergroup informed the audience about technical aspects of ink migration and what it takes to create safe inks. According to him it is important to understand regulatory compliance, use right raw material and appropriate formulations to make safe inks.
He talked in detail about raw material selection criteria and advised not to use substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic for reproduction; to keep in mind the substances of very high concern (SVHC) list and to select raw materials in compliance with EuPIA and Swiss Ordinance guidelines. He stressed that inks should be free from toluene/ketone solvents and only appropriate pigments, resins and additives should be used.
Some other highlights of the seminar were a talk by Fran Perez from Comexi who spoke about various solutions that company can offer to the packaging converting industry. Ustab Kumar Chaudhari of DIC India talked about latest trends and development in ink technology while Ajit Manke former head of global, pharma packaging J&J talked about trends in pharma packaging.
