Amcor has opened a new Amcor Innovation Center Europe in Ghent, Belgium, which joins existing centers in the US, South America, and Asia Pacific markets. The facility adds approximately 6,000 square meters to the Amcor Gent campus to include meeting space, offices, an R&D laboratory/development area, and warehousing space.
The new facility represents a “significant investment towards more sustainable, circular, and innovative packaging,” according to Michael Zacka, president of Amcor Flexibles Europe, Middle East, and Africa. It includes multiple technologies and equipment spanning R&D, film extrusion processes, and packaging/filling operations, and services that follow the company’s collaborative approach, called Catalyst, encompassing broader market, consumer, and sustainability needs. Highlights include:
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A Material Science Center for innovative packaging materials such as recycle-ready mono-material solutions to match the performance of common mixed-material solutions; bio-based and recycled polymer alternatives; high-barrier paper packaging; and vapor-deposited nanocoating.
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A Customer Engagement Center for collaborative sessions and an observation room for use with consumer focus groups. It also hosts retail simulation, kitchen, living room, and bathroom settings for package appeal and usability testing. On-site prototyping can quickly adapt and create different packaging solutions for test participants to try out.
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An eCommerce Lab tests and certifies packaging according to ISTA 6 standards to validate packaging for shipment through Amazon and other ecommerce distribution chains.
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A Packaging and Recycling Test Center will soon be added, the company says, housing small-scale packing lines for in-house machine trials; and recycling equipment to allow evaluation of packages’ ease-of-recyclability.
Amcor has pledged to develop all its packaging to be recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2025 and to increase its use of recycled materials significantly. In line with that commitment, the new facility is designed and built according to BREEAM sustainability certification standards.
