oneBARRIER

Overcoming the technical complexities of developing and manufacturing sustainable high barrier flexible packaging that is recycle-ready is a major challenge, even more so since the market looks for new solutions with the right barrier performances to replace the multi-material non-recyclable packaging.

With oneBARRIER, BOBST has undertaken a design and testing project that is creating industrially viable recycle-ready mono-material ultra-high and high barrier duplex and triplex substrates for packaging designers as alternatives to non-recyclable metallized polyester film. Developed with leading industry partners, the family of BOBST oneBARRIER sustainable solutions to date includes PrimeCycle, comprising EVOH and topcoat-free transparent AlOx-based or opaque AluBond-based full PE mono-substrates, and FibreCycle, a mono-material high-barrier paper-based structure coated with functional layers that can be recycled in the existing paper stream.

The BOBST & Partners oneBARRIER solutions are the outcome of joint process and equipment development and testing. The advantages for converters are manyfold:

• Integrated package solution: process-machine-output in one flow
• Knowledge of both coating and vacuum metallizing equipment technology and processes from a single supplier
• Different kinds of raw material specifications, coating, and adhesive chemicals
• Guaranteed barrier properties of the full structures (pre-coat + metallization + post coat + eventually lamination)

The result is a fully reliable process to consistently produce top quality polyolefin-based or paper-based recycle-ready ultra-high or high barrier packaging, with faster time-to-market from day one.

The oneBARRIER equipment package comprises the EXPERT K5 vacuum metallizer and the oneBARRIER EXPERT COATER or the one BARRIER MASTER COATER coating lines, depending on the converter's productivity needs. oneBARRIER solutions web widths range  from 1300 to 2900 mm.