Formaspack

VISCONEWS ISSUE #14 · Jan 2021

25 years commitment to rPET packaging solutions

The Spanish packaging company Formaspack is an extraordinarily successful family-owned business located in Cantabria. Luis Sastre founded the business 25 years ago. Today, Formaspack is a leading company for food and beverage packaging in Spain, and also serves customers with their packaging solutions in other European countries. Formaspack counts on recycled material ever since. “My father has always been a visionary, and that‘s where we got”, notes Ana Sastre, who is part of the directive in the second generation.

Recycled PET: primary input material for packaging

Formaspack converts 30,000 tons of plastics per year, and 80% of the processed input material is recycled material. Formaspack strives to run the entire production with 100% recycled material.

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) for meat industry

Formaspack produces food containers from rPET sheet, in particular modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). These packaging help to extend a product’s life span – a crucial characteristic for the strong meat industry in Spain, which sells fresh meat products also to export markets.
Over the last decade, Formaspack grew faster than the industry average. The annual growth exceeded 30 percent each year since 2007. Today, the converter has an annual production capacity of 600 Million trays per year. Cornerstones for the success are the personalized molds for their customers and the delivery within 24 hours in Spain. Besides the domestic market, packaging solutions made from rPET are sold to customers in France, UK, The Netherlands, and Germany.

Trust in viscotec technology and plants

Starlinger viscotec’s supercleaning technology is applied to decontaminate the input material post-consumer PET flakes. Formaspack’s production is BRC certified and exceeds the strict EFSA food grade requirements. The company’s laboratory is key for continuous quality control. Formaspack has three viscoSHEET extrusion lines in use to produce food-grade rPET sheet. Sheet of outstanding quality is the perfect material for the subsequent thermoforming.

Vision of a more sustainable future

The path to a circular economy requires the collaboration of many. “We must change to plastics, which can be reused and recycled”, claims Luis Sastre, referring to the recyclability of PET. It also requires the citizens’ commitment to recycling and likewise the companies. “As businesses, we must commit to investing in the technology that allows us to use recycled materials. It is a work of all of us.”

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