French family-owned supplier g.pivaudran is forging ahead with its aim to offer packaging components that integrate recycled aluminum.
At Edition Spéciale by LUXE PACK last week, g.pivaudran showcased the results of its latest trials with recycled aluminum: generic samples with 15% recycled content.
Working with two grades of aluminum, g.pivaudran has developed matte and glossy versions incorporating 15% recycled material. The deep black glossy variant has a slight loss of depth and shine compared to non-recycled aluminum, while the matte offers a silky, pleasant feel that is superior to the original, notes Delaigue.
“Just over a year ago we worked on recycled aluminum grades, but we struggled to obtain a quality comparable to what we now have today,” Hervé Delaigue, Sales and Development Director at g.pivaudran, told Luxe Packaging Insight. “So we went back to our partners and worked on grades that were a bit more advanced in terms of processing and that result in a better, more consistent quality of material.” In time, the supplier aims to be able to propose “components that integrate recycled aluminum without limiting the advanced transformation possibilities offered by the material”.
Securing supply is another key issue. “Today, we have a lot of trouble sourcing aluminum. The market is very tense, so obtaining recycled aluminum is even more complicated,” explains Delaigue.
“We have a lot of demand from brands about recycled aluminum,” he concludes, “but we are also seeing requests around light weighting, mechanical assembly, reducing glue, and weights made of aluminum, rather than steel.”
Also at Edition Spéciale by LUXE PACK, g.pivaudran showcased a 100% aluminum cap that can be made with 15% recycled content. See our Edition Spéciale post-show review next week for more details.
