Rani Plast joins the SPIRIT programme to explore the environmental impact and performance of new eco-friendly packaging solutions

Ab Rani Plast Oy, a leading Nordic manufacturer of industrial and agricultural packaging films, has sustainability high on their agenda. The objectives of their DREAM project, Data-driven Approach for Development of Recycling Ecosystem and Advanced Modelling of Environmental Performance, strongly support the goals of the SPIRIT Programme. Mats Albäck from Rani Plast digs deeper into the objectives of the newly launched project.  

Rani Plast provides smart packaging solutions for agriculture and industry  

Mats Albäck is working as Sustainability & Development Director at Rani Plast, a company part of Rani Group with a turnover of 300 M€ and sales volume of over 125 000 ton, a family-owned international business with nine factories in five countries. The mother company Rani Plast established in 1955 and located in the village of Terijärv in Finland is one of the leading suppliers of plastic film in the Nordic countries and features among the 15 largest companies in the industry in Europe. 

It goes without saying that Rani Plast has the sustainability of plastics high on their agenda. Using sustainable certified raw materials, boosting recycling, reducing CO2 emissions and providing high-performance films for circular products are key elements of their current actions. Joining the SPIRIT programme is one of the ways to develop more sustainable processes for the most efficient recycling of plastics and to explore renewable packaging solutions further.  

Dare to DREAM with SPIRIT 

Rani Plast became part of the SPIRIT programme when it recently secured the Business Finland partnership funding for their project called DREAM. The main objective of the project is to explore the environmental impact and performance of new, environmentally friendly packaging solutions. This translates into creating new data, analysing and utilizing data widely, and exploring the possibilities to digitalise and integrate new kind of structures enabled by the recycling ecosystem, closed-loops and an efficient management of material streams. One important aspect is traceability of materials’ properties over the new value-circles. 

Another significant objective is to identify the possibilities to develop and use internal and external streams of recycled plastics in a way which adds value and is as cost and material effective as possible.  

Rani Plast wants to be seen as an important partner in the efforts to maximize the DREAM project outcomes through the collaboration within the SPIRIT programme. Mats Albäck says: “Rani Plast has a long history of collaboration with Borealis and when SPIRIT was launched, it was natural for Rani Plast to join the programme. We share the same objectives of sustainability, circular economy, and have a strong drive to boost them in our respective businesses; together we can take bigger steps to this direction.”  

On the importance of the SPIRIT programme and the ecosystem collaboration, Albäck says: “There are no quick fixes to rapidly increase the recyclability of plastics, but I believe that the work now being launched will make a remarkable impact on how we use and reuse plastics in the near future. We do not only co-create renewable materials, but we also must co-create superior products utilizing effectively both virgin and recycled materials and exhibiting high performance. I am glad to see the SPIRIT programme is leading the way in the transition not only to greener thinking but to concrete actions in practice!” 

Auli Nummila-Pakarinen from Borealis leads the “Enablers for green transition” research theme in the SPIRIT programme. She concludes: ”We are looking forward to working on this project together with Rani Plast. Our joint target is to build a scalable system which is proven with a couple of use cases. Later on, the entire SPIRIT ecosystem will be able to benefit from the results of this collaborative project.”

More information:

Mats Albäck (DREAM/Rani Plast), mats.alback_at_raniplast.com, www.raniplast.com
Auli Nummila-Pakarinen (SPIRIT/Borealis), auli.nummila-pakarinen_at_borealisgroup.com, www.borealisgroup.com

 

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