Pulp and paper is the 3rd largest industrial polluter of air, water, and soil and when it rots, it emits methane gas which is 25 times more toxic than CO2. Moreover, 42% of all global wood harvest is used to make paper i.e. paper production is one of the main causes of deforestation. Worse of all, demand for paper is expected to double before 2030.

However, the solution is simple and has been available for decades: recycling. Recycling 1 tonne of paper saves around 1400 liters of oil, 26,500 liters of water and 17 trees as well as combating pollution and climate change caused by deforestation. In an effort to highlight this solution and the importance RPL places on it, we have chosen this simple yet effective image to represent us this year.

As the climate crisis deepens, we must all, as consumers, producers and individuals, play our part. As companies set ambitious goals to use more recycled content in their packaging, there is more need than ever for partnerships and investments. Together, we must develop the infrastructure and processes that allow us to recover high-quality materials that can be used for recycled packaging, since Pakistan in particular lags behind the world.

In the linear economy, raw natural resources are taken, transformed into products and disposed off. On the other hand, a circular economy model aims to close the gap between the production and the natural ecosystems’ cycles, ultimately eliminating ‘waste’. Companies cannot create a circular economy on their own, and our stakeholders have an important role to play.

Conscious of our contribution to society and the environment, we seek to continually expand our horizons while keeping sustainability and diversity at the heart of our efforts. We hope that along with our stakeholders, we can participate in this program in order to re-use, reduce and recycle, ultimately playing our part in fighting against climate change.

Our strategy to make this a reality is closed-loop recycling model: a process where waste is collected, recycled and then used again to make the same product it came from. To stretch the use of recovered paper as a raw material in papermaking, it is imperative that paper is source segregated and collected from reliable sources. This means that every source plays a crucial part in the paper recycling and paper making process’s success and to achieve high recovery percentages of paper.

Through our collaboration, we hope that the used corrugated boxes we collect from supply chains, will be recycled and turned into new corrugated boxes in our packaging division, creating a real closed-loop solution for our customers. As one of the leading packaging companies in Pakistan, with over 20 years of experience in recycling and waste management, we will try our best to find a way to make 100% of the resources you send us into something useful once more. Thus, reducing waste sent to landfill and reducing the company’s impact on the environment.

Click here to download our Annual Report for 2022

The post Annual Report 2022: Towards a Circular Economy first appeared on Roshan Packages Limited.

The post Annual Report 2022: Towards a Circular Economy appeared first on Roshan Packages Limited.

At the start of the 20th-century corrugated adhesive used to have high water content as compared to starch. The water to starch ratio was 15:1. These adhesives made a good bond but they had a high water content which was a limiting factor, due to which production speed was restricted to 15-25 feet per minute.

In the second decade of the 20^th century, most corrugators switched from starch/flour to silicate soda-based adhesives. These adhesives can be made on corrugator location as well as it could be purchased in ready liquid form. The main benefit of silicate-based adhesives was that they required minimum heat to make a bond. It also assisted in better print quality on corrugated sheets. A major downside to this adhesive is that it increases the wear and tear of corrugating rolls.  Another disadvantage is that it increases the weight of the overall corrugated sheet. Still, silicate remained the most used corrugated adhesive for nearly 15-20 years. until 1934, when an individual from the Stein-Hall company named as Jordan C. Bauer introduced a starch-based adhesive that could match performance with speed. 

Baurer used a small portion of cooked starch as a carrier to rest the remaining starch suspended. Baurer added some more ingredients such as Borax and caustic soda to control the viscosity and Gel temperature of adhesives. Some Modifications have been made in this process but this starch adhesive is still used in modern corrugators. There have been efforts to introduce cold set and hot melt adhesives corrugated industry but it didn’t prove to be a productive option.

As Corrugators in today’s world run at high speed, it requires a large number of adhesives in a speedy manner. A common practice is to make adhesive on site of operation, this enables timely delivery of adhesive to corrugator. 

As a corrugator Engineer, I always maintain the adhesive level on all units of the corrugator. I retain the viscosity and gel point of adhesive because it can lead to serious production loss if any of these parameters is disturbed. I also do iodine tests on my running jobs so that I can ensure the right amount of application on the medium. We also use resin which is a water-resistant solution for some water-resistant corrugated boxes. 

-Haseeb Qausim Shift Engineer RPL

The post The History of Corrugated Adhesives first appeared on Roshan Packages Limited.

The post The History of Corrugated Adhesives appeared first on Roshan Packages Limited.

Glue is the key parameter for the strength and printing of your corrugated packaging. It holds your box together in rigid conditions. You should keep this in mind because a good adhesive dictates the strength and life of a box.

Starch-based glue is the preferred adhesive for corrugated sheets. This adhesive is used to combine fluting paper with liner paper at high temperatures. Starch-Based Adhesives are an alternative to silicate. Silicate makes corrugated boxes quite rigid and causes cracking and delamination. Starch-Based Adhesives keep the strength of the box. Starch adhesives provide premium printing on corrugated sheets as compared to silicate adhesives. In this blog, we will look into the base knowledge of starch-based glue.

Firstly, we will look into the main components of starch-based glue. Following are the details of the starch-based glue ingredients.

• Starch
• Borax
• Caustic Soda
• Steam
• Finish Water

Starch is the main ingredient in the manufacturing of the adhesive. We use Starch in adhesives because it is readily available in the market. Moreover, we prefer starch-based adhesives because modern corrugators ran at high speeds and starch base adhesives can be formed in the least time to keep the production according to targets and efficiency. Starch can be accessed from different plants; two common types of starch are corn starch and wheat starch. Corn starch is used in place of wheat starch because it thickens better. Corn starch is better in water absorption thus it is easy to form an adhesive solution. Starch is mixed with water and heat to form a base solution; this solution doesn’t have any adhesive properties until it is mixed with caustic soda.

Granules swell as soon as caustic soda is added to the heated solution. Soda fastens this process by breaking hydrogen bonds in starch along with the formation of hydroxyl. This results in a starch paste. Caustic soda not only helps in making starch paste but also helps in lowering the gel temperature.

Gel point is the temperature at which adhesive solution changes from a liquid state to a gelatin-like solid. This is the point where starch suspension acts as an adhesive. Gel Point is quite critical in glue application on a corrugated sheet. If the gel point is lower than the desired value, then it will solidify even before the application on corrugated sheets. If our gel point is higher than the required point, then it won’t stick fluting paper with liner paper which will result in delamination.

Another major component in starch-based glue is Borax. Borax helps in a chemical reaction in which interchange linkages are formed within starch molecules. Borax is responsible for the bonding of the adhesive, Borax’s main function is to control the viscosity of the starch-based adhesive. Viscosity is known as the resistance of a liquid to flow, it can also be described as the internal friction of a flowing adhesive. Adhesives with high viscosity will not flow as readily as low viscosity ones.

Water acts as a solvent in this process, Starch is heated and treated with Borax, heat, and Caustic soda in presence of water. Usually, there is 20-30% solid content in the starch-based adhesive.

Lastly, we will look into the percentage composition of starch-based adhesives.

• Water 65.7%
• Finish Water 7.6%
• Starch 24.9%
• Caustic Soda 1.1%
• Borax 0.62%

Haseeb Qausim, Shift Engineer, Roshan Packages Limited

The post The Glue that holds Corrugated Boxes first appeared on Roshan Packages Limited.

The post The Glue that holds Corrugated Boxes appeared first on Roshan Packages Limited.