By using similar materials for product packaging, the recycling process is simplified. If packaging and closing labels are made out of the same material, the quality of the recycled raw material, and efficiency of the recycling process, is significantly enhanced. Paper packaging that is closed with paper-based security seals can be better integrated into the recycling process than paper packaging with plastic labels.

In all industries, green innovations have been continuously coming onto the market in recent years. When it comes to packaging including security closing mechanisms, there was one final hurdle to clear.

“By using the latest paper-based security seals and tapes, industries can not only package their products in a more tamper-proof way, but also make a sustainable contribution to environmental protection and avoid plastic,” says Werner Horn, the CEO of Securikett, an Austria-based security labeling specialist committed to producing high performance products in an effective, efficient and sustainable manner.

Securikett specializes in digital and physical security systems for a broad spectrum of product sectors, is attracting attention with its invention of the new paper security seal, the company says. “Our VOID labels turn all types of packaging into safes,” says Horn. “We are pleased that we can now offer this special paper-based VOID technology solution. Paper is one of the most renewable raw materials and recycling of paper is well established. Pulp fibers can be recycled up to eight times.”

The security closure seals are characterized by the fact that an irreversible effect remains on the packaging when it is peeled off. Opening and tampering of the packaging is thus immediately and clearly obvious. The company produces these new paper VOID seals in various designs, sizes and colors.

EU-wide amendment of the packaging law & plastic reduction
Since the 60s, the use of plastic has increased twentyfold. The EU is therefore focusing on a sustainable economy and is pulling the emergency brake on plastic packaging in particular. The Single-use Plastics Directive is only one measure to achieve this goal. The first step was the ban on plastic bags – products such as cotton swabs and drinking straws are also already adopting alternative packaging materials. In the future, there will be penalties for packaging that is not designed to be recyclable within the European Union. Further bans on plastics for certain applications are not ruled out. According to Securikett CEO Werner Horn, “A switch to our new paper-based VOID seals and VOID tapes will therefore pay off for all businesses by eliminating the risk of non-compliance with material requirements of new regulations. The pulp material used by Securikett can be recycled together with folding cartons and complies with the new EU general circular economy package.”

Securikett’s research department has been working for a long time on the goal of being able to produce paper-based security seals with equivalent performance and security as the plastic-based security seals that have been more commonly produced up to now. The goal included development of both opaque and transparent security seals, in which the special security VOID effect is displayed when the seal is peeled off.

Vanessa Mitterer, head of the Securikett Research Department, says: “Thanks to technical innovations, we have succeeded in producing a seal from the renewable and recyclable raw material paper that is superior to the plastic seal in many respects. PaperVOID deforms when peeled off and is particularly resistant to manipulation with water and liquids.”