Go Zero with us
Instead of dog eat dog, it’s smart eats dumb.
Packaging
Cradle to cradle doesn’t mean having to do without. Instead, it’s about better and more intelligent designs for packaging.
Circular economy
A prerequisite for recycling and cradle to cradle use is designing products and materials in an intelligent way.
One step ahead
This rings true for our customers and us, as we want to be pioneers. That’s why Zeroplast is part of international research projects.
Additionally there are some work ethics that cost zero effort: Try harder, being responsible, work on time, be remarkable and reliable.
Our approach
The circular economy requires a new mindset, new products and answers to questions that, to some extent, we haven’t even begun to ask yet, but which will transform entire industries and markets in the future. Within the value chains of almost every B2B and B2C product, most of the valuable resources are wasted; they are incinerated, buried or used to produce park benches or structural steel. Think downcycling. A circular economy is the exact opposite. It is about designing products in a better, more beautiful and sensible way; the idea is to reuse resources appropriately, planning how to use them when first designing the product. In our opinion, it’s about better rather than poorer packaging for products. This begins with the selection of raw materials and ends with which ink you use for printing. Intelligent waste, much like a beautiful apple tree in bloom, creates a cycle bearing new fruit.
Recycling
When it comes to making packaging or a component recyclable and reusable in line with a cradle to cradle life cycle, we integrate product design requirements, the selection and design of substances and raw materials, the most sensible recycling process and the best recycling technology into every step of the product development process. When doing so, we take national and international standards such as the EU’s Circular Economy Package as well as voluntary agreements like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s into account.
Raw materials
Each material for industrial injection molding consists of a variety of raw materials that have been put together on an individual basis. We consider right from the beginning that we can only recycle sustainably and have a positive LCA when we reduce complexity in a clever way and choose the right additives, coatings or labels.
Why now?
National and international regulations, pressure from businesses and consumers as well as a general shift in attitude toward cradle to cradle and a circular economy are forcing entire markets and industries to rethink their approach. 20 years of experience in using injection molding with natural materials as well as participation and involvement in international research projects are what turns the Zeroplast idea into a competitive edge that our customers and partners benefit from when producing and developing sustainable packaging.
Competitive
Our credo is simple yet at the same time a major challenge. If it turns out that our solutions are more expensive, wasteful or qualitatively inferior when compared to conventional plastic, we immediately stop working on developing them. A circular economy shouldn’t be a compromise. It should be an improvement at every level. In any case, we are trying to make things less complex. Biodegradable print coating, using paper made of natural fibers or avoiding the use of metal in plastic packaging, which makes it automatically impossible to recycle, are essential when it comes to developing packaging. It’s a step forward rather than a step backward. We find a solution to every task that meets our customers’ specific requirements, also in terms of cradle to cradle use, as well as the sustainable development of how packaging is produced.
Network economy
We cooperate with research institutes, universities and labs. Plus we get our customers, some of them global players in the cosmetics or consumer goods industries, involved in our planning and development process early on. We soak up the knowledge currently being created in a decentralized and global manner from the following disciplines: material development, injection molding, circular economy, recycling, CO2 and cradle to cradle. The world is changing; the transition toward sustainable use of our resources is becoming a reality, with the technology already available. We’re making this useful to our customers and project partners.