Esko’s XPS Crystal flexo imaging unit has achieved both Certified Energy Savings and Dematerialization certifications from GreenCircle – an internationally recognised third-party certification entity that independently verifies the validity of sustainability claims.
Following months of testing, measuring and detailed customer reports, GreenCircle validated Esko claims that the XPS Crystal delivers energy savings of 41% for trade shops and savings of 59% for converters. In terms of broader environmental sustainability, the Esko XPS Crystal also achieved Dematerialization certification, with GreenCircle validating a staggering 92% reduction in waste – and 100% removal of hazardous waste – over the lifetime of the machine.
“Having sustainable operations has rapidly evolved from being a ‘nice to have’ strategy to a ‘must do’ critical demand for brands and their packaging suppliers,” said Jan De Roeck, Esko Director of Marketing, Industry Relations & Strategy. “For the packaging industry, this means supporting brand owners who are under considerable pressure to respond to consumer needs and need support to accelerate their sustainability commitments.
“The XPS Crystal uses a UV LED array instead of mercury tubes used in a traditional main exposure bank light table. Its digital UV LED exposure not only significantly improves the quality and consistency of flexo plates, but the UV power required for perfect curing of a flexo plate is provided absolutely uniformly through the preset parameters by a single click per plate type and plate thickness. In contrast to bank exposure frames, which consume a relatively large amount of energy from preheating, through the exposure time and idle time during the entire working shift, the UV LEDs of the XPS Crystal are only activated for the back UV exposure and the main exposure of the flexo plate. The energy consumption in the idle state is almost zero.
“Having GreenCircle quantify and certify these savings validates those claims and is an attestation that we as a business are not only engaging in the debate over sustainability, but we are also delivering against our own objectives – and those of our customers,” he added.
The XPS Crystal also achieved GreenCircle Dematerialization certification, which relates to the absolute or relative reduction in the quantity of materials used, and/or the waste generated in the production of a unit of economic output.
“GreenCircle’s Dematerialization certification demonstrates our commitment to developing products that consume less material over their lifespan, or that use fewer materials within the product and its packaging,” explained Jan. “The Dematerialization certificate highlights how a product is consuming less material and eliminating more hazardous waste than a comparable product or previous version.
“GreenCircle assessed the XPS Crystal by comparing the ‘product recipes’ to a traditional main exposure bank light table and verified a reduction in material inputs during the product lifecycle,” he said. “The assessors used the average number of UV LED light bulbs to determine the number of plates produced in an eight-hour shift. A traditional main exposure bank light was used to represent the equivalent quantity of light bulbs needed to match the output of one plate from the XPS Crystal.
“Esko is acutely aware of the role it plays in providing digitization, automation and connection of packaging development processes to deliver quality and operational efficiency gains for businesses,” he said. “We are developing technologies that eliminate errors and waste, while speeding up and connecting processes and devices efficiently, building solutions that enable businesses to minimise their impact on the environment by reducing waste in the production process.”
In 2022, Esko published Environment Sustainability – considerations the packaging industry, a whitepaper that examines how responding to consumer demands and accelerating their own sustainability commitments requires the industry to deliver a wholesale shift in packaging design, development, and production. To download your free copy of the whitepaper, or to learn more about how Esko solutions can help your business achieve your sustainability objectives, visit https://www.esko.com/en/company/sustainability.
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Esko’s XPS Crystal flexo imaging unit
