As the packaging industry faces mounting pressure to adopt recyclable and circular solutions, Siegwerk is positioning itself at the forefront of innovation with coatings and inks that bridge the gap between technical performance and sustainability. Speaking with The Packman on the sidelines of the ElitePlus conference in Mumbai, Andrey Charkovskiy, global business development lead for coatings at Siegwerk, shared insights into the company’s efforts to drive change in flexible packaging.

Charkovskiy acknowledged that the biggest challenge in achieving circularity lies in flexible packaging. “The whole topic about design for recycling starts with how it’s designed in the first place,” he explained. While multi-material laminates deliver high performance, they remain difficult to recycle with existing infrastructure.

“In the meantime, the industry agrees that there has to be a move from multi-material to mono-material packaging,” he said. “The big challenge is how do you maintain all the technical performance brought in by multi-material layers like aluminum or polyester while enabling recyclability? That is where we are putting a lot of our work.”

To address this, Siegwerk established a dedicated business unit called Circular Economy Coatings, which focuses on providing barrier performance, heat resistance, and sealability in mono-material structures without compromising recyclability.

Inks and coatings for recyclability

Siegwerk’s efforts also extend to inks and coatings, which play a critical role in recycling. Charkovskiy said, “On the ink side, PVC-based inks have almost completely been phased out in Europe, and we are actively phasing them out in Asia. The goal is to make inks more recyclable so that when they enter the extrusion step, they do not decompose or cause problems.”

He added that coatings must go beyond recyclability to also preserve packaging performance. “With coatings, we want to ensure they are recyclable, but also make the packaging perform in the same way as non-recyclable packaging. In Europe, we already have many commercial cases, and now we are bringing these solutions to India as well starting with the Cirkit series of coating designed to enhance heat-resistance, oxygen and grease barrier.”

De-inking – closing the loop

Describing de-inking as a “key technology to bridge the quality gap,” Charkovskiy highlighted Siegwerk’s investments in this area. The company operates a de-inking pilot plant in Germany, working closely with customers and brand owners to develop practical solutions.

“We recently launched a brand of washable inks called Cirkit Washink,” he revealed. “We also developed a detergent additive for hot washing plants, and primers like Cirkit Clearprime, which enable inks to detach during alkaline washing. For laminated structures, we have designed delamination primers that allow inks to be removed even in challenging reverse-printed applications.”

While the technologies are promising, scaling them remains difficult. “Technically, I think we are very far. Politically and logistically, we are still far away from implementation. It’s turning from an R&D project to a lobbying and regulatory discussion, and here we need support from big brands, regulators, and the media.”

Regulation as a driver

Global regulations are playing a defining role in shaping Siegwerk’s strategy. “One of the big assumptions behind our Circular Economy unit was that regulation would force the industry to move to recyclable packaging,” Charkovskiy said.

Currently, recyclable packaging is more expensive than traditional structures, making brand owners hesitant to make the switch. “They will test and validate recyclable solutions, but not pull the trigger because of cost and competitiveness. They are all waiting for regulation to create a level playing field,” he said.

Europe is leading the way, but Charkovskiy stressed the need for global alignment. “We are making assumptions that other regions will follow. It has to happen, because otherwise we will be doomed as humanity if we keep living in a linear economy.”

In the meantime, Siegwerk is focusing on scaling its technologies to make them more cost-effective and targeting niche segments that are moving faster. “In Europe, the pet food segment has almost completely moved to recyclable packaging because consumers are willing to pay extra for their pets. Fully circular packaging is already on supermarket shelves,” he concluded.