Recycling is ever present particularly for those who metallise large areas of polymer film. Either the film is good for the planet because it reduces the energy used in the packaging as it replaces something more energy intensive, such as a metal foil laminate, or it is regarded as damaging to the planet because it is packaging that might have to be sent to land fill as it cannot be recycled.
However if you look at the process in a more holistic manner the product is only a part of the equation. What about the metalliser? It too required energy to manufacture it and at some point has to be disposed of, either by selling on for lower grade manufacturing or for scrap.
This does not have to be the case. A different way of working can be done and in some other industries this change has been implemented. The basic idea is that the system is leased from the manufacturer who will take it back periodically and refurbish and upgrade the system.
Some of the benefit of this type of arrangement is that there is less concern about obsolescence in the control and electrical components as they will be on a schedule of upgrades and system improvements. The idea is that this type of upgrade will enable higher quality control of the process to be implemented periodically. The system and winding gear would not be replaced or upgraded as frequently but nevertheless would periodically be returned for refurbishment. This could be part of a planned production volume increase. In the case of a volume increase this could be by either of two routes with one being the simple improvement in pumping, deposition rate, winding speed, heat removal or other process parameter improvement. The second route could be by the expansion of the system by increasing the web width as part of the upgrade. Most chambers will allow an expansion section to be included to make the system wider and winding systems are usually made using two side plates machined at the same time and separated by substantial spacer bars. A wider set of spacer bars and a new wider set of rollers would provide a wider winder.
The ability to take an existing system and extend it to work as a wider metalliser does require that this extension option has been thought of in advance. It may be possible to make the extension work retrospectively but it would be easier and less risky of it was part of the initial vision and allowed for in the original design.
Ideally rollers taken out of one system would then become available, after refurbishment, for another system.
This all requires vision and a commitment by both the system manufacturer and the system user to work together over a very long period of time, such as >25years. This looks as if it would work better if the relationship between system manufacturer and metalliser user was not one of seller and buyer but more of a long term partnership. Both are dependent on the other to make the process work, as the system supplier has to be profitable to remain in business for the 25+years and the system user has to be able to remain competitive as a metallised film supplier over the same length of time too. Both have to win for it to be successful and if both are successful both will win.
Taking a metalliser and trying to implement this on everything on the system would be inordinately difficult. It would be hard to imagine the power supply manufacturers taking back the electronics boards and being able to upgrade them easily but at least they could be responsible for recycling the materials present in the electronic components that are becoming increasingly scarce.
Do I see this process happening within the metallising industry? Yes but not for some time. The industry is not very proactive and there tends to be a very big resistance against change of any sort. However as some materials become scarce and the cost goes up there will become an increasing economic case for everyone to think about how best they can recycle or reuse materials and equipment. So eventually there will be a move towards leasing equipment and a greater case for refurbishment rather than buying from new all the time. The first company to do this will need to have a champion who leads the process because the first time through will be harder than for those that follow.
The reason for raising the issue is to get everyone to think harder about the use of materials and how they might be recycled or reused better than we currently use them.