中文At interpack 2026, the world’s leading trade fair for the processing and packaging industry held in Düsseldorf, Bobst and Michelman presented their latest developments in high-barrier recyclable packaging, offering converters and brand owners tangible solutions to meet the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). The PPWR, which represents one of the most significant regulatory shifts in the European packaging industry in decades, is designed to reduce packaging waste and drive all packaging toward recyclability and circularity across the European Union.
The regulation introduces stricter requirements around recyclability, recycled content, reuse, and waste reduction. From January 1, 2030, all packaging placed on the EU market must meet minimum recyclability thresholds, initially set at Grade C, or approximately 70% recyclable. For converters and brand owners, the regulation has transformed sustainable packaging from a future aspiration into an immediate operational imperative. The presentations by Bobst and Michelman at interpack demonstrated that viable, high-performance solutions are already available.
The collaboration between Bobst and Michelman spans more than a decade, built on a shared vision of replacing conventional multi-layer plastic packaging with recyclable, high-barrier alternatives. The two companies combine Michelman’s expertise in water-based functional coatings with Bobst’s vacuum metallization, coating, and converting technologies to develop scalable solutions that meet both sustainability and performance requirements.
Two flagship developments were showcased at interpack. The first is oneBarrier PrimeCycle, a recyclable mono-material polyethylene solution developed by Bobst, Michelman, and several other industry partners. The structure combines MDO-PE (machine direction orientation polyethylene) film with ultra-thin Michelman primers and Bobst vacuum metallization technology, resulting in a PE-based structure capable of achieving oxygen and water vapour transmission rates comparable to the ultra-high barrier performance of aluminum foil. The unprinted AlOx-containing structure contains up to 98% polyethylene content and achieved a recyclability score of 98% through external testing with cyclos-HTP.
The second development is oneBarrier FibreCycle, a paper-based high-barrier solution. Unlike polymer films, paper substrates provide virtually no inherent barrier performance, making functional coatings and metallization essential. The oneBarrier FibreCycle structure involves two phases of wet coating—primer coating before metallization and a heat-sealable top-coat afterwards. Developed in partnership with UPM Specialty Materials, the structure uses oxygen barrier primers, vacuum metallization, and heat seal coatings applied to carefully selected paper substrates. According to the companies, the final structures achieved oxygen transmission rates as low as 0.02-0.1 while maintaining strong moisture barrier performance under tropical conditions.
Thierry Van Migem, director of sales for the European region at Michelman, and Nick Copeland, R&D director – barrier solutions at Bobst, addressed interpack delegates on the technical and commercial implications of these developments. Copeland noted the technical challenges involved: “We needed to get the same barrier performance on much more challenging, less performing substrates. That performance had to be achieved but also maintained through each conversion step.”
The presentation also explored next-generation sustainable packaging materials, including bio-based, plastic-free coating systems designed to comply with the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. The goal is to create packaging structures that are both recyclable and compostable. The teams demonstrated proof-of-concept packaging running on industrial packaging equipment at speeds up to 350 envelopes per minute with 100% sealing performance.
For the packaging industry, the developments showcased by Bobst and Michelman represent a pathway to compliance with emerging regulations without compromising performance. High-barrier packaging is essential for many applications, particularly food packaging, where maintaining product freshness and safety is critical. The ability to achieve high barrier performance with recyclable mono-material or paper-based structures addresses one of the most challenging aspects of sustainable packaging development.
As the 2030 deadline for PPWR compliance approaches, the availability of proven, high-performance recyclable packaging solutions will be increasingly important. Bobst and Michelman’s decade-long collaboration and ongoing innovation demonstrate that regulatory compliance and high performance are not mutually exclusive—with the right technology, materials, and partnership approach, they can be achieved together.
Source: The Packman
