An Exclusive Interview K 2025 with Dr. Stephan Gneuss, Managing Director of Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Design For Recycling Is The Key

Dr. Gneuss, how has recycling developed in recent years?

Many distributors of plastic products have now recognised that they also need to identify recycling routes for products. For this reason, recycling processes have been developed in recent years that did not previously exist. The aim is to show that products can be recycled or at least made recyclable in the first place. Many new applications have been supplemented with recycling concepts that at least work on a technical level. Whether they will work in practice remains to be seen. The collection channels need to be improved, as they are still far from perfect.

Has food suitability of recycled material already been achieved?

There have been some successes here, driven by the Americans. The admission board FDA in that nation is much more flexible in its approach than its EU counterpart, EFSA. In the US, the range of authorised plastic materials has now grown significantly. A lot has also happened in Europe; however, the solutions have so far been very unsatisfactory. In principle, food suitability can be realised for the vast majority of recycled plastic materials.

 Has the use of recyclates meanwhile become economical?

There are phases in which virgin material is more expensive, but there are also phases in which recyclates are more expensive. The big boom in the recycling of PET bottle flakes came about because they were not more expensive; the situation has currently changed again, however. Virgin material is very cheap at present, and this is putting recyclates under extreme pressure. This is because their production costs are very high due to high energy costs and high costs for collecting, sorting and cleaning. This situation is particularly worrying for recyclers, and naturally also reduces the incentive for companies to use recyclates in the first place. Basically, those parties who use recyclates today do so because they have to, either because there are legal requirements, or because their customers demand it, but if you don’t have to do it for one of these reasons, nobody will, as it is simply more expensive.

What would have to happen for this situation to change?

There has long been talk of introducing binding quotas in Europe. Of course, these only make sense if the legal framework is in place. There are still a lot of problems to overcome. The quota provisions are expected to come into force very soon, but the legal framework has not materialised. For example, it would have to be determined which processes are approved so that recyclate can be used in the food sector. The EU has now found a kind of interim solution, granting the corresponding approvals subject to reservations. However, this is simply disastrous for machine manufacturers like Gneuss. Who is going to invest in a new machine with reservations that mean that they might not be allowed to use it later?

What do you think of quotas?

My take on them is a positive one. Quota specifications as content specifications, where it makes sense, and otherwise as usage specifications, because then design for recycling would win acceptance; that is the key. At the moment, design is mostly about visual or cost optimisation, which does not usually improve the recycling capabilities. I believe that there is still great potential to achieve simpler and more cost-effective recycling processes. Closed-loop recycling does not make economic and ecological sense for all products; in my view, the decisive factor is for as much plastic as possible to be recycled in the first place.

What is the situation of recycling elsewhere in the world?

We see some promising regions such as India, for example. There are already statutory quotas and corresponding regulations. This is currently triggering a boom in demand for recycling machines in the plastics sector. If other Asian countries take India as a model, the market can become huge. North and South America are also fuelling demand. There is still little legal pressure in the US, but in principle, we believe that the recycling segment has not yet exhausted its full potential in the US. By contrast, the economic situation in Europe is not good, and is particularly bad in Germany.

Are there nevertheless new competitors for Gneuss?

Yes, there are, and most of them come from China. It’s a large, dynamic market. China has also taken a few regulatory measures to support recycling, which is why there are many new machine manufacturers in this area. Sooner or later, they will also want to serve other markets; initially perhaps the Asian markets, but eventually also those in Europe and the USA. However, we will find solutions that will allow us to continue to set ourselves apart technologically. It is simply our job to always be one step ahead.

Do you still see location advantages in Germany?

Germany traditionally has a competitive advantage in the area of vocational training. Thanks to the dual system, which does not exist in a comparable form in many countries, we still have relatively well-trained skilled workers. The US, for example, is a more attractive location from a tax perspective, but the shortage of skilled labour there is much worse than here. Here in Germany however, the situation is also getting worse, due to demographic changes, as well as a growing hostility towards technology.

What do you want to convey at the K?

We want to emphasis that plastic is something positive and powerful and has considerable ecological potential. Of course it should be recycled. We are working on that. In this respect, I think the K motto “The Power of Plastics – Green – Smart – Responsible” is a good choice. The Gneuss slogan for K has not yet been finalized, but it will be something in a very similar vein.

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An Exclusive Interview K 2025 with Markus Gschwandtner, Managing Director and Chief Sales Officer (CSO) at Brückner Maschinenbau, Rising Demand for Mono-Material Structures.

Mr Gschwandtner, how does Brückner stand its ground in the face of increasing international competition?

We achieve this through innovation. Our aim is to always be one step ahead in terms of technology. Competition has indeed become more intense, with new providers in our industry segment coming primarily from Asian countries, which is why we have to counter this with innovation, focusing on our research and development department. It is a relatively large department within our company, which has been expanded even further recently. Our technical center plays a key role in this regard, as it is the technology centre par excellence within our sector. This technical center brings together all the well-known partners in our value chain, from raw material manufacturers to users, from Dow and Total to PepsiCo; they all try out their innovations with us, testing to see what works and what doesn’t.

Can you provide an example?

In our technical centre for example, we test structures that we need as part of the transition to a circular economy. We are carrying out tests with packaging mono-materials that usually consists of different materials, for example, a bowl with a lid on top. The development is shifting towards manufacturing this product from one single material, so that it can be recycled later. These mono-material structures are increasingly in demand these days. The circular economy is clearly the driver here. Just a few years ago, functionality was the most important goal. Packaging had to be easy to print on, it had to have good barrier functions, and it had to be easy to seal for reasons of hygiene. All this was achieved with different materials, different plastics, but also paper or aluminum. The trend towards reducing this mix of materials was clearly fueled by EU regulations, aimed at boosting the circular economy. At our technical center, we can show that we are able to manufacture a product from mono-material that previously consisted of five or more materials.

 If the mono-material products are easily recyclable, are the recyclates also suitable for use in food packaging?

So far only to a very limited extent. It requires authorization from the food control authorities in the individual countries, such as food approval from the American FDA, for example. In addition to collecting the plastics, it is very important to sort them, in order to keep them as pure as possible. During mechanical recycling, the plastics are shredded, melted, filtered and processed back into raw materials. In this process, it is not very easy to get the same food approval again. This is certainly the case with chemical recycling; it can actually go back into the same application.

How do you recruit the technical staff needed for your innovations?

Young talent plays a very important role for us. Employees who have been with us for a long time naturally contribute their experience, but the new employees bring new technologies with them, and they can also handle them, for example, with artificial intelligence. We have entered into partnerships with universities and colleges so that we can attract these new talents. Today, talented young people do their internships, and write their Bachelor’s and Master’s theses at our company. These well-trained individuals are very familiar with all the new technology. Once they join us, we introduce them to our business. We also attract young people on dual training programmers, always with the aim of utilizing their knowledge in other areas at Brückner.

What is the situation like in your international subsidiaries?

We now also have excellent junior staff there, especially in India and China. The young people who join us there are very well trained. They hone their technological skills at Brückner on our customers’ construction sites. They show a lot of initiative and are prepared to adapt to cultural differences. At the same time, their country-specific perspective helps us to better understand and serve the different customs and needs of our customers in those countries. The new employees at home and abroad, together with our technical center, ensure that we remain innovative.

Do collaborations also play a role in this regard?

We have always worked with partners over the last 50 years. The early innovations came from collaborating with those manufacturing partners, and they are partnerships that we have expanded. Today, we also carry out joint projects with research institutes such as Fraunhofer, or the universities in Rosenheim and Aachen, which conduct important plastics research. Again, our technical centre is the linchpin. In addition to the circular economy, organic raw materials, both biodegradable ones, and those made from renewable raw materials, are currently a major topic in this field.

Where is the plastics machinery industry heading?

Plastic has a bright future. The material has undeniably great advantages. It is light, easy to mould, inexpensive and is the material with the lowest carbon footprint in production compared to other materials such as metal or glass. If it can then be recycled as well, then that would make it the most sustainable of all. Achieving this is largely the task of plastics engineering, which therefore also has a bright future

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