The international group Control PET counts on more than 60 years of experience in the polymers industry. The group’s first industrial site was established in Santo Tirso, Portugal in 1959 and pioneered PET extrusion.
The Control PET group owns the subsidiaries Evertis and Selenis. At Evertis the group specialises in the production of mono and multilayer semi rigid barrier films for food and non-food packaging, whilst their sister company, Selenis, focuses on the production of specialty co-polyesters for a wide range of applications.
In 1984 the Portuguese-based group decided to increase their presence in the international PET sheet sector and founded new industrial units in Europe and a network of subsidiary companies to leverage growing exports. This international vocation boosted further since 1992 with the opening of new factories in Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Brazil and Mexico, and in the late 1990s with a strategy of continued expansion in the American continent.
Core business
Evertis’ core business is the production of medium and high barrier multilayer films for packaged products, tailored to meet the individual needs of their customers. Sophisticated barrier properties allow for greatly extended shelf lives, combining protection and freshness for perishable goods in modified atmosphere or vacuum packaging, including fresh and processed meat, cheese, fish, baked goods and dairy products.
Capacity expansion
Evertis’ renowned experience and expertise in film extrusion has led them to become a reference for innovation and tailor-made solutions in the industry. It’s their ability to develop customized packaging solutions to meet the individual needs of customers, together with their technological leadership, that permitted them to grow at a rapid rate. In the last five years Evertis has more than doubled their capacity in Europe, growing from 25,000 tons per year to 60,000 tons per year. The company’s recent investment in the European market were also a reflection of one of their sustainability policies, to use only the optimized amount of material and light-weighting through environmentally conscious packaging design. To achieve this goal Evertis commissioned a new line especially designed for thin gauges. This line pioneered using cast technology for semi-rigid films, allowing Evertis to target a wider range of applications and meet the increased demand for more lightweight materials and downgauging of packaging. These films are a solution for the increased pressure food producers and retailers are facing to meet environmental goals. Although these films are thinner, they still come with the same superior barrier properties as their thicker gauge films and ensure their customers product preservation and protection. Evertis’ current investments are focused in North and South America. The company is expanding capacity in their plants in Monterey, Mexico and Curritiba, Brazil, to target both these markets where they already have a considerable presence that they aim to increase.
Strategic partnerships
For Evertis, the key to achieving future goals is maintaining strong supplier relationships. Whenever possible Evertis looks to establish strategic partnerships and sustain them in a dynamic way, looking for both parts to benefit from common developments. This close cooperation with suppliers has allowed Evertis to develop differentiated products to meet demand in a very consolidated market. Product development activities depend on Evertis’ strong and long-term relationships with their resin suppliers, machinery suppliers among others - it’s all about flow of information and working together to determine whether a new product or solution is viable.
Focus on circular economy
Evertis’ commitment to being environmentally conscious and responsible has been present from the time when the company was first established. Evertis sets ambitious recycling goals and strategies to promote a circular economy of their products and minimize the company’s waste. Evertis’ philosophy is that issues, such as landfilling, cannot be left for governments to solve alone; hence they believe in a duty to create environmentally friendly packaging solutions and challenge their stakeholders to effectively address these concerns. The group began recycling from the time the business was founded, in 1959, but it was in 2002 that their recycling ambitions took on a dynamic dimension, with the start-up of their own recycling plant. Built on the same industrial site as Evertis Ibérica, this plant has significantly contributed to the recycling of post-consumer PET in Portugal, at times recovering more than 90% of post-consumer PET bottles from the Portuguese waste stream. Partnering with non-profit organizations, producer compliance programs and customers, the volume of recovery has grown to almost 10,000 tons of post-consumer PET recycled in-house last year. Following, the company’s sustainable focus, Evertis incorporates recycled material into the production of their products, whenever the application allows, while meeting all customer requirements. Also, to be noted, Evertis guarantees these films comply with all FCM (Food Contact Material) legislation. Evertis strives for maximum quality of the PET flake production and counts on a high-tech MPR (MPR® Multi-Purpose Reactor - Decontamination, drying and crystallisation of PET) that has EFSA approval for food contact, for films with up to 100% of recycled PET composition. Evertis quality inspection practices allow control over the physical properties of the packaging film produced to provide the deliverables required by food retail customers, such as impact resistance, seal integrity, adequate shelf life, acceptable appearance and shelf appeal. Evertis products are subject to strict and exhaustive quality tests at their in-house laboratories and the industrial units count on regular maintenance and modernisation to assure the persistent high quality of their products. Evertis films comply with several regulatory codes and have been accredited the ISO 9001:2015 and BRC certificates, amongst other local regulations. To further enhance their recycling goals, Evertis partnered with a company that has researched and developed a unique technological process to recycle multilayer PET, making it possible to reincorporate recycled PET from Evertis multi-layered films back into the production cycle. As food companies become more committed to environmental issues, several of Evertis’ customers have joined the initiative and have invested in equipment for the disposal of multilayered PET by-product at their plants. This involves a process whereby the trim and off-cut film is collected and processed by Evertis’ partner, creating reusable RPET from the complex films. Evertis’ ambition to continually challenge and update their environmental goals motivated them to become pioneers in optimising resources and promoting greater use of recycled material and sustainable raw materials. Moreover, their continuous drive to offer brand owners and retailers eco-friendly alternatives for food packaging has led Evertis to launch a line of bio-based films, as well as looking to other alternatives to maintain high barrier protection whilst phasing out non-recyclable plastics.
