Tobacco Asia

Tobacco Asia 45 genia-filter.com VISIT US AT a brand of BIO DEGRADABLE ZERO plastic PURE TASTE Not paper – but pure cellulose Available in bobbins and festooned bales Industrial high-speed processing High production capacity back those processes to start developing our ECO range, which currently comprises 16 different designs." Sourcing substrates also proved not to be a problem, as Filtrona works with all main non-woven suppliers in the industry, including SWM, Delfort, and McAirlaids. "We can help any manufacturer to start their own transformation journey toward a plastic-free, sustainable [filter] future that way," assured Azinheira. Recycling or reusing cellulose acetate are impractical Azinheira readily conceded that without the EU issuing its SUPD in 2021, things might not have kicked off at all – or at least they only would have kicked off a lot slower. SUPD al- ready classifies cellulose acetate as plastic in its so-called "Reach Guidelines." But EU lawmakers – for once – were wise enough not to ban cellulose acetate outright. SUPD leaves the options to either recycle or reuse the material. Both are of course noth- ing that can be achieved efficiently with current technology. Re- using discarded cigarette butts after sending them through some sort of cleaning process would be a no-go for hygienic reasons alone. As per recycling, "from a toxicological standpoint it is not possible with current technology," according to Azinheira. "You can actually recycle cellulose acetate from discarded ciga- rette butts, but not for future use as filtration material. Apart from that, neither reusing nor recycling would be accepted by end consumers." Paper is the obvious SUPD-compliant option Hence, a much less problematic solution to comply with in- creasingly stringent EVF and sustainability requirements is for cigarette manufacturers to shift to paper filters. And it's a great solution, too. "By nature, paper has a higher filtering efficiency than cellulose acetate," asserted Azinheira. And that still holds true despite the optical appearance of paper rods, which have a much larger mesh than cellulose acetate. "We use less paper and mold it into a looser mesh to match the pressure drop achieved with cellulose acetate," explained Azinheira, "yet despite that larger mesh, there is no marked difference between [the filtering capabilities of] paper and cellulose acetate. It's possible to ob- tain very similar smoke chemistry using crimped paper filters." And from a design standpoint, paper rods can be just as easily Crimped Paper ECO Paper filter.

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