Vitopel bets on "plastic paper" as an alternative for printers
Valor Econômico
Manufacturer of flexible films, Vitopel is committed to developing a product that could be obtained from the plastic "trash" and it ended up by commercially launching the Vitopaper a year ago. Produced from waste - either domestic or industrial waste -, the plastic paper has been gaining room and, in four years, it should account for up to 10% of the sales of the company, which last year sold US$ 300 million.
"We do not intend to compete with the paper industry", says the President of Vitopel, José Ricardo Roriz Coelho. "We want to offer a complementary product". So far, industries interested in printing reports, manuals and other institutional parts with the plastic paper talk directly to the manufacturer that directs them to the already known printers. The model, according to Roriz, may change in the future, but Vitopel will continue focusing on the development of clients. "We will offer an alternative to the commercial printers. Our business is to produce flexible films and plastic paper", he says.
One of the main advantages of the plastic paper, which is more expensive than the traditional product, obtained from cellulose, according to Roriz, is the reduced weight - up to 40% compared to art paper. Besides, because of the technical characteristics of the plastic, it is more durable and requires the use of lesser volumes of ink at the time of printing. "Also as a matter of strategy, of selling plastic paper as a premium product, the prices end up being higher", he adds.
The still reduced scale of production also contributes to the higher cost of the paper. Today, the line installed in the plant of the company in Votorantim (SP) has productive capacity for 10 thousand tons a year. However, 1.5 thousand tons were produced in one year. In the future, the product may be offered abroad since the company holds the international patent.
Vitopaper began being developed by Vitopel four years ago, in partnership with the Fapesp (Foundation of Research Support of the State of São Paulo) and the Federal University of São Carlos. The research started from the proposal of making a noble product that was not negatively associated to its origin: trash. In the first test, residues from the very Vitopel have been used. Later, the system proved to be flexible and different types of resins - polypropylene and polyethylene, for example - have been mixed. Today, for each ton of plastic paper, 850 kilograms of waste collected by cooperative companies and 150 kilograms of industrial waste are used.