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By: Willians Jander de Souza, Project Analyst
With an increasingly competitive market, what sets a company apart is the experience their solution provides, and the quality of their products. But many companies are cautious about innovating their products. The production of plastic cards has evolved along with the demands of the payment methods market, and Valid offers a broad portfolio of designs and types of cards, including ecologically friendly ones, which are produced with recycled material.
The Evolution of the Recycling Process
What to do with all the excess raw materials generated in the production of plastic cards? The first step was to develop processes for gathering, separating and correctly packaging the waste generated during the production process. We separate PVC plastics into packaging as per our partners’ requirements; PVC/ABS is placed into compartments that are identified and weighed; and polycarbonates, which are produced on a smaller scale, are placed on pallets.
The second step was to ensure that our partners received our waste and processed it properly, since it would return to us as raw materials, and would go through the same receiving and inspection process in the Quality Department. We developed a training for our partners on inspection prior to the shredding and crushing process, ensuring that we would receive PVC separate from ABS and polycarbonate.
The last step was to define an inspection standard for the recycled material and to determine alternative uses, since it would only be used as support material (to separate different batches, for equipment alignment tests, customization tests for variable data before producing real cards, etc.).
After completing all the testing phases and steps of the process, the result was more than just the development of a recycled product. We achieved greater efficiency with the cost reduction in raw materials and production.
The Evolution of Raw Materials
Along with Valid, our partners and raw materials developers have also been evolving. The huge amount of competition in the PVC and ink industry, with European and North American suppliers (from the technological point of view) and with Asian ones (in terms of capacity to produce quickly and at competitive prices) has forced Brazilian suppliers to reinvent themselves. Valid has always made its facilities available for development and testing of raw materials, thus strengthening its partnerships with suppliers. By using this strategy, we have achieved a deeper understanding and greater quality for our products.
With the implementation of the use of recycled raw materials, we managed to find a partner for water-based, UV-curing screen-printing inks, within a printing industry. It should be noted that any water-based chemical offers great benefits to the operator and the company, since solvent-based chemicals require heavy inspection, and their handling is more costly.
This water-based, UV-curing screen-printing ink is extremely important in the use of recycled PVC, since the application of ink underneath the substrate ensures ideal coverage, eliminating the material’s flaws and ensuring excellent print quality.
Valid is always seeking alternatives and solutions to serve our clients.
Valid is one of the primary providers of solutions for Brazil’s financial market. This eco-friendly card production method in Brazil is just one of many sustainability initiatives Valid is implementing around the globe. Our experience allows us to meet the industry’s primary demands, such as security and speed of transactions, flexibility, and convenience offered to consumers. Our production model addresses demands in a decentralized and unique manner, with optimal operational logistics, customized for each client. In addition to the design and the recycled raw material, another advantage of the cards, whether they are magnetic strip, chip, contact or contactless cards, is that they contain security features.
Everything starts when we receive the request and we focus on the result; for the client, for the environment, and for society.
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