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Summer 2019 Truck and Track 61
SAFETY & SECURITY
Reusable Electronic Seals, reducing
plastic waste in the environment
It is sobering just how quickly plastic
has become an evil to eradicate from
our lives, but plastics were created just
after the turn of the twentieth century
to make our lives both easier and
more affordable. Plastic products and
components are manufactured to do
what no other material could do, so it is
important that we don’t throw the baby
out with the bathwater and instead
learn to live with plastic in a sustainable
way, only eradicating its use where a
better alternative is available for that
application.
Since1926,Unistohasbeenmanufacturing
products in bothmetal and plastic creating
innovative solutions for both branding
and tamper-evident security. At the turn
of the 21st Century, Unisto acquired a
small electronic seal manufacturer known
as Encrypta Electronics. Together with
the team there, Unisto created two new
security seal products, C2K and Manta. 18
years of development and fine tuning has
made these products incredibly robust,
durable and capable of up to 35,000
security sealing events. That’s up to
35,000 strips of plastic removed from the
environment per reusable seal that is fitted
to a vehicle – an easy win!
Reusable electronic seals also provide a
number of other benefits too. A lit LED
display can be easily read in all light
conditions making misreads less likely.
Fitted permanently to the vehicle door it
removes the need to order, manage, secure
and distribute plastic seals to drivers
and authorised distribution centre staff,
reducing management costs and the cost
per seal plummets to about a quarter of the
cost of a single use, disposable plastic seal.
The Manta Seal also provides a 100 sealing
event history with time and date stamp
feature, detailing openings and closings.
In high seal volume use areas, such as
airports where operators are legally
required to seal vehicles going from land
to airside, the C2K and Manta is meeting
with great success - you could say literally
“cleaning-up”. A number of high profile
carriers and airline catering companies at
London HeathrowAirport, such as Bradford
Swissport and Gate Gourmet, have opted
to use C2K and Manta reusable electronic
seals to reduce plastic waste debris and
increase the efficiency of their operation
thereby helping them to meet tight
deadlines and reduce costs.
Another customer, BioCare, uses our C2K
together with remote sensors on Mercedes
Sprinter Vans to seal both side and rear
doors, avoiding the need to use two plastic
seals per vehicle and simplifying their
procedure.
Plastic seals have their place in industry
and, when managed and disposed of
responsibly, are sustainable. Where better
solutions exist, they will drive improved
operational performance and will be
required to be environmentally beneficial
too.