It’s easy being green

7 May 2008



Tony Hancock, chairman, IoP The Packaging Society – Environment Forum, on the use of use of PCR plastics


Packaging’s primary function is to protect - failure to use adequate packaging results in damage and an unacceptable volume of wasted products. However, the purpose of packaging is lost on both politicians and the media, who are obsessed with firstly issues relating to ‘excessive packaging’ and secondly recycling and recyclability. This despite legislation in the form of The Essential Requirements Regulations currently enforced by Trading Standards, which dictates that all packaging is manufactured so that “volume and weight is limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the consumer“, and secondly recycling and recyclability.

All packaging is potentially recyclable: the more sophisticated the collection/separation system, the greater amount of material will be recycled. When the UK Government introduced The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations, which placed recycling targets on all obligated packaging and the responsibility for meeting these targets onto the packaging chain, raw material, converter, packer filler, seller and importer, it failed to put in place a regulatory system to ensure that the area where the vast majority of packaging waste arises, namely domestic waste collection, (which is operated by the Local Authorities) was also regulated.

This could have created a collection and separation system to ensure that recycled materials for all obligated packaging would be available to the reprocessor market sector, which would have ensured that recycling could then take place to meet the required targets. However, progress in this area will only take place when local authorities adopt a uniformed approach across the UK, instead of the current multiplicity of collection systems, which operate across several hundred LAs. This is a situation which has resulted in the current ‘cannot be recycled’ thinking for some materials.

Recycling is not the problem. The problem is ensuring that recycling is both commercially viable and sustainable. This requires UK based end user markets for the recyclate backed by UK based recyclate feedstock. What we have at present is a recycling market heavily reliant on overseas reprocessors.

Using overseas reprocessors is not sustainable in the long term; it will result in a lack of investment in UK recycling and if the export market dries up, the UK will have difficulty in meeting the current UK recycling targets, which in turn will result in failure to meet the EC recycling targets.

The use of post consumer recycle (PCR) materials - metals, paper/board and glass - have long been established. The use of PCR plastics in the manufacture of new packaging has been growing over the past 15 years. This began by manufacturing HDPE blow moulded bottles using three-layer co-extrusion technology and incorporating PCR into the centre layer. Bottles for non-food application such as detergents, fabric conditioners and lubricating oils were produced in this way.

Recent developments in collection/separation and cleaning technology have resulted in HDPE and PET PCR materials becoming available for use in the manufacture of food contact packaging, bringing plastics into line with metals, paper/board and glass.

The use of food grade PCR plastics in the manufacture of new packaging for drinks has been adopted by Coca Cola, Marks and Spencer and Innocent Drinks, who are using PCR/PET. Nampak Plastics Europe will be introducing PCR/HDPE into the manufacture of its milk bottle range in mid 2008, starting with 10 per cent and increasing to 30 per cent by mid 2009. Supplies of PCR/HDPE flake material will be made available to Nampak by Closed Loop London from its new Dagenham plant, starting with 6,000t/year. Nampak will also be developing its own source of PCR material with the construction of a plant in the northeast of England, which is designed to produce 13,000t of PCR material per year.

On the Continent, the collection and recycling of PET continues to increase. Petcore (PET containers recycling Europe) has revealed that PET collection rates reached 944,000t, the largest share of which was recycled into polyester fibres, with significant increases for polyester sheet for thermoformed applications, and the manufacture of new PET bottles.

Converters can play a vital role in creating sustainability in the UK recycling market sector, as a potential ‘end user’ market for PCR materials. Incorporating PCR materials into the manufacture of new packaging, reduces the amount of prime materials coming onto the marketplace, reduces waste materials going

to landfill, ensures that UK will meet the EC recycling targets and lays the foundations for a commercially viable and sustainable UK based recyclate market.


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