INNOVATION | RIGID PACKAGING


sure of the fact that a responsible consumer reaches for recycled packaging if he has the choice.” A new requirement contained in the EU Plastics


Strategy is that all plastic packaging on the EU market must be recyclable by 2030. Exactly what is meant by “recyclable” is something that the European Commission is still working on. Quicker off the mark, PRE and the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), its counterpart in the US, released a “global definition” for the term “recyclable” in July. Steve Alexander, President and CEO of APR, said: “The use of the term ‘recyclable’ is consistently used with packages and products without a defined reference point. At the end of the day, recyclability goes beyond just being technically recyclable: there must be consumer access to a recycling program, a recycler must be able to process the material, and there must be an end market.” The two organisations said their aim is “to


provide a consistent metric to guide the efforts of sustainability for plastics in the Circular Economy”. In their definition, plastics must meet four condi- tions for a product to be considered recyclable: n The product must be made with a plastic that is collected for recycling, has market value and/or is supported by a legislatively mandated program. n The product must be sorted and aggregated into defined streams for recycling processes. n The product can be processed and reclaimed/ recycled with commercial recycling processes. n The recycled plastic becomes a raw material that is used in the production of new products. When new materials are introduced into the plastics market, they said these “must demonstrate that they can be collected and sorted in sufficient quantities, must be compatible with existing


industrial recycling processes or will have to be available in sufficient quantities to justify operating new recycling processes”. Ton Emans, President of PRE, said: “As recyclers,


we are a fundamental part of the solution to the issue of sustainability of plastics, and we need for the appropriate audiences to understand what is necessary to label a product or package ‘recyclable’. We welcome these commitments and encourage others to follow. Nevertheless, clear and universally endorsed definitions and objectives are needed.” The definition of “recyclable” is set to become a hot topic as EU member states intensify their efforts to recycle more plastics in response to the EU’s targets and to the public furore over plastic waste in the world’s oceans. France has an ambition to convert all plastic packaging to 100% recycled content, according to Brune Poirson, Minister for Ecological Transition, who spoke to newspapers in August. A penalty system will be introduced for packaging that does not meet the requirement for recycled content, she said (see page 8). In the UK, the government’s crackdown on single-use plastic items, such as drinking straws, in early 2018 led to the formation of the UK Plastics Pact by the Wrap waste reduction organisation. At its launch in April, signatories to the pact included 42 businesses, including major food, drink and non-food brands, manufacturers and retailers, plus packaging producers and plastics recyclers. The UK pact’s commitments for 2025 are: eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic packaging; 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable; 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted; 30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging. The EU’s recyclability requirement for plastics packaging was anticipated in Germany, where a


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


Above: How much of this plastics packaging is recyclable? It depends on the definition of “recyclable”


Left: A World- Star Packaging Award was won in December 2017 by Werner & Mertz, Alpla- Werke and Der Grüne Punkt in Germany for new bottles made of 100% post-consumer recycled HDPE


September/October 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 27


PHOTO: PRO KANSAS RECYCLING CENTER


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