INNOVATION | RIGID PACKAGING


enough when higher levels are used. The ImerPlast IM30 compound is a polymer alloy consisting of PP and HDPE that are compatibilised using a patented mineral-based compatibiliser. It has been designed by ImerPlast to achieve an optimum stiffness/ toughness balance to meet the tough demands of applications like paint containers, such as resistance to cracking during transit. Control of shrinkage and resin colour are also key requirements that played an important role in Crown’s use of IM30, said ImerPlast. IM30 required no significant changes to processing and it is also fully miscible with both PP and PE when further recycled, it added. Recyclers and converters of HDPE are making a push for wider acceptance of recyclate as a substitute for virgin polymer in blow moulded bottles. Der Grüne Punkt, brand owner Werner & Mertz and packaging group Alpla-Werke won a WorldStar Packaging Award in December 2017 for new bottles made of 100% post-consumer recycled HDPE sourced from Germany’s “Yellow Bag” waste collection system. The bottles are for floor care products sold by the Green Care Professional and Emsal brands. Werner & Mertz is planning to eventually convert all PE packaging to the new recyclate quality. For Alpla, its growing use of rHDPE follows on from the success of incorporating rPET in its PET packaging. The rigid packaging giant is a significant PET recycler itself, with plants in Austria and Poland and a joint venture plant in Mexico which produce a combined 65,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET each year. Rigid packaging group Cambrian Packaging in


the UK has this year launched Ecycle spray bottles using 100% recycled HDPE. “More companies are enquiring about recycled packaging, and recently we gained an order for 750ml angled neck bottles in our Ecycle material — a UK first,” said Sales Executive Lloyd Harvey in a blog post in August. “This order was from a returning customer whose company ethos focusses on our collective ecologi- cal responsibility.” Cambrian and Wrap have commissioned Bangor University in Wales to test two types of rHDPE for dynamic performance and chemical compatibility to a range of liquid con- tents. The rHDPE has already been shown to match virgin HDPE on drop testing and compression testing, Cambrian said. Virgin polyolefin producers have been increas- ingly playing a part in growing markets for plastics recyclate, often contained in a compounded product. Total said that its HDPE Circular Com- pounds have received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. The group’s secondary recycling process at its Antwerp site in Belgium,


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


which makes the compounds, is effective in reducing contaminants from post-consumer recycled HDPE material to the extent that it can be used in food packaging, it said. Total’s rPE 6306 compound containing 50% PCR HDPE meets FDA requirements for use in the production of bottles for milk and juices, meat trays and other food packaging products at room and refrigeration temperatures. It said that in Europe, the FDA approval paves the way for the use of the grade in demanding applications. “It is a milestone in the approval process,” said Jean Viallefont, Vice Presi- dent Polymers Europe for Total. “Our development contributes to a Circular Economy by enabling the use of recyclates in more and more applications.” Total said it has also developed a range of


polypropylene Circular Compounds with a high content of post-consumer recyclates which match key performance requirements for many applica- tions including crates, caps, bottles and pails. Total is also working on a project to industrialise a polystyrene recycling process.


CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: � www.rb.com � www.plasticsrecyclers.eu � www2.deloitte.com � www.jokey.com � www.plasticsrecycling.org � www.wrap.org.uk � www.gruener-punkt.de � www.interseroh.de � www.bifa.de � www.axiongroup.co.uk � www.imerys-performance-additives.com � www.werner-mertz.de � www.alpla.com � www.cambrianpackaging.co.uk � www.total.com


September/October 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 29


Above: Cambrian Packaging now offers Ecycle versions of its spray bottles which are made with 100% recycled HDPE


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