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U.K. project helps drive flexible packaging recycling options
2016-11-07

Form:Packaging World

The REFLEX Project reveals results of its two-year research project, which confirms the economic and functional viability of recycling flexible packaging materials.


The results of significant research to enable further developments toward establishing recycling options for flexible plastic packaging delivered by the two-year REFLEX R&D project were unveiled at the K Show in October 2016. The project is a collaboration of the entire value chain, including polymer production, packaging manufacturers, global brand owners, and waste management and recycling companies.

Flexible packaging such as plastic bags, confectionery wrappers, frozen food bags, and pouches makes up 27% of consumer plastic packaging in the U.K., and much of this ends up in landfills or energy recovery. According to resource recovery specialist Axion Consulting, which led the consortium of various value chain participants in The REFLEX Project, the ability to recycle this type of packaging at end of life will be “moving forward” following successful research and trials.

Axiom’s value chain partners in the project include Amcor Ltd., Dow Chemical Company Ltd., Interflex Group, Nestlé UK Ltd., SUEZ, TOMRA Sorting Ltd., and Unilever. The project is co-funded by the U.K.’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

The consortium’s research took into account the commercial value of materials recovered by the recycling process and demonstrated that attractive yields of recycled materials could be achieved. The project has addressed many technical challenges in establishing an infrastructure to collect, sort, and recycle polyolefinic flexible packaging in the U.K. For example, along with the improvement of flexible packaging designs, the project looked at digital watermarking on packaging that is suitable for mechanical recycling and the use and enhancement of near infrared sorting technologies.

“We think that these changes and further technology optimization can improve the economics of recycling flexible packaging and make the concept more attractive to investors and recyclers,” comments Axion Consulting Senior Engineer Richard McKinlay.

Practical trials have shown that recovered polymers can deliver the performance requirements and technical properties needed for items such as boxes and crates or drainage pipe products. McKinlay believes this will boost confidence in the market and encourage more investment.

“Flexible packaging excels in terms of material efficiency,” says Gerald Rebitzer, Director Sustainability for Amcor. “This creates a cascade of environmental benefits throughout the entire value chain, and avoids waste at source. What is still in its infancy is an end-to-end solution for this packaging type. This research could help close that gap.”

The consortium has developed guidelines aimed at providing information to packaging designers and technologists, brand owners, retailers, and converters to design flexible packaging that is suitable for mechanical recycling. However, because more work is needed on investigating and evaluating the compatibility of all the various materials, the guidelines will not be released until further testing work has been completed and validated at the European level.

Roger Morton, Director of Axion Consulting, comments, “The REFLEX project demonstrated how state-of-the-art technology in sorting and preparation for recycling can help increase the rate of flexible packaging recycling. It also showed how novel packaging designs and potential new marking techniques may further increase recyclability and efficiency of the whole process.”

As the two-year project comes to a close, Morton explains that the next steps will be a wider collaboration with more brand owners and converters and with more input from waste management companies and recyclers across Europe, to finalize and validate the design guidelines for recycling.

He says, “It is pivotal that the value chain works together to address the challenge of flexible packaging recycling. Technical advances made in The REFLEX Project and the guidelines should help the plastic packaging value chain in the future to manage better the end of life for packaging and progress toward a more circular model.

“Used flexible packaging is an important resource waiting to be mined for high-quality materials with the potential to be recycled into all kinds of long-life applications from automotive products to rotational/injection-molded items.”

Dana Mosora, Director for Sustainability and Advocacy for Dow’s Packaging and Specialty Plastics, EMEA concludes, “We’re shining a light on each part of the value chain to come up with a better integrated system to collect, sort, and recycle flexible plastic packaging, and we have identified a clear need for investment to develop the infrastructure that will enable recycling of flexible packaging with state-of-the-art technology today. We are also looking forward to working on developing the ‘Design for Recycling’ guidelines with a broader European consortium, to be formed by the proposed merging with the FIACE consortium and involving other relevant stakeholders.”

The consortium also welcomes the creation of a new European stakeholder platform that will focus on increasing recycling levels of plastic packaging, which has support from Plastics Europe, Plastics Recyclers Europe, and European Packaging Converters.

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