4evergreen alliance launches beta version of recyclability calculation tool for fiber-based packaging

15 Dec 2022 --- The 4evergreen alliance has published the beta release of its Fibre-Based Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Protocol (REP), part one for standard mills. This tool is said to support the value chain to enhance and harmonize how it evaluates the recyclability of existing and future packaging products.

The alliance stresses that fiber-based packaging designers have, up until now, lacked a common European method to assess product recyclability and maximize circularity. The REP guides users on how to interpret the results of the Cepi recyclability laboratory test method, which provides parameters covering the efficiency of the recycling process and the quality of the recycled paper produced. 

To fill this gap, 4evergreen, “the first” alliance covering the whole fiber-based packaging sector, joined forces to develop the REP. Seventy-five experts across the value chain have collaborated on the project, analyzing data and incorporating results from more than 50 recycling tests involving close to 100 different samples. 

The Recyclability Evaluation Protocol 
The protocol guides users on how to interpret the results of the Cepi recyclability laboratory test method, which provides parameters covering the efficiency of the recycling process and the quality of the recycled paper produced. 

Peter Hengesbach, project co-lead and recyclability manager at Stora Enso says: “We’ve worked together intensively across the whole fiber-based packaging sector to share our knowledge and build consensus around this new and unique recyclability evaluation protocol.”

The published beta release is ready to be used by the packaging sector to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate individual products made of cellulosic fibers and score them on their suitability for recycling in standard mills. Users are encouraged to test the evaluation protocol and send their feedback to optimize this beta release into a first completed version and feed into future ones. 

4evergreen says the tools will help improve the circularity of fiber-based packaging.Protocol expansion 
Furthermore, 4evergreen experts have started to work on expanding the protocol and including the recyclability evaluation for flotation-deinking and specialized mills based on tests currently run by the alliance. The updated versions will be launched in the course of 2023.

Hans Wortman, 4evergreen chair and internal business consultant at Wepa Group says: “The 4evergreen alliance’s strength comes from our ability to share expertise and join the dots across the whole fiber-based packaging value chain.”

“This beta release of the REP for standard mills is a major step toward a straightforward, reliable recyclability evaluation method that the entire sector can use. The next step is the development of the REP for drinking and specialized mills. These efforts bring us closer to our goal of a 90% recycling rate by 2030.”

“We are looking forward to hearing what people think of this version so that we can fine tune it and expand its use to include all types of recycling mills. Our goal is to make this a widely used and accepted tool across the entire value chain,” adds Hengesbach. 

Monitoring recyclability 
The REP produces results that can then be entered into the protocol’s score calculation tool. 

The tool will assess the data and return a score from -100 to +100. The higher the score, the more easily recyclable the product is in a standard mill. A negative score indicates that a product is not suitable for recycling in a standard mill but can potentially be very well recycled in a flotation-deinking or specialized mill.

The 4evergreen alliance adds the REP to a growing package of tools developed for the industry, which includes “Guidance on the Improved Collection and Sorting of Fibre-based Packaging for Recycling” and the “Circularity by Design Guideline for Fibre-Based Packaging.”

Together these tools will help drive the sector toward its ambition of perfecting the circularity of fiber-based packaging – and will eventually extend over all categories of fiber-based packaging to ensure that these valuable raw materials will be kept in the production loop.

4evergreen hopes that these documents will be used as a knowledge basis by policymakers on upcoming legislation regarding recyclability, collection and sorting, most notably the proposal on Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim