Dutch university flags supply and demand mismatch in recycled post-consumer plastics

15 Feb 2021 --- The current quality of Dutch recycled plastic bottles and flacons (PE and PP) is well-suited for various non-food applications, according to Wageningen University & Research (WUR) study consensus, but the demand for recycled plastics lags behind the supply. 

Multiple projects conducted at the Dutch research university in the past four years concluded the main cause is a lack of policies to promote the use of recycled plastics and discourage virgin plastics.

One study analyzed several types of commercial recycled PP (rPP) available in the market, where samples of flakes or pellets had a purity of 90 to 95 percent. 

Regardless, post-consumer recycled plastic has “average properties” compared to virgin polymers, according to WUR.

Besides legal and business barriers, these unequal properties are an important reason for the current mismatch in supply and demand of recycled material.

Production barriers to adopting more rPE and rPP in packages include quality issues, such as odor, color and quality variations. 

From a legal perspective, recyclate contents cannot come at the cost of product safety, while businesses still see virgin materials as financially more attractive.

Currently, there is a mismatch in the supply and demand of recycled post-consumer plastics. An example in paint pots
Incorporating mechanically recycled post-consumer PE and PP in certain non-food applications can result in higher risks in product safety, Dr. Eggo Ulphard Thoden van Velzen, Wageningen Food & Biobased Research senior researcher, tells PackagingInsights.

“For example, you shouldn’t use rPE to blow bottles for liquid chemical wastes. Then you will probably take a too large risk with environmental stress cracking and that is a risk you are not willing to take with liquid chemical waste.”

“However, there are also loads of applications, where much less performance is required and producers will simply go for the virgin [material] because it is exactly what they always wanted. Changing habits can be difficult.”

Thoden van Velzen points out gray painting pots as an example of a viable non-food grade recycled packaging application.

“There is really no reason why they couldn’t be made from recycled PP. To these producers I am saying: do you really need so little color variation in your gray pot and is odorless really an issue if you fill it with paint?”

On food-grade plastics
The study notes several European plastic converters produce packages for both food and non-food markets. As converters have to comply with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations, they are often not allowed to work with non-food-grade recycled plastics. 

Bringing food-grade recycled plastics into the discussion mix is “complicated,” says Thoden van Velzen.

Packaging designed-for-recycling combined with better specifications compliance could reduce impurities present in PE and PP.“On the one side, I have seen several migration results from rPP to food simulants that look very promising, from which you would almost conclude the material is ‘technically food grade.’” 

“But still these companies cannot fulfill all requirements that the EU Directive 282/2008 throws at them. We cannot guarantee with 100 percent certainty that all the objects in the feedstock were food packages,” he stresses.

For example, if a consumer uses a plastic tub for paint mixing at home and then recycles it, this compromises the safety of the entire recycling process.

“Therefore, this strict legislation protecting consumer safety will effectively block the majority of the attempts to create a more circular economy for PE and PP food packages,” Thoden van Velzen forewarns.

Extended “consumer” responsibility
The results of the WUR investigations reveal a strong need for coherent European and national policies, according to the researcher: 

• Design-guidelines should be evidence- and science-based. 
• Monitor producer compliance. 
• Incentivize sorting and recycling companies to produce quality products. 
• Encourage and enforce the use of recycled plastics.

In similar findings, a new study from Plastic Recyclers Europe identified advanced collection and sorting as key to unlocking much-needed investments in rigid polyolefins recycling. 

These steps should also actively involve civilians who, in Thoden van Velzen’s view, have not been sufficiently confronted with the question of sacrificing their own convenience.

WUR emphasizes a new system based on advanced sorting technologies would be the most effective pathway to higher purity rates.“Since extended producer responsibility (EPR) has been invented, many stakeholders have an attitude: let the producer sort it out; it is not our issue,” he remarks. 

“But with this mentality, we cannot progress toward circularity, we also need consumer awareness and ‘extended consumer responsibility.’” 

“As long as consumers respond to multi-color graphics printed on sweet bags and only purchase those with the most elaborate prints on it, we will not be able to make a high quality recycled plastic from this packaging waste.”

Those who currently suffer the most from packaging companies not using as much plastic recyclate as they could are recycling companies with filled up warehouses. 

“And society in general,” adds Thoden van Velzen, “because a chance to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was missed.”

PackagingInsights previously spoke with Thoden van Velzen about setbacks in the current Dutch plastics recycling value chain that keep it from reaching its full circularity potential.

By Anni Schleicher