Flint Group supports CEFLEX’s flexible plastic recycling project with water-based inks
21 Jul 2022 --- Flint Group Packaging is supporting the CEFLEX Quality Recycling Project (QRP) by co-developing and trialing duplex laminated flexible packaging comprising PP and recyclate (rPP). The project aims to recycle a higher percentage of PP in non-food contact film applications.
The project’s main goal is to create a PP recyclate structure that does not inhibit the printing and converting process of today’s supply chain. Flint Group is providing water-based inks to help achieve this goal.
The CEFLEX QRP directly aims at improving low recycling rates in consumer households across Europe. Representing a large-scale collaboration between more than 180 organizations, associations and stakeholders, the project is said to have made positive progress in showcasing the potential of a recycle-ready monomaterial substrate.
“One of the biggest challenges in sustaining long-term growth for the packaging sector is that to this day, a large proportion of flexible packaging cannot be easily recycled. If we want to secure the future of the sector, we need to put circularity at the front and center of our focus and continue to close the plastic loop,” says Matthew Rowland-Jones, sustainability officer at Flint Group.
In March, UK Research and Innovation awarded CEFLEX funding for a flexible packaging design testing program.
Water-based inks
Following a series of five semi-industrial trials to test the viability of printing on films made using rPP resin, results showed that the use of post-consumer recyclate in the packaging structure did not inhibit the printing or converting process of a monopolymer PP duplex laminated barrier pouch in non-food applications.
“Our team was delighted to provide the water-based inks and to add its expertise to the number of businesses supporting this important CEFLEX project,” says Rowland-Jones.
Flint Group says the industry needs to put circularity at the front and center of its focus.
“By co-developing and trialing an rPP substrate that is easy for printers and converters to work with, we are opening a more robust path for long-term growth. At the core, it’s about expanding the boundaries of what PP recyclate can achieve to prove that it’s compatible with today’s presses, converting technologies and quality demands. It’s a move forward for the wider print and packaging industry.”
With collaboration and innovative thinking, a greater proportion of flexible packaging waste can be processed in recycling streams, he explains.
“We are another step further from the linear waste streams that hold the packaging industry back and that’s something to celebrate.”
Industrial-scale waste plant
The project’s next stage will see the creation of an industrial-scale QRP waste processing plant, which is anticipated to be in active commercial use by 2023.
“One of the biggest roadblocks to the adoption of rPP in flexible packaging applications has been that it’s perceived as challenging to work with on press. The CEFLEX project is helping to break down this wall by showing that [environmental] sustainability and performance are not mutually exclusive,” concludes Rowland-Jones.
Another flexible packaging supplier that actively engages with stakeholders across the value chain and works toward increased sorting, collection and recovery of all flexible packaging is Constantia Flexibles.
The company recently introduced a recycle-ready laminate with high chemical resistance for pharmaceutical products. Constantia Flexibles supplies the substrates for conversion into packaging.
Edited
By Natalie Schwertheim
