Greiner Packaging and Borealis produce chemically recycled polypropylene cups for Emmi Caffè latte

26 Aug 2021 --- Greiner Packaging and Borealis are partnering to produce Caffè latte drinking cups using chemically recycled polypropylene (rPP) for Swiss dairy company Emmi. 

The European ready-to-drink iced coffee brand has started to incorporate the rPP into its packaging. Greiner Packaging produces the cups from Borealis’ chemically recycled material. Borealis is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions based in Vienna, Austria.

Emmi is Switzerland’s largest milk processor. It is committed to making all of its packaging 100 percent recyclable, with at least 30 percent recyclate by 2027.

Support a circular model
From September 2021, Emmi’s chilled coffee drinks brand, Emmi Caffè latte, will use at least 100 metric tons of plastic based on the recycled material each year.

Chemical recycling processes plastic back to plastic, creating recycled materials with a purity level equivalent to fossil fuel-based PP, fit for protective, food-safe and other demanding applications.

Through this circular process, Emmi utilizes hard-to-recycle feedstock and supports a model preventing plastic waste from ending up in landfill or incineration.

Emmi indicates the amount of recycled plastic in Emmi Caffè latte packaging could be further increased in the future, depending on the availability of suitable material.By turning difficult to mechanically recycle plastic waste back into chemical feedstocks, chemical recycling is part of the solution to improve recycling rates while diverting plastic waste from landfill or incineration (Illustration credit: Borealis).

A budding technology
The new chemical recycling technology for recovering PP is still in its infancy. Only limited quantities of chemically recycled polypropylene are currently available. Emmi is one of only a few food manufacturers to have secured a share of the rPP through its early commitment and long-standing collaboration with the development companies.

“It takes joint efforts by food and packaging manufacturers to reduce waste and make measurable progress in the circular economy,” says Bendicht Zaugg, responsible for sustainable packaging at Emmi. 

“We have had a long and rewarding partnership with both Emmi and Borealis,” continues Greiner Packaging key account manager Vincenzo Crescenza. “This achievement is in line with our stated goal to work toward achieving a circular economy. Our strategy is to develop innovative products, develop new service partnerships and business models, and pioneer materials partnerships.” 

“The chemically recycled PP used in this new Emmi Caffè latte cup is manufactured with Borealis Borcycle C portfolio of transformational chemical recycling solutions, giving polyolefin-based, post-consumer waste another life,” adds Trevor Davis, head of marketing, consumer products at Borealis.

“It offers all-round benefits enabling the transition to a circular polyolefin industry while creating virgin quality plastic products. By staying true to our EverMinds ambition of accelerating action on circularity, together with our valuable partners along the whole value chain.”Rabobank has reported huge investment in advanced recycling globally.

Carbon-conscious certification
The chemically recycled material used for the Emmi Caffè latte cup consists entirely and solely of International Sustainability & Carbon Certification material on a mass balance basis.

Mass balance is a methodology that makes it possible to track the amount and sustainability characteristics of circular and/or bio-based content in the value chain and through each step of the process.

The methodology provides transparency to consumers, reassuring them the product they are buying is based on renewable material.

Recycled PP pioneers
In related developments, Nextek has launched a global multi-participant project called Nextloopp to address a “missing link” in the plastics recycling stream – PP – following eight years of extensive research. 

Nextloopp has secured its first major organizations, including Unilever, Danone and Greiner Packaging, creating a “world-first” by closing the loop on food-grade PP, available in the UK by 2022.

In South Korea, PureCycle Technologies has signed a memorandum of understanding with global chemical company SK Global Chemical to build and operate a recycling facility turning PP waste into ultra-pure PP resin.

Rabobank has reported huge investment in advanced recycling globally and expects the number of plants to double to around 140 by 2025. Susan Hansen, global strategist for F&A supply chains at Rabobank, explained why advanced recycling is an important tool in the battle against plastic waste but not the silver bullet in an exclusive interview with PackagingInsights.

By Joshua Poole