“Industry must rationalize its choice of plastics to achieve circularity,” says WRAP Resource Specialist

22 Jul 2019 --- WRAP, which manages The UK Plastics Pact, has published new guidelines that clarify which plastics used in rigid household packaging are currently classed as “recyclable,” based on existing UK recycling infrastructure. The guidelines highlight a preference for “clear” PET – often used for drinks bottles and trays – on the basis that the end market is significantly higher for “clear” material, while it also has the greatest potential to be recycled into new high-grade packaging. PackagingInsights speaks to Helen Bird, Resource Management Specialist for WRAP, about strategies to increase the availability of recycled plastic, the potential of chemical recycling and WRAP’s pending flexible plastic guidelines.

Through consultation with industry, WRAP has identified what types of plastic packaging are actually recycled, at scale and in practice, and can therefore be defined as “recyclable.” The On-Pack Labelling Scheme (OPRL) is anticipated to adopt what is classed as “recyclable” under the UK Plastics Pact when it updates its guidance later this year.

“What we need to do as an industry is rationalize the plastics that we are using and ultimately make sure that the ones that we select are recyclable. The vision is that the consumer is able to recycle all the packaging they accumulate,” Bird explains.

Colored polymers: An obstacle to overcome
Colored packaging is a significant obstacle to increased recyclability because it cannot typically be sorted in the near-infrared (NIR) technology recycling process. WRAP plans to publish further guidance on this in the coming months, specifically in relation to new NIR-detectable black plastics.

“The recycling potential of plastics in the UK is pretty poor,” says Bird. “There’s a fair amount of colored PET being placed on the market and the opportunity for that to be recycled into new packaging is pretty slim just because it’s colored, when it doesn’t necessarily need to be.”A summary of the polymers which are considered recyclable, according to WRAP's new guidelines (Credit: WRAP).

“For example, Waitrose recently announced that they are launching a ‘rainbow range’ of CPET trays, but the issue with CPET is that it has to be colored because it’s crystalized and it’s opaque. Effectively, a consumer might be buying a ready meal that is blue one week and green the next and then yellow after that,” Bird notes.

“Moving to ‘clear’ plastic increases the opportunity for us to have a fluid stream of recycled content,” she explains.

Bird also states that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and more consistent collections are “absolutely critical” to achieving higher recycling rates.

Users of the guidelines will find “best in class” polymer choices for individual packaging types to guarantee recyclability. For example, for plastic food and drink bottles, the guidance explains:

• Best in class material choice – for the bottle, cap and sleeve;
• Best in class color choice;
• Labeling recommendations;
• The rationale behind these recommendations.

“Grayness:” Problem or market pull?
Bird also believes that choosing “clear” plastics will help to remove the “grayness” often found in recycled plastics. She explains that there are companies that have trialed very high percentages of recycled content and failed because they struggled with the “gray issue” – although there are ways that it can be overcome – by adding a blue tint, for example. 

“Better design that uses ‘clear’ packaging will help remove the ‘greyness’ of recycled plastic,” Bird says. “At the same time, I think we are at a stage now where the consumer will allow for ‘greyness’ because of the increased awareness around the issue of plastic pollution.”

“Companies like Procter & Gamble (P&G) are using plastic from beach clean-ups for cleaning products because it has a marketing pull for them,” she adds.

The potential for chemical recycling
The WRAP guidelines are based on existing UK recycling infrastructure in terms of what’s collected, sorted, reprocessed and manufactured. This in effect means mechanical recycling. However, Bird believes that there is potential for chemical recycling to solve a key issue.

“The UK Plastics Pact has a chemical recycler as a member and we are very keen to explore what opportunities there are in this space. I think the major opportunity is in polyethylene, particularly film, which is used often in the enormous food market. It is incredibly challenging for mechanical recycling to meet food-grade standards for film, but chemical recycling is more adept to this challenge. If we don’t crack the film challenge, we will never achieve a circular economy for plastics.”

“Yet, we have no commercial-scale chemical recycling facilities within the UK so, for now, it’s something that we’re very much keeping an eye on,” Bird notes.

While the scope of WRAP’s guidance is currently rigid plastic packaging – bottles, pots, tubs and trays – it will be updated in the future to include films and flexibles.

WRAP will not be “reinventing the wheel” for its flexible plastic guidelines, Bird explains, but instead monitoring European flexible packaging consortium CEFLEX as it develops its new design guidelines.

“Ceflex is starting with mechanical recycling and plans to publish chemical recycling guidelines in the future as well. I understand that Plastics Recyclers Europe have similar guidelines that they will also be reviewing.”

“Rather than ‘reinvent the wheel,’ we are going to take those design guidelines that are being consulted on Europe-wide and adapt them for the UK. I expect that WRAP will publish its flexible packaging guidelines in the winter,” Bird explains.

The classifications of what is recyclable do not yet include compostable plastics. WRAP believes similar principles should be applied to these types of plastics, with a need to demonstrate that the materials are actually composted in the current infrastructure. Further guidance on this is expected over the summer.

OPRL hails significant step on road to circularity
OPRL hailed the UK Plastics Pact's new guidance on the recyclability of rigid plastic packaging as “a further vital step, driving sustainable packaging and making it easy for consumers to recycle.”

As highlighted in last week’s announcement on OPRL’s Labelling Rules Review, WRAP’s guidelines will be one of the evidence bases underpinning OPRL’s 2019 revisions.

“Well-chosen polymers used in well-designed packaging are vital to reducing food waste and the resulting methane and other greenhouse gas emissions,” comments Jane Bevis, Chair of OPRL. “So this hugely welcome guidance from the Plastics Pact is crucial in promoting a paradigm shift in packaging design, both food and non-food.”

“As well as incorporating this evidence base into our Labelling Rules, we will adopt its findings as key parameters in our PREP tool, the only ISO 14021-compliant multi-material assessment tool on the UK market, enabling recyclability claims to be made on a common basis.”

“By shifting design choices into a narrower range of recyclable polymers, we not only reduce confusion for consumers, but ease sortation at MRFs and reprocessors, and create the markets for recyclate once consumers have done their bit within the circular economy,” Bevis adds.

The Pact’s guidance also gives clear advice on the need for OPRL labeling and the preferred OPRL Calls to Action to be selected to enhance recycling capture and quality. These include added tips for the consumer such as “Cap On,” “Rinse” and “Flatten” and were introduced in January 2017 in response to WRAP’s research into barriers to recycling. OPRL is a founding member and delivery partner of the UK Plastics Pact.

By Joshua Poole