Pouch breakthrough: Mondi partners on 100 percent recyclable PE innovation

19 Sep 2018 --- Addressing the demand for sustainability in flexible packaging, Mondi is ready to launch a 100 percent recyclable pouch made from polyethylene in collaboration with Werner & Mertz, alongside its existing innovation, BarrierPack Recyclable. Mondi claims that both pouches offer recyclable options for the flexible packaging market, whilst also touting their suitability for an array of applications. Both innovations will be exhibited at FachPack next week in Nuremberg, Germany.

After almost four years of development, Mondi and Werner & Mertz will introduce their new, patented innovation: a 100 percent recyclable polyethylene pouch with detachable decorative panels. The pouch replaces conventional flexible packaging for Frosch products.

The four-year project was highly ambitious, according to Werner & Mertz. The company did not only want to produce a flexible plastic that was only “theoretically recyclable – packaging likely to end up in landfill,” rather, the aim was to “reverse-engineer” the recycling process: to create packaging fit for every stage of the recycling process.

The challenges of true recycling for flexible plastics
A crucial and often neglected step in the recycling process is sorting.

Failure to sort the collected packaging into material streams that recyclers can use leads to down-cycling – that is, the production of recycled material no longer suitable for its original application.

“If you want to avoid a ‘garbage in, garbage out’ scenario,” says Immo Sander, Head of Packaging Development, Werner & Mertz Group, “the entire value chain must be aligned – from packaging producers through players in sorting and recycling to buyers of recycled material.” This is the aim of the Recyclate Initiative that Werner & Mertz launched in 2012.

The packaging needed to be made of a polyethylene mono-material, which is a prerequisite for recycling: “Our collaboration with Werner & Mertz shows, in the best possible way, how challenges can become solutions,” says Jens Kösters, Manager Technical Services, Mondi Consumer Goods Packaging.

“We worked our way through an ‘innovation funnel’— testing different materials until we arrived at a designed-for-recycling concept that convinced everyone at each point of the value chain. Furthermore, the concept offers clear benefits related to sealing strength and maximum filling volume,” he adds.

A final touch was added to solve the issue of recycling printed plastic materials. The pouch has two layers. “We dress the pouch up in an eye-catching ‘outer garment’ that is printed with brand design on the front and consumer info on the back,” says Sander. “When the pouch is empty, we ‘undress’ it automatically by shredding and sorting the two components into separate recycling streams.”

BarrierPack Recyclable
The recyclable polyethylene will be exhibited alongside Mondi’s BarrierPack innovation at FachPack 2018, which will take “pride of place,” according to Mondi. The company will partner with SN Maschinenbau GmbH – based in Wipperfuerth, Germany – to demonstrate the ease of processing BarrierPack Recyclable products at the show.

“We believe that BarrierPack Recyclable is a major breakthrough for flexible packaging,” Carl Stonley, Technical Account Manager at Mondi Consumer Goods Packaging, tells PackagingInsights.

“It complements the sustainability benefits already offered by flexibles – reduction of food waste, CO2 emissions and energy use – by adding recyclability, something laminates made of different materials cannot offer,” he adds. 

Earlier this year, Mondi added a barrier layer to BarrierPack Recyclable’s multilayer construction to provide a gas barrier that extends the laminate’s breadth of potential applications. In addition to being fully recyclable and already providing a moisture barrier, the material offers exceptional mechanical properties and is suitable for a range of packaging style formats. 

“Constructed using two layers of polyethylene film, BarrierPack Recyclable is a highly functional, flexible, packaging material that’s easy to open and reclose for added consumer convenience,” says Stonley.

This also opens up space for the pack to be used for an array of applications: “The initial moisture barrier provided by BarrierPack Recyclable made it ideal for applications such as dry food, food ingredients, personal care and pet-care applications. With the recent addition of a gas barrier layer between the PE layers, the material is also suitable for such uses as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) for food products.”

The material is stiffer, stronger and lighter than a conventional PET/PE laminate of the same thickness and it can be formed directly on form/fill/seal machines, as well as used for pre-made packaging. This past spring, the material was honoured as the “Best Technology Innovation in Plastics Recycling” at the 2018 Plastics Recycling Europe Awards in Amsterdam and just recently won the German Packaging Award in the category Sustainability. 

“Our new laminate, BarrierPack Recyclable, is a leap forward for sustainable packaging,” said Stonley, “and we’re pleased to see others in the industry recognize that.”

At FachPack – to be held 25-27 September in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg – Mondi will be at Booth 7-254 in Hall 7 exhibiting a range from products targeting the ice cream, pet food, and food and beverage categories.

By Laxmi Haigh