Mondi to showcase monomaterial pouch with removable label at PLMA 2019

29 Apr 2019 --- Mondi will showcase its new, fully recyclable stand-up pouch made of a monomaterial (polyethylene) with removable wrap-around label at the international trade show PLMA (Private Label Manufacturers Association) in Amsterdam on 21-22 May. The landmark design overcomes many shortcomings in the recycling process and is the result of a joint four-year effort by Mondi, Werner & Mertz, EPEA Switzerland (Cradle to Cradle), Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland and Institut cyclos-HTP to transition flexible packaging to a circular model.

It is widely recognized that by 2050 plastic will outweigh fish in the world's oceans if every year another nine million tons of plastic trash find their way to the sea via unsecured landfills and rivers. Given the relevance and urgency of resolving the marine litter problem, the demand is growing among providers of private label products for sustainable packaging with a high share of recyclates, i.e., recycled plastic.

Thomas Kahl, Project Manager EcoSolutions, Mondi Consumer Packaging, explains that intelligently designed packaging can help reduce the amount of waste that enters the environment. He believes that the development of the new monomaterial stand-up pouch with detachable decorative panels is a major step in the transition to a circular economy for plastics.

“In a circular economy, everything revolves around the complete avoidance of waste. But the challenge in a cycle is that everyone has to do their part,” Kahl tells PackagingInsights. “Regulators and governments must set ambitious goals (for example, there’s a need for a legal framework that allows recycled content in extended packaging applications) and support recycling. Businesses need to sustainably produce recyclable packaging and use renewable energy and recycled materials. Consumers need to recycle.”

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 that is no longer suitable for its original application.

“If you want to avoid a ‘garbage in, garbage out’ scenario,” explains 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.

After four years of development, Mondi and Werner & Mertz introduce a new, patented innovation: a 100-percent recyclable pouch with detachable decorative panels. The pouch replaces conventional flexible packaging for Frosch products. Mondi’s view is that packaging should always be fit-for-purpose – paper where possible, plastic when useful – sustainable by design. “As a producer of both paper and plastic-based packaging, we carefully monitor trends and are well-positioned to work with our customers and other partners along the value chain toward the most sustainable packaging solution for each application,” Kahl notes.

Further, the recycling rate of plastic needs to be increased: through better sorting and increased recycling capacities for plastic packaging. According to Kahl, unrecyclable plastics should be used to generate energy, which is environmentally compatible thanks to very good filters.

The Recyclate Initiative was created with to promote effective recycling. The shared goal is the development of sustainable material cycles in which materials from the Yellow Bag source are used. Besides ECC, The Green Dot and ALPLA, the Mondi Group and Siegwerk are joining the Recyclate Initiative booth for the first time this year.

The next project within the scope of the Recyclate Initiative is already underway. In the near future, the previously mentioned recyclable stand-up pouch from Mondi is to be printed with C2C ink developed by Siegwerk.

Siegwerk works to improve the ecological footprint of its inks while retaining its color performance. “We support the Recyclate Initiative with the development of printing inks that have earned GOLD status from Material Health Certification (MHC),” comments Dr. Thomas Boucoiran, Global Head Brand Owner Collaboration at Siegwerk. “With this achievement, we close another gap in the overall development of sustainable labels and packaging in the Cradle-to-Cradle principle.”

In addition to the Recyclate Initiative, Mondi has already secured partnerships with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and CEFLEX, a collaborative initiative of European companies across the entire value chain of flexible packaging.

Also at PLMA, the Recyclate Initiative stand will present the entire cycle of a PET and HDPE bottle made of recyclates, from the collection of plastic waste in the Yellow Bag and the processing of recycled plastic into new packaging to the product on the retail shelf.

Systalen PRIMUS by Der Grüne Punkt (The Green Dot) is produced from raw materials from the Yellow Bag and the Yellow Bin. The Yellow Bag is the waste separation and collection system used in Germany for lightweight packaging made of plastic, aluminum, tinplate and composite materials. “This allows us to bring packaging from the supermarket shelf back to the supermarket shelf and thus close the cycle,” says Dr. Markus Helftewes, Managing Director of The Green Dot.

By Joshua Poole