Mondi’s BarrierPack Recyclable all-polyethylene film receives recyclable certification
29 Jan 2020 --- Global packaging and paper supplier Mondi has announced that its award-winning BarrierPack Recyclable all-polyethylene film has been certified as recyclable. Institute cyclos–HTP, the Institute for Recyclability and Product Responsibility, independently tested the material and issued a certificate, rating it as 95 percent recyclable in those areas where “a suitable recycling infrastructure is in place.”
The lightweight mono-material offers a sustainable packaging solution for diverse applications ranging from stand-up pouches for dishwasher tablets to resealable pouches for organic dog food.
“Mondi have done a fantastic thing with this pouch” UK packaging expert Neil Farmer tells PackagingInsights. “I’ve looked at pouches for many years and despaired about the inability to separate a pouch for recycling which has different materials in it. Mondi’s solution to me is one of the best – its pouch is 100 percent recyclable and I know it worked with several major German companies to get to this stage. I think it could lead to greater things in terms of improving recycling levels across the industry.”
Stijn De Wit, Head of Marketing and Communication, Consumer Packaging for Mondi, highlights that the recyclability of the BarrierPack Recyclable has not in any way come at the expense of consumer convenience.
Yarrah Organic Petfood's BarrierPack Recyclable pouch.
“When it comes to appearance, strength and open and closing convenience, the BarrierPack Recyclable is competitive with the more traditional laminates. The challenge was runnability – we had to make sure that the laminate was the right strength to process through existing machinery.”
Yarrah Organic Petfood pouch
Mondi recently partnered with Dutch producer Yarrah Organic Petfood to develop more sustainable packaging for its certified organic Yarrah and DANO pet food brands. Yarrah wanted to introduce a fully recyclable pouch to replace a multilayer laminate packaging – which was difficult to recycle – to keep it in a circular economy. The pouch also needed to be resealable to keep pet food and snacks fresh, while adding convenience for pet owners.
“At Yarrah … we continuously investigate how we can improve what we do, and our plastic packaging has been on our wish list for a long time. With this alternative from Mondi, we make another step in reducing our carbon footprint,” says Bas van Tongeren, CEO of Yarrah.
Tesco dishwasher tablets
Similarly, Mondi helped the UK supermarket chain Tesco bring to market a fully recyclable mono-material pouch for its dishwasher tablets. With the switch to BarrierPack Recyclable, the individual tablets can now be wrapped in a water-soluble film instead of polypropylene (OPP) wrapping, further reducing waste.
Tesco already has a system in place to recycle polyethylene carrier bags used to hold customers’ purchases, and BarrierPack Recyclable pouches can also be recycled in this system. It encourages customers to bring the dishwasher tablet pouches back to the store, where they are collected and then recycled back into new carrier bags.
“We believe that there is no single route to sustainability. With our customer-centric approach EcoSolutions, we collaborate closely with our partners to create bespoke solutions ensuring that our customers can deliver on their sustainability commitments. We ask our customers about the needs of their business, the product and our planet – and BarrierPack Recyclable is one of these solutions that came out of asking the right questions,” notes Graeme Smith, Head of Product Sustainability, Flexible Packaging and Engineered Materials for Mondi. 
The lightweight mono-material offers a sustainable packaging solution for diverse applications.
Sustainability commitments
Mondi is a signatory of The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, committing to 100 percent of plastic-based packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable and 25 percent being from recycled content by 2025 (food regulations permitting). The supplier is also a co-founder of the Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX).
Mondi offers many more applications for fully recyclable mono-material pouches, and as part of its customer-centric EcoSolutions approach, they continue to explore new opportunities to close the loop in the circular economy.
This month, British-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever joined forces with Mondi to produce a recyclable polypropylene (PP) mono-material pouch in Turkey for the Knorr dry soup powder range.
In June, Mondi introduced a fully-recyclable polypropylene construction for thermoforming applications that achieves a 23 percent reduction in carbon footprint compared to existing packaging options.
During FachPack 2019, Mondi also showcased a stand-up pouch that is safe for food contact and partly made with raw material derived from chemically recycled plastic.
By Joshua Poole
