Multivac joins R-Cycle to establish global tracing standard for plastic pack recycling
03 May 2021 --- Multivac is joining R-Cycle’s cross-company recycling consortium to support shaping an industry standard for identifying recyclable plastic packaging.
That industry standard is “yet to be defined,” Stefan Scheibel, vice president corporate training and innovation center of Multivac, tells PackagingInsights. “The focus of R-Cycle is not on marking technologies, but on creating a traceable, standardized code.”
R-Cycle records recycling-relevant information from the production process in the form of a digital product passport and makes it available for recycling. A machine-readable mark – for example, a QR or a digital watermark code – is applied to the packaging to retrieve the stored information.
“There is currently no system for this available, so the initiative serves as a further component to improve the circular economy of plastic packaging and expand pure material cycles,” Scheibel explains.
Creating an industry standard
The functional recycling of plastics in relevant quantities “can only be achieved if the recycling plants can distinguish between recyclable and non-recyclable packaging,” R-Cycle highlights. This requires the clear identification of packaging.
The idea behind the consortium is to equip waste sorting systems with detection technologies to identify fully recyclable packaging and form pure fractions within the recycling process.
Precise sorting and transparency regarding the exact composition – types of plastic, printing inks, adhesives and additives – are key to obtaining high-quality recyclate for high-value recycling.
R-Cycle is working to create a global standard for plastic packaging recycling “passports” (Credit: Multivac).R-Cycle contributors
While high demand from Multivac’s customers abound, the initiative is not driven by consumers but instead set off by the machine construction industry. Ultimately, Multivac’s participation in the R-Cycle initiative stems from its R&D efforts.
When asked when the digital watermarks will become commercially available on Multivac’s packaging, Scheibel responds “the timing is still open” considering the standard has yet to be defined.
“It will depend on the customer’s inquiries and requests – whether they want to use watermarks for example or other machine-readable marks on their packaging solutions.”
“With Multivac, we are gaining another important partner and global player in the value cycle,” adds R-Cycle director Dr. Benedikt Brenken. “Not only the material of a package, but also its contents represent important recycling-relevant information, which we capture with R-Cycle.”
Current members of the R-Cycle initiative include plastic extrusion specialist Reifenhäuser, film stretching expert Brückner Maschinenbau and plastic packaging producer Kautex.
A QR or digital watermark code can be applied to plastic packs to distinguish recyclable from non-recyclable packaging.Transparency triumphs
Digitization throughout the value chain has “enormous potential,” says Scheibel, bringing environmentally sustainable packaging into a high-quality recycling process.
Multivac maintains a digital product passport of plastic packaging can also provide valuable information to increase machine efficiency to make the packaging process faster and therefore more sustainable.
This year, Innova Market Insights pegged “Transparency Triumphs” as its top F&B trend. The market researcher predicted brands adopting and pairing new packaging technologies such as invisible barcodes and near-field communication technology with creative, meaningful storytelling will be successful.
In headlines last week, Multivac promoted its full wrap conveyor belt labeler for applying self-adhesive full wrap labels on up to four sides of fish or other seafood product packs.
By Anni Schleicher
