Plastic Recyclers Europe technical director: Packaging sortability integral to circular plastics economy

30 Jun 2022 --- RecyClass has launched a practical guide clarifying the concepts of recyclability and design for recycling based on science amid concerns that the ineffective sorting of plastic packaging is undermining recycling efforts.

In this interview with PackagingInsights, Fabrizio di Gregorio, technical director at Plastic Recyclers Europe, gives further insights into RecyClass’ Design Book and explores the issues surrounding low sortability levels and what packaging suppliers can do to support the circular plastics economy.

To what extent is sortability hindering the recycling process?
di Gregorio: Recyclability must be verified at every step of a recycling process and assessing plastic packaging’s sortability plays an important role in claiming whether and to what extent a product is recyclable. First, to improve the recyclability of a package and increase the amount of recycled plastic, it is crucial that it is well sorted into specific mono-streams.

Incompatible designs in a product may prevent its detectability leading to it ending up in a different stream due to, for example, a large label or a sleeve made of a different polymer than the main body of the packaging.

Sorting is primordial, as it contributes to limiting the number of contaminants in the stream, says di Gregorio.Other design examples hampering the sorting is the use of carbon black, extensive printing or metallization leading to misdetection by the NIR detectors, which will cause material losses or a wrongly sorted polymer ending up in a stream where it does not belong, consequently impacting the recycling process.

How can packaging suppliers support the recycling process?
di Gregorio: Sorting is primordial, as it contributes to limiting the number of contaminants in the stream. Recyclable products contribute to increasing and optimizing the efficiency of this step. Effective sorting, in turn, guarantees that only target material will be destined for recycling.

Within the recycling step, the sorted material is further shredded, washed and separated by density to be finally extruded. Each of these steps enables the removal of impurities and non-targeted materials (for example, washability of the adhesives, separation of labels). To facilitate this step, the design-for-recycling of plastic packaging remains vital, where packaging made of monomaterials and limiting the on-pack decorations are some of the key principles to follow. This is important as incompatible materials will downgrade the properties and quality of the recycled material.

Nowadays far too many inseparable polymers, redundant additives or mixed materials are used in the production of plastics. Materials that are incompatible with recycling hamper the effective reprocessing into high-value raw materials. Packaging design should balance the product’s durability, usability, and recyclability. If we are to move toward a truly circular economy, all new products placed on the market must be fully compatible with state-of-the-art recycling technologies available at scale in Europe.

In what ways is RecyClass helping to establish the circular plastics economy?
di Gregorio: Now more than ever, we need to ensure that plastic packaging is produced sustainably and managed properly at the end of its life cycles. Fortunately, new initiatives and tools are emerging to help the industry move forward, and RecyClass is one of them. Incompatible packaging designs may prevent detectability and hinder recycling, stresses di Gregorio.

RecyClass is a cross-industry, non-for-profit organization supporting the industry on its circularity journey. It provides solutions for assessing recyclability based on standard testing protocols and fact-based design for recycling guidelines and due to its transparent approach grounded on scientific findings. RecyClass’ goal is to harmonize the approach toward assessing both recyclability and verification of the uptake of recycled material in Europe. 

As it is indispensable to warrant the credibility of the environmental claims for plastics products and therefore the credibility of the plastics industry. It is necessary as well to comply with EU legislation and create a level playing field for recycled plastics. By advising and supporting brands and the industry on their journey toward sustainability, RecyClass brings them a step closer to full plastics circularity. This is possible thanks to credible, third-party fact-based certification and labeling that RecyClass developed. 

Is a circular economy for plastics packaging achievable given the poor recycling rates globally?
di Gregorio: There is no future for plastics without plastics recycling. RecyClass provides many solutions to guide the industry on its journey toward circularity since recycling, to be effective, must be based on high-quality input materials. This implies that to be considered recyclable, a packaging must contain a minimum amount of polymer not lower than 95% (and not lower than 90% when a functional barrier is required).

By Natalie Schwertheim