Power to the packaging: Political courage lacking in monomaterial shift, warns Wipak at Empack

07 Apr 2022 --- Packaging companies are being hindered in their efforts to produce easy-to-recycle plastic products by a “lack of political courage,” according to Wipak, a global F&B and pharmaceutical packaging supplier specializing in flexible films.

Speaking to PackagingInsights from the Empack trade show in Gorinchem, Netherlands, the company’s account manager for Benelux, Stijn van Wezemael, says policymakers must be bolder in creating appropriate recycling infrastructure for plastic waste. 

Wipak creates monomaterial solutions for a wide range of products in order to bypass the costly and complicated sorting processes needed to separate mixed forms of plastic in recycling. 

“We produce flexible films for thermoforming, flow packs, top lidding films, but today we focus more on our new brand – GreenChoice.” 

GreenChoice was launched to guarantee customers that its flexible packaging is the most environmentally sustainable on the market and rests on three pillars: renewable, fully recyclable and recycled content. These categories, says van Wezemael, mean customers can offer the “easiest option” for any company.

Flexible future 
GreenChoice also emphasizes, among other aspects, the use of monomaterial design, where only a single type of plastic is used. Currently, roughly 5% of flexible plastics are recycled due to insufficient design and infrastructure. While Wipak’s new designs improve product suitability for recycling streams, producing them comes with some key challenges. 

Stijn van Wezemael presenting the GreenChoice brand at Empack.“One of the challenges is finding the mono-recyclable PE or PET solutions to replace the current films and have the same standards, specifications, and applications. But with the help of R&D, we have created solutions to these problems,” says van Wezemael. 

Sourcing recyclates is a growing problem for industry players. The price of recycled plastics skyrocketed recently as producers seek to improve their environmental sustainability credentials while recycling companies struggle to get their facilities approved by the EU to begin producing. 

Recently, PackagingInsights spoke to UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe, an industry association that says slow administrative procedures and a lack of sufficient regulation are hampering recycling rates in the EU and broadening the gap between supply and demand, further raising prices. 

Mastering monomaterials
Ignorance surrounding the value of using monomaterial packaging is also damaging progress throughout industry, continues van Wezemael. Innova Market Insights recently pegged “Monomaterial Mastery” as a top trend for 2022, noting flexible monomaterial designs are increasingly prevalent as industry players seek to circularize the economy.

“The second challenge we have is to convince customers to go with mono-solutions because it’s so strange, so new, but there is a lack of education – what is feasible and possible. But if we all work together, we can change the packaging market for good,” he says.  Wipak’s range of monomaterial solutions under its new GreenChoice brand.

“I think there is a lack of political courage, we see in Europe many different rules between different countries, but if there was a strong political courage and strong political line to say that companies are really taxed and overtaxed to push them toward recyclable solutions, then we could really take big steps.” 

The disparity in recycling infrastructure and policy in the EU has alarmed environmental groups, who say certain countries (like Italy) are bypassing laws such as the Single Use Plastics Directive Meanwhile, others (like France and Spain) are introducing their own bans on fruit and vegetable plastic packaging, threatening the Single Market through the free movement of goods. 

Gaining unified backing from political powers is essential in bringing industry innovations to fruition and achieving their intended environmental aims, asserts van Wezemael. 

“The solutions are there. It’s just a matter of who comes first. Is it our packagers and producers who pack the goods, or will it be our customers’ customers – the supermarket chains and the distributors? Either way, the solutions are there, and I think we can do it, but there needs to be a bigger push of political will.” 

Wipak in the works 
The launch of GreenChoice follows a number of recent releases by the company, including a “UK-first” paper wrap for butter which can be recycled curbside within the paper waste stream. The solution also boasts a 68% carbon footprint reduction when compared to market-standard wraps (aluminum, low-density polyethylene or paper laminate). 

The company is also part of the digital watermarks initiative HolyGrail 2.0, which aims to prove the viability of digital watermarking technologies for accurate sorting on a large scale. Last month, the initiative successfully validated its prototype detection unit from semi-industrial testing mimicking real-life conditions for the first time. 

Described as a “significant milestone,” the prototype demonstrated consistently high results across all tested plastic packaging material categories, recording 99% detection, 95% ejection and 95% purity rates on average.

By Louis Gore-Langton