Recycled Plastic Packaging Moves into the Mainstream

The findings have been very positive and have shown that recycled PET (rPET) can meet the technical, commercial and safety requirements demanded by the retail sector, as well as scoring highly in terms of customer acceptability.

17/07/06 Three leading high street names have demonstrated the potential to use recycled plastic in new packaging for both food and non-food products and have committed to using it in the future. The development reflects increasing interest across the retail and packaging sectors in more sustainable packaging solutions.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE), Marks & Spencer and Boots have all completed year-long trials, funded by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme), which explore for the first time in the UK the potential to close the recycling loop for PET (polyethylene terephthalate), one of the most common plastics used in bottles and salad packs for example. The findings have been very positive and have shown that recycled PET (rPET) can meet the technical, commercial and safety requirements demanded by the retail sector, as well as scoring highly in terms of customer acceptability. As a result, all three project partners have either confirmed their intentions to use rPET on a commercial scale in the future or are already doing so.

"This is a major breakthrough for plastics recycling in the UK," says WRAP Chief Executive Jennie Price. "This type of commitment from major brand names signals a growth in demand for rPET, which will in turn stimulate UK recycling capacity and will also show consumers that there is a strong home market for the plastic they recycle helping to motivate them to recycle more."

Currently, PET is used for a significant proportion of plastic bottles and trays, as well as increasingly in other types of packaging. Demand for the material is growing faster than for any other type of plastic, but of the 30-40,000 tonnes of PET recycled in the UK every year, very little went back into UK packaging production. WRAP's aim in funding the trials was to help close the recycling loop by demonstrating the viability of using rPET in new packaging, particularly in high value food grade packaging, and thereby encouraging UK market demand.

The project has seen a range of packaging produced and tested to establish both performance and consumer acceptability. CCE trialed 25% rPET in a range of 500ml bottles, including Diet Coke; Marks & Spencer incorporated between 30 and 50% rPET in the packaging for its salad and "Food to Go" ranges; and Boots used 30% rPET in the packaging for their high profile Ingredients range of toiletries.

In each trial, the recycled content packaging was been successfully produced and available on shelf for over 6 months, with no adverse impact on sales. In fact, direct feedback from M&S customers (where the recycled content was declared) was very positive, with 96% of respondents saying they thought the initiative was a good idea and 85% saying it made them feel better about shopping at M&S.

"This is the first time that major brand names have come together to investigate the potential for using rPET in such high profile, high volume product lines," explains Peter Skelton, "and the trials were designed to assess the impact at every stage, from the packaging manufacturing process right through to consumer appeal.

The positive consumer feedback echoes the results of research commissioned by WRAP, which found that 86% of those surveyed felt it would be good if packaging contained recycled plastic, and 78% said they would feel more positive about a product or manufacturer whose packs were made using recycled plastic."

Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd

The successful CCE trial involved the production of 75 million bottles for a range of the company's best selling carbonated drinks. As well as proving performance and acceptability, CCE has found that using rPET can deliver energy savings in the bottle manufacturing process.

Martin Rodgers, rPET Project Manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, says: "CCE is delighted with the excellent results we have seen throughout this trial. We believe that the trial has demonstrated that recycled material is a viable option for CCE, both in terms of quality and energy consumption. We would like to continue to use rPET and are currently working with our supply partners to assess if there is sufficient material available to make this feasible."

Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer incorporated rPET in 150 million packs during the trial and has not only continued with its use, but is committed to extending to a wider range of products. The company used on-pack messages and dedicated recycling bins to communicate the concept of closing the packaging loop and reported an overwhelmingly positive response from customers.

"Our customers reacted very positively towards us using recycled materials in everyday, high volume products. The continuation of using recycled materials in packaging that can in turn be recycled by the customer on disposal, will be a key part of our strategy going forwards," says Dr Helene Roberts, Head of Packaging for Marks & Spencer.

Boots

Basing the trials at its own packaging production unit in Nottingham, Boots investigated the viability of using different percentages of rPET in the packaging for its 'Ingredients' range of shampoos and conditioners. Between October 2005 and March this year, the company manufactured 1.3 million bottles containing 30% rPET which went on shelf in stores across the UK.

"We chose Boots mainstream 'Ingredients' range for the trial as both bottles and product are manufactured at our Nottingham factory," explains Andrew Jenkins, Boots 'Sustainable Development Manager' Products. "This enabled us to rigorously evaluate the use of rPET at each stage of the supply chain, whilst developing our expertise in this area. Feedback has been positive from production and customers alike. We are now poised to roll out the use of rPET to other products with potentially increased inclusion rates."

Project partners London Remade and Closed Loop London worked very closely with Marks and Spencer and Boots to deliver the successful outcomes. "Our role in the project was to co-ordinate the activities of all stakeholders involved in manufacturing, testing, filling and marketing of the rPET packaging line," says Robert Pascoe, Managing Director of CLL, and the results of the trials clearly demonstrate the viability of rPET as an environmentally responsible packaging material."

Future outlook

The findings are of particular interest given a wider shift in favour of rPET in the market, including sustained high prices for virgin PET and plans for additional UK-based reprocessing capacity for recovered PET to come on stream in 2007. Further capacity, however, will still be required if there is to be widespread uptake of rPET by large PET bottle producers such as CCE and strong international demand for waste plastic and recyclate is likely to continue to impact on availability.

To address this and help supply to keep pace with anticipated demand, WRAP will be working with local authorities and the recycling sector, as well with consumers, to increase the amount of plastic bottles recovered from household waste.

"Plastic bottle recycling has been rising rapidly and well over half of UK households now have access to local collection services or facilities," says Peter Skelton. "More efforts are needed, however, to continue to encourage people to use these schemes and to recognise the link between their own recycling actions and their ability to buy products with more sustainable packaging."