See me now? Ampacet’s REC-NIR-BLACK plastic enables optical sensor recycling of Henkel bottles

06 May 2019 --- German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel is set to launch a fully recyclable black plastic bottle for its Bref products. The new packaging material – developed by specialist plastic supplier Ampacet – uses an alternative carbon-free black color, enabling used bottles to be detected by recycling facility infra-red (NIR) optical sensors and integrated back into the value chain. It will be introduced for black bottles of toilet cleaning products under the Bref brand this month, followed by further Henkel products throughout the course of this year.

Unlike clear or white plastic, black plastics cannot typically be detected by machines used in the post-use plastic sorting process and the dark pigment limits its uses in recycling streams. As a result, these plastics have a lower market value and most Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs) view them as contaminants, with landfill or incineration often being the most cost-effective options for their disposal.

However, Ampacet recently found a designed-in solution to the issue of black plastics recycling with the development of its REC-NIR-BLACK carbon black-free products. These products are NIR transparent, which allows them to be sorted with NIR optical sensors for recycling. This technology enables the reuse, repair and recycling of black packaging waste and allows recyclers to valorize this waste and support the circular economy.

“The new [REC-NIR-BLACK] material makes it possible to produce new black plastic packaging from the used black bottles,” Vineet Varman, Head of International Packaging Development for Special Detergents at Henkel Laundry & Home Care, tells PackagingInsights.

“Traditionally, this was not the case as black bottles were not detectable, hence not recycled. With this new material, we enable this loop to be circular. Even though we are not yet integrating recycled content into the black Bref bottle, we are working on that as the next step,” he notes.

This month, Henkel introduces Ampacet's new recyclable material to the black bottles of the toilet cleaning product, Bref.Varman goes on to explain that the new Bref bottles will not have any visible differences in terms of color, size and format. Henkel was keen to ensure this in order to avoid any loss of brand identity. 

“Currently, the recyclability of the black Bref bottle will not be labeled separately on the pack – however, we will include visual information on the bottle going forward [to illustrate the increased sustainability credentials],” he says.

“As, generally speaking, we see increasing awareness for sustainability aspects of our plastic packaging among consumers, we are convinced that they will appreciate our efforts to introduce black bottles which are fully recyclable,” Varman adds.

In addition to the development of the recyclable black bottle for the Bref products, Henkel and Ampacet are currently piloting the new packaging for different products across various business units and categories.

The suitability of the new material was confirmed through real-life conditions tests. Cyclos-HTP, an institute specialized in the classification, assessment and certification of recyclability of packaging and goods, certified that Henkel’s bottles with this carbon-free black color are fully detectable and sortable.

Henkel’s packaging development teams are now working on integrating the new material into additional packaging types while ensuring it meets high-quality standards. As a next step, Henkel is also driving the integration of recycled content in its packaging.

Ampacet’s REC-NIR-BLACK has been named “Product Technology Innovation of the Year” at the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2019 in April.

Initiatives to combat the recycling challenges that black plastics present are becoming more prevalent. In June 2018, UK packaging supplier Faerch Plast announced that it was working collaboratively with Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s and leading UK waste reprocessor Viridor to convert recycled black plastic into new food grade packaging. The company claims that the project has seen 120 tons of black plastic (eight million items) recycled each month since July.

Similarly, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has been experimenting with watermarking technology, which is designed to add efficiency and precision to the sorting process of difficult-to-recycle materials such as opaque and black plastics. Watermark technologies have been developed by partner companies Digimarc and FiliGrade.

The development of recyclable black plastic packaging is another step for Henkel in implementing its packaging strategy and targets, which aims to achieve 100 percent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025.

Henkel also wants to increase the share of recycled plastic to 35 percent for its consumer goods products in Europe by 2025. In order to drive innovation in packaging development and to find effective solutions that can be developed on a large scale, Henkel is engaged in several partnerships and cross-industry initiatives. For example, the company is a member of the New Plastics Economy (NPEC), a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) and a partner of social enterprise Plastic Bank.

By Joshua Poole