Solvay urges industry to keep faith with PVDC plastic amid recycling proof of concept

08 Oct 2021 --- Solvay has established a proof of concept demonstrating polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) can be recycled. Consequently, the company is urging fellow plastics producers to work together to turn PVDC recycling into a reality. 

The proof of concept involves recycling Solvay’s Ixan PVDC bioriented film, which comes from a post-industrial waste source from food packaging. Solvay maintains its recycling process does not compromise on the high-barrier polymer’s performance.

“It shows there is a possibility to reintegrate the recycled polymer into future applications, meaning it can be reused and re-blended with virgin materials – without losing or degrading its high-barrier properties,” says Claire Guerrero, global marketing manager of Solvay’s sustainability and packaging segment.

Solvay views this as an “important step” toward more circular packaging applications, potentially launching other initiatives like recycling post-consumer packaging containing PVDC.

Avoiding PVDC
PVDC is used in F&B and healthcare multilayer barrier packaging worldwide, but can have a detrimental effect on recyclate quality. 

A 2016 Reflex report explains this is due to the material’s thermal degradation below the temperatures required to melt the mainstream polymer. Moreover, standard NIR technology cannot easily detect PVDC’s thin coating layers.

In 2019, Nestlé determined effective recycling schemes are unlikely to be established for PVDC, along with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), expanded polystyrene (EPS), regenerated cellulose and non-recyclable plastics/paper combinations. As such, the FMCG giant discontinued these materials for packaging purposes.

Furthermore, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reveals in its New Plastics Economy Global Commitment 2019 Progress Report that approximately 60% of brands, retailers and packaging producers in the signatory group that use, or have used, PS, EPS or PVDC, have eliminated or have concrete plans to phase out these materials from their portfolio.

For example, Taghleef offers PVDC-free mono-material solutions, while Amcor launched Europe’s first recyclable PVDC-free shrink bag last year. 

PVDC recycling can be possible
Following the initial PVDC recycling breakthrough, Solvay is encouraging the plastics industry to not give up on PVDC recycling. “There is a particular need to introduce the infrastructure required to collect and segregate packaging containing PVDC,” says the company.

“Setting a global PVDC recycling stream is a huge task, so we are therefore inviting our fellow companies to work alongside us to introduce a way to recycle PVDC across the globe,” concludes Guerrero.

By Anni Schleicher

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