Teufelberger manager reveals circular supply issues for award-winning PP strap binders

14 Jan 2021 --- In strides to make the packaging industry more circular, secondary packaging cannot go overlooked.

Austria-based strapping company Teufelberger recently won a WorldStar Global Packaging Award in the Packaging Materials and Components category for its 5 mm PP straps called Tewe SoPrim.

Although designed to be recycled, the straps do not contain recycled materials due to a lack of stable recycled PP (rPP) supply.

PackagingInsights sits down with Teufelberger’s marketing, communication and sustainability manager Katharina Kaltenbrunner to discuss where the lines between product sustainability and functionality can and should not overlap.

“We focus on sustainability not because it’s so fashionable now but because it’s necessary. The plastics industry is heavily bashed, where some points of course are true. But on the other hand, plastic packaging has some benefits.” 

Focus on functionality
The award-winning Tewe SoPrim straps are the next generation of Teufelberger’s original Tewe PP straps, used to bind corrugated paper and newspapers.

The Tewe straps are used to bind corrugated packaging and newspapers.The new straps weigh 10 percent less than the original straps, saving 10 percent in materials. 

When asked why further material reduction percentages aren’t possible, Kaltenbrunner responds: 

“We always have the performance in mind. It doesn’t help the customer if [the straps are] 20, 30 or 50 percent lighter and don’t work.” 

Functionality is a huge focus at Teufelberger. While the company is interested in using more circular materials, it is unwilling to sacrifice on product performance. Here, a widely held misconception is that materials can be easily swapped out.

“One of our competitors tried to use biodegradable raw material. We found out the characteristics of the material is not comparable to PP or PET [in terms of performance] and was therefore not an option,” she explains.

Why rPP isn’t feasible, yet
Currently, Tewe SoPrim is created from 100 percent virgin material. “So it’s not recycled, unfortunately,” Kaltenbrunner details. 

While Teufelberger would “love to” use rPP for Tewe SoPrim, the company currently does not have access to a stable source of rPP comparable to virgin material. Teufelberger ensures its Tewe SoPrim straps are more easily recyclable by making them fully white instead of mixing colors.

The discussion doesn’t end there, however. Instead, Teufelberger offers Tewe SoPrim only as a white mono-virgin material, which is “easiest to recycle.” 

Darker materials are more difficult to detect in the sorting process and ultimately to recycle. “That’s why we decided to have it in white, even though this means we have 100 percent virgin material.”

Teufelsberger’s existing and prospective customers appreciate this approach, having shared positive feedback. 

“For them, it’s not a big difference in terms of quality. They receive the same performance, but at the same time have the positive effects from a sustainability point.”

The PP recycling conundrum
Recycled PP in this industry is no novelty, but the issue for Teufelberger is more the material’s usage, not the material itself. 

If the sold Tewe straps can be retrieved after use, those materials could theoretically be recycled and recreated into new rPP straps.

Kaltenbrunner is Teufelberger’s marketing and sustainability manager.“If we knew that [the rPP] is our strap or if it was used for strapping before, then it’s easier,” Kaltenbrunner notes.

“Once [Tewe SoPrim] goes to our customers and our customers’ customers, we cannot control where it goes,” she argues. “There, the problem starts. We don’t know where our customers sell the straps to.” 

Pushing for a circularity approach 
Regardless, Teufelberger has started a pilot PET strap collection project within Austria. “This started well and we want to enlarge it. The idea at the moment – theoretically – is to set up a similar collection system for PP straps.”

One major obstacle facing Teufelberger’s PET recycling project is EU legislation. “Waste management is organized differently in every EU country. For example, in Italy, we’re not allowed to collect our own waste because the state owns it.”

Since each country has a different recycling infrastructure, it’s even more important to get customers engaged with sending back their used Tewe SoPrim straps.

“The issue here is that we’re dependent on our customers and our customers’ customers. The question is always how to motivate the people to separate,” continues Kaltenbrunner. 

“The idea is to push forward in this topic and to encourage our dealers to collect the used material for us.”

“Then we know we can use it and reuse the straps to produce new ones so they aren’t even considered as a waste. That’s our big idea,” she concludes.

By Anni Schleicher