Toppan and Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello initiate BOPP test pilot for flexible plastic recycling
07 Aug 2023 --- Toppan, Mitsui Chemicals and Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello have announced a joint pilot testing to establish technologies and operational infrastructure for the horizontal recycling of printed biaxially-oriented PP (BOPP) flexible packaging.
The three companies aim to leverage network growth in the flexible packaging materials industry to advance and expand the horizontal recycling of flexible packaging film and implement the technology by 2025 in compliance with the Japanese Ministry of Environment’s Resource Circulation Strategy for Plastics.
Through the strategy, the government has laid out a target to double recycling by 2030 and maximize the use of biomass plastics by adopting designs that allow reuse and recycling by 2025.
“With 2025 as an important starting point toward those milestones, it will be essential to expand efforts for reuse and recycling on the way to 2030,” the companies state.
Mitsui Chemicals will use its expertise in PP resins to recover used film, remove printing, turn it into recycled pellets and provide quality control. Meanwhile, Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello will harness its BOPP film production technology to produce recycled films and provide quality control.
Toppan’s converting technology and the ability to roll out downstream offerings will be applied to supply used BOPP, converting the recycled film and running sales and marketing.
Industry collaboration
In May 2022, Mitsui Chemicals launched its RePlayer Renewable Plastics Layer System. The initiative aims to recover film waste from flexible packaging material converters, remove any ink from it, turn the remaining material into pellets and turn those pellets into new flexible packaging film.
Later that year, Toppan, Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello and Mitsui Chemicals began discussing the basis of the joint pilot testing, which starts now, with BOPP film waste – generated by Toppan from processes such as printing adjustment – being recovered by Mitsui Chemicals and converted into pellets that are made into recycled BOPP film by Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello.
“Toppan is also evaluating the recycled BOPP film’s quality, with a particular eye toward its suitability for printing, lamination and the creation and filling of flexible pouches. The lamination process here uses eco-friendly adhesive from Mitsui Chemicals,” details the company.
Toppan, Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello and Mitsui Chemicals have launched pilot testing for horizontally recycling printed BOPP film back into new flexible packaging film.
PP recycling
Earlier this year, TotalEnergies joined the Nextloopp initiative to accelerate the feasibility of advanced mechanical recycling projects targeting food contact. It also expanded its RE:use polymers range, which contains mechanically recycled raw materials.
In other PP recycling tech advancements, Berry Global’s CleanStream recycling technology, “the first” closed-loop system to mechanically process domestically recovered household waste PP back into food-grade packaging, was granted a Letter of No Objection from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The letter clarified that the PCR PP produced by the CleanStream process can be used in levels up to 100% recycled content for food contact applications. One of its benefits is that it can operate within existing waste management infrastructures.
Meanwhile, RecyClass evaluated Viva Packaging’s In-Mold Label (IML) tube to assess the impact that printed IML would have on the recyclability of PP tubes. The independent laboratory testing results demonstrated that Viva Packaging’s PP-based technology IML tube is compatible with the rigid PP recycling stream.
Edited by Radhika Sikaria
