Triggering a fresh packaging recycling trial

Transcription

1 Triggering a fresh packaging recycling trial Summary Plastic packaging used in air and home care product categories, like trigger tops and flip caps, are not separately collected or commonly recycled in the UK. When these are left attached to their plastic bottle, they generally do not get recycled because of their different plastic polymers and the metal springs. Procter & Gamble s (P&G) Febreze brand worked with Somerset Waste Partnership, Gloucestershire Joint Waste Team, TerraCycle and Tesco in a project managed and coordinated by LRS Consultancy, to evaluate the barriers to recycling and the effectiveness of non-kerbside options for collecting this type of infrequently arising waste plastic packaging. P&G wants its products and packaging to have a closed loop life cycle wherever possible and was keen to investigate ways to encourage and enable recycling of its packaging. The cross-sector consortium worked together in partnership with the aim of ascertaining whether the items could be successfully identified by consumers, captured and subsequently recycled. The project provided a good opportunity for a range of organisations involved in the manufacture and recycling of packaging to see how more packaging materials could be retained within the supply chain and recycled. The short trial was jointly funded by WRAP and P&G s Febreze brand. Key Facts Diverse organisations can work in partnership across the supply chain to trial new approaches to recycling. Sustainable behaviours, like recycling, can be adopted, by using prompts to encourage consumers. Product and packaging designers need to engage within the supply chain to consider recyclability opportunities.

2 Triggering a fresh packaging recycling trial 2 Background The majority of air care and home care products, including air fresheners and cleaning products, end up as post-consumer waste that is not recycled, as they are currently difficult to recycle due to their different plastic polymers or components. It is clear that involvement from stakeholders across the supply chain is necessary to trial ways to collect them for recycling. A consortium, made up of P&G through its Febreze brand, Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP), Gloucestershire Joint Waste Team, TerraCycle, Tesco and LRS, worked on a project to investigate the effectiveness of householder-led collection of trigger tops and flip caps very specific packaging materials not generally collected for recycling. Labelled recycling container at a SWP Household Recycling Centre The project consisted of the operational aspect of installing and managing recycling containers at bring sites and various communication routes for reaching residents to persuade and encourage them to: separate trigger tops and flip caps from plastic bottles; take the trigger tops and flip caps to the trial s facilities for recycling; recycle the non-drinks plastic bottles, like Febreze and Fairy, via their usual household plastic bottle recycling schemes; and establish Air and Home Care Brigades and collect and send appropriate plastic packaging to TerraCycle for recycling. Information in recycling flyer relating to the Air and Home Care Brigade Recycling containers were installed across all 22 of the Gloucestershire County Council and Somerset Waste Partnership Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) and at 11 existing recycling sites in the car parks of Tesco stores across the two counties. The labelled containers were situated adjacent to the plastic bottle recycling containers to make it easy for consumers to recycle plastic bottles and trigger tops and flip caps

3 Triggering a fresh packaging recycling trial 3 separately, in the same place and at the same time. As well as the availability of containers for collecting the target material, schools, community groups and charities were encouraged to set up Air and Home Care Brigades and collect trigger tops, flip caps and a wider range of plastic air and home care packaging materials, including air freshener cartridges and flexible home cleaning wipes packaging and send them to TerraCycle for recycling, and by doing so, raise money for charities. To support the operational intervention approaches, a communications strategy informing residents about the different trial messages, using Febreze and Fairy brands as the focus, was developed and delivered across channels relevant to the target audiences in Gloucestershire and Somerset. The channels used were: advertising (posters, flyers and bin signage), public relations, websites, social media, newsletters, and internal partner communications. Poster indicating that target materials be taken to the HRCs and Tesco bring sites and the bottles be put in the usual SWP black household recycling box Results Media coverage was widespread in the main local and industry publications, while the other channels helped raise awareness of the trial and encouraged participation. The communications informed consumers about what and where to recycle their targeted packaging and as a result, a small quantity was collected at bring site facilities over the three month trial (November 2014 to March 2015). On average, each Somerset HRC collected 2.37 kg and each Gloucestershire HRC 3.36 kg of target material for recycling during the trial, whereas Tesco bring site recycling bins captured only 0.26 kg. Example flyer showing the trigger tops and flip caps The most common type of contamination included lids from plastic bottles (in particular milk bottle lids), plastic bottles (many with trigger tops still attached), soap pumps, lids from plastic containers and plastic bags. It is apparent that some products trigger tops are not designed to be removed from the bottles, making it

4 Triggering a fresh packaging recycling trial 4 nearly impossible for consumers to separate the requested packaging for recycling. Feedback from HRC staff suggests that the majority of the recycling of trigger tops and flip caps occurred when consumers saw the trial bins whilst bringing plastic bottles to the HRC for recycling and consequently separated the trigger tops and put them in the trial s containers. During the trial, ten Air and Home Care Brigades were established across the two counties, although, due to the infrequent nature of the target packaging arising as waste, no shipment of materials was received by TerraCycle from these new members. TerraCycle did, however, receive shipments from some of its existing Brigades in Somerset and Gloucestershire. The Brigades are continuing and TerraCycle is likely to capture further materials as a result of this trial at a later date. A total amount of 67.9kg of trigger tops and flip caps was sent to the TerraCycle reprocessing facility at Preston, in Lancashire. This will be combined with other trigger tops collected by TerraCvcle through their other Brigades established across the UK to create a quantity of material sufficient to be recycled into products like bins or watering cans. It must be stated that the short trial period, the relatively limited budget for communications, and a low number of participants meant that the results only provide an indication of what might happen if bring facilities were widely rolled out, but cannot be considered statistically significant. involvement from wider stakeholders in the supply chain and more consideration given to different approaches for collecting and recycling these challenging materials. This project seemed to confirm the difficulty involved in asking consumers to take infrequently arising small packaging items to a bring site to recycle. However, it suggested that some residents would participate when seeing the labelled containers when recycling their plastic bottles. The signage on the appropriately situated trial recycling containers can prove a useful prompt to stimulate participation. It demonstrates a potential that once residents are informed and reminded they can and may try to use appropriate recycling facilities. It was also clear from the results that the Air and Home Care Brigade collection systems take a while to become established, taking time to raise awareness about new Brigades amongst communities and to collect enough items to then post to TerraCycle. In terms of collecting this type of material, trigger tops and flip caps were confused with other tops and lids, which largely resulted in high levels of contamination. This reinforced the need for clarity in target material description and type of plastic. The contamination of plastic bottles with immovable trigger tops also revealed that designers and material choice decisionmakers need to engage within the supply chain down-stream and upstream to consider recyclability opportunities and make considered decisions. Conclusion The project showed how diverse organisations could work in partnership across the supply chain toward a common goal. In order to achieve higher levels of post-consumer recycling for packaging that arises infrequently in the waste stream and continue to grow the national recycling rate, there could be benefit from more

5 Working with the partners in the trigger top trial provided a good opportunity for Febreze to see how more of our packaging could be collected for recycling and retained within the supply chain. Aurelie Nomdedeu-Ducourtioux, Air Care Global Marketing - While we have tried to make sure this case study is accurate, we cannot accept responsibility or be held legally responsible for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. This material is copyrighted. You can copy it free of charge as long as the material is accurate and not used in a misleading context. You must identify the source of the material and acknowledge our copyright. You must not use material to endorse or suggest we have endorsed a commercial product or service. For more details please see our terms and conditions on our website at