Plastics Packaging Design for Recycling Background and Recommendations Andreas Kessler SUEZ
EU plastics recycling rate target: 55% 2014 2025 Source: Plastics the Facts 2016, Plastics Europe 2 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
55% Recycling rate is a game changer o Less Recycling out of Europe (Chinese Ban) o EU sorting to grow by 14 Mio. t o EU production to grow by 10 Mio. t Opportunity for EU (investments, jobs) Politicians will increase the pressure on all players in the value chain to reach 55% Source: Blueprint for plastics packaging waste, Deloitte and Plastics Recyclers Europe Study, Dec. 2017 3 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
What does it take to reach 55%? Focus on Packaging 62% of the plastics waste in Europe is Packaging More recyclable packaging ECODesign Separate collection of all packaging plastics Cooperation Investments in high quality sorting and recycling Brand Owners to increase recycled content More Close-Loop Recycling Picture Handshake: Wikipedia 4 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
The chicken or the egg? Brand Owners: We want to buy more recyclates, but o there is not enough good quality material available o the price is too high Recyclers: o There is not enough recyclable packaging available to be recycled at acceptable costs o Need higher and more stable sales prices to invest in quality How can we solve this dilemma? 1. Understand each others problems Sorters/recyclers have to balance between cost and quality Brand owners have to balance between recyclability and product protection (shelf live) 2. Cooperate to keep costs of the total value chain as low as possible 3. High volume packaging solutions should be recyclable at a cost level that allows brand owners to buy back the recyclate produced from this packaging solution (example: PET water bottles) 5 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
More recyclable packaging ECODesign Recyclable means: o Packaging can be sorted correctly and cost efficiently o There is a market for the produced circular plastics 6 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
Sorting of packaging waste today Simplified working principle of a plastics household packaging sorting plant: Fines/Rest Screen Metals (Alu,FE) Tetra Tetra Paper Film >DIN A4 FE/nFEdetection Windshifting / Ballistic Rigid Mixed Plastics PE PP PET bottles PS Optical Sorting manual by shape and automatic by NIR Mixed Plastics Rest o o o Mixed plastics mainly turned into energy or downcycled at high cost (only NL) PE, PP, PET-bottles, PS and film go to recycling PET-trays and opaque bottles end up in the mixed plastics or in the rest (energy recovery) => tests running to recycle PET-mix 7 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
NIR sorting Sorting of plastics with NIR (Near-Infrared) Source: TITECH Technical Limits: o Depending on throughput: purities not better than 80-95% o Black packaging can not be sorted by plastic type o Packs made from multi materials or covered by sleeves might end up in the wrong material fraction 8 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
Fine sorting at the recycler o Recyclers sort on density (sink-float in water) Float: Unfilled PP, PE, foams and Silicon Sink: PET, PS, PVC and other plastics o All what floats stay together all what sinks stay together o Further sorting on flake level is possible but will increase cost Picture: www.teachersource.com Design your product in a way that the target material is the only floating (or only sinking) material 9 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
Recyclable packaging with huge cost advantage Output sorting plant sales price advantage of different sorted materials for recycling compared to energy recovery: Closed Loop, high quality Energy Recovery D 7 ct/kg Downcycling D 12 ct/kg Medium quality recycling D 42 ct/kg PET bottles opaque* PET trays* PET multilaminates Other non-pp/pemultilaminates * Recycling tests running in 2018 10 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018 PP films HDPE films PE/PP dominated multilaminates LDPE Films (mono) PS pots, tubs, trays (mono) Pictures: nestlefamily.ch, plasticflac-lejeune.be, gastrobar24, bonsum.de, simonpaper.co.uk (prices are highly fluctuating and depending on quality, rough estimation taken) PET transparent (mono) HDPE bottles (mono) PP pots, tubs, trays (mono)
Camouflage packaging causing highest cost Example for a camouflage packaging White PET bottle with a PE sleeve all around the surface o The NIR system is detecting PE => bottle ends up in the PE-fraction o At the PE recycler the bottle will be shredded and than sink during the washing and fine sorting process the bottle will end up in the residual waste of the recycling process and will go to incineration 11 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
PET Camouflage vs. HDPE PET Camouflage HDPE o Processing at recycler: -40 ct/kg o Gate fee incineration: -12 ct/kg o Additional transport: -3 ct/kg o S -55 ct/kg o PE label and more free surface allows NIR to put the bottle in the right PE fraction o Sorting plant sales price PE bottle: 30 ct/kg o S 30 ct/kg Cost difference 85 ct/kg (prices are highly fluctuating and depending on quality, rough estimation taken) 12 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
Eco-Modulation of EPR-Fees makes sense Today the EPR-fee for the HDPE-bottle and the PET-Camouflage-bottle is equal The HDPE-bottle is financing the incineration of the camouflage bottle The good is paying for the bad EPR Fees should reflect the costs of different packages for the recycling value chain Some countries are already checking options to get Eco-Modulation started (France, Germany, Italy, ) 13 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
But there is more to do Investments in high quality sorting and recycling o Investments require stable business plans o Sorters and recyclers suffer from negative / low margins o Legislation to help stabilizing prices and demand for circular plastics CO 2 credits reduced tax rate green public procurement help brand owners to increase recycling content in products Minimum recycling rates for certain products Brand Owners to increase recycled content Brand Owners: o Sell more recyclable products and o Incorporate more recycled plastics into products! 14 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
Cooperation is key Brand Owners Converters Waste Management/ Recycling Virgin Producers Recyclers 15 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018
16 I EuRIC Annual Conference 2018 Thank you