Chris Dow, the Chief Executive of plastics reprocessor Closed Loop Recycling, has called on the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to encourage retailers to back the use of recycled content in packaging.

Stating that some in the packaging industry are wary of using some recycled materials for fear of customer rejection, Dow says there was now a need to get retailers and brand owners onside and prepared to ‘educate the supply chain on the use of recycled content’.

Speaking to Resource, he added: “When you use recycled content you will get a difference, it’s an impossible thing to avoid. We know that using recycled content has its challenges – if you use a recycled flake compared to a virgin pellet it flows differently, it has different bulk density and there are slight deviations from the norm, so manufacturers and their customers have to be committed to it. We are using recycled material for all the right environmental and social reasons.

“I think there is a lot of support out there from the retailers. If they thought they could help businesses elsewhere in the supply chain, by being proud of the recycling specification, then that could be a very powerful driver.”

Citing successful campaigns run by retailers to encourage the public to buy imperfectly shaped fruit, Dow believes the same attitude should be adopted by WRAP towards marks occasionally identified in recycled plastic packaging: “The tragedy is that for UK Plc we’re not talking about this. These are not defects they are just recycling specks. As a society we should be proud of them, they reduce the carbon footprint.”

PRN/PERN system could be used to promote rPET

Dow added that he believed that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has the opportunity to change the drivers towards the best environmental outcome by reforming the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system, and specifically, through a PRN-offset which could help ‘encourage companies to use recycled content’ and address the oft-cited imbalance between PRNs and PERNs (Packaging Export Recovery Notes).

“Say a packaging producer takes 10,000 tonnes of material from us, if at the end of the year they make 30,000 tonnes of packaging, they should only have PRN obligation for 20,000 tonnes, because that is the amount of virgin resin used”, he explained. “We’re promoting a very simple system to the government – the proof notes would be cost free, we would issue them as part of the framework of reporting for the PRN system, which is subject to auditing by the Environment Agency. These would provide a mechanism for verifying what the packaging producer puts in at the end of the year when it comes to compliance.

“The great thing is that it doesn’t cost the Chancellor of the Exchequer a penny. We’ve spent a lot of time and effort in the UK on collecting more plastic, but we haven’t spent enough time and effort developing demand and end markets. This is one way we can help to drive that with our industry partners.”

WRAP rPET quality report

Dow’s comments follow the publication of WRAP’s, 'Improving food grade rPET quality for use in UK packaging', released on Monday (22 July), which found that ‘much work is needed to improve and maintain rPET [recycled polyethylene terephthalate] quality’. The report came after engagement with members of the industry found that ‘poor rPET quality [is] limiting the amount of rPET that can be used in new food packaging’ (see more below).

WRAP’s report argues that improving the quality of rPET is a key factor in increasing the amount of the material that is used in industry. It claims that raising the quality of the material would allow more to be used, potentially increasing inclusion rates from the current levels of 20-30 per cent to 50 per cent. The report also states that for thermoformed products such as plastic trays, recycled content could rise from 50 per cent to 75-100 per cent if resin quality was improved.

Current barriers to quality

However, the report noted a number of important obstacles hindering the quality of rPET, including:

• contamination;
• poor packaging design; and
• inadequate reprocessing methods.

Discolouration and colour variability of rPET, caused by various contaminants entering the reprocessing stream (such as PVC and black plastic) was identified as the ‘primary quality issue affecting the adoption of rPET into packaging’.

Labatory tests found that PVC was the primary contaminant in reprocessing streams. It degrades at the temperature at which PET is processed, producing hydrochloric acid gas that corrodes processing equipment and attacks PET polymer chains, leading to yellow or brown discolouration.

Non-ferrous metals were also found to be problematic and ‘consistently present’ due to the presence of aluminium can packaging in plastic bales. Other metal contamination included springs from trigger systems or metal closures and ball bearings. These are reportedly difficult to detect and remove and can block or damage important filter screens.

Also problematic was the presence of coloured rPET particles in clear rPET flake, as even very small levels of the former can discolour the latter.

Solutions

The report outlined a number of solutions to improving rPET quality:

• Better filters: WRAP found that the majority of PVC particles present in PET flake at one UK recycler (95 per cent) were under two millimetres (mm) in size, meaning that a screening or filtering system designed to remove such particles could lead to a marked improvement in rPET quality;
• Colour improvement: The report recommended that brands, retailers and packaging converters could improve the colour of rPET by designing bottles and trays that assist recycling and reduce contamination. They can also use virgin resins that have been designed for recycling and reprocessing, such as fast reheat virgin resins that do not contain carbon black;
• Improved sorting; materials recovery facilities (MRFs) could also help by improving the sorting and separation of plastic packaging in order to reduce the risk of contamination.

Meanwhile, WRAP recommended food grade rPET reprocessors filter their material to remove particles under two millimetres or, if possible, particles under four millimetres, although this will require additional technological developments. Optical brighteners were also recommended to improve colour quality, although they should not be used to hide poor product quality.

Finally, the report recommended the adoption of recyclability guidelines for thermoformed PET packaging in the UK, a Europe-wide working group on improving PET thermoform recyclability, and a new study to identify contaminants in post-consumer PET thermoformed packaging.

Commenting on the report, Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics (interviewed in Resource 72) said: “This is an important report and one that could have a major influence of the future development of the UK industry.

"We hope that the MRF Code of Practice will standardise the quality of the feedstock that reprocessors receive, but even more can be done by tackling the problem at source. Put simply, packaging producers need to consider the long term usage of what is a valuable commodity, by employing recycling friendly specifications in their designs. If we can do that we can establish a virtuous circle, increasing the amount and quality of the recycled plastic that we produce, while at the same time decreasing its cost.

"More enlightened producers such as our Continuum partners Coca-Cola Enterprises have already started down that road. Now we need the rest of the industry to follow them, embracing technical and industrial progress to give consumers what they want – quality products with low environmental impact.”

Read the WRAP report in full.