Three major difficulties in film and flexible packaging recycling- Jiaxing Fuda Chemical Fiber Factory

In recent years, with the enhancement of environmental awareness and technological advancement, the recycling and reuse of film and flexible packaging has gradually become an important issue. At the North American Plastics Recycling Conference held in the first half of this year, a guest said: Increasing film recycling requires coordinated efforts from brand owners and recyclers, and it requires a true recognition that one industry cannot solve this problem alone.

“We know that film and flexible packaging have been a challenge for many years," said Emily Tipaldo, then-executive director of the American Plastics Pact. “Research programs and companies themselves have invested millions of dollars trying to find solutions. But we haven't found a solution yet. ”

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Recyclability is important, but it cannot be ranked front row

Crystal Bayliss, director of strategy and engagement at the American Plastics Pact, said that because progress has been slow, it's easy to fall into the mindset that if only other industries took some kind of action, everything would be solved, but it's often not that simple.

One hypothetical question, she said, is why haven't all brands simply switched to single-material PE films for their packaging? It is easier to recycle than multi-material packaging, but multi-material packaging has proliferated and recycling systems continue to face challenges.

100 million “We’re not lacking in experimentation,” said Lou Fenech, packaging sustainability manager for North America at Mondelēz International, which owns brands such as Nabisco, Oreo and Sour Patch Kids.

Fenech said, Many of Mondelēz’s packaging products use Recyclable PE film , but not all products are applicable. He said the carbon footprint of packaging production and recyclability must be weighed against other carbon footprints, and Mondelēz's main goal is to ensure packaging does not contribute to food waste. He said. “Recyclability comes second, but it’s still important.”

Some products require a stronger barrier than traditional PE films to prevent food from spoiling, Fenech said. Barrier protection in the film prevents oxygen and moisture from entering the packaged product. To enable more recyclable PE films to offer the same benefits as less recyclable PP For the same level of barrier protection as metallized films, PE films need to be thicker than ordinary films. But use more Thick PE films may conflict with the company's commitment to reducing the use of virgin plastic.

“We could find more effective solutions if possible, but we don’t want to launch a product with three times the volume of virgin plastic on the market,” he said.

Additionally, there are technical challenges. Fenech noted that PE has a lower melting point than commonly used film composites, which can be an obstacle when products are sealed within film packaging. At lower melting points, the membrane may deform during sealing.

“Compared to traditional materials where the outside is PET or in some cases PP, it’s harder to find those areas where you can get a good seal and not twist with PE film.”

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Diverse materials make recycling difficult

Bayliss raises another question: Why can't recyclers recycle more types of membranes? ?

Roxanne Spiekerman, vice president of U.S. public affairs for film processor PreZero, said there are technical and aesthetic reasons from a film recycling perspective. Membrane recyclers deal with “all plastics recycling needs,” she said. Thinner Gauges” The challenges posed by products as thin as 1mm simply don’t exist with rigid plastics.

“Every time you introduce post-consumer materials into the system, you introduce unknowns,” Spiekerman said. This makes introducing a wider variety of materials a daunting proposition. When PreZero produced PCR PE films, the company faced challenges with other types of polymers acting as impurities. Although larger impurities are easily removed, Metal detection equipment can separate metal fragments, but the PP or nylon that comes in with the PE film creates technical challenges during the recycling process.

“Everyone thinks ‘plastic film is plastic film,’ and they don’t really see the difference,” Spiekerman said.

From an aesthetic point of view, she Pointing out, film recycling companies have to sell the material they produce, so it has to be something brands are willing to buy, which means offering flexible packaging in specific colors, “which becomes quite difficult when you’re dealing with post-consumer plastics, so This in turn limits the range of materials we can recycle."

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Lack of value hinders collection

Film must be collected before the resin can be purchased at the application end, and before the resin can be produced by the recycler, which presents an interrelated challenge. Europe plastic recycler Fabrizio Di Gregorio, technical director of the organization, said that 11 million tons of flexible packaging enter the market in Europe every year, and only about half of it is recycled. He attributed the gap to high collection costs.

"No one wants to collect something that has no value, and in flexible packaging, recycling often has no value," Gregorio explain.

This is because the content of required materials such as PE and PP can vary greatly, sometimes even less than 50%, as there are a variety of multi-layer material films, including vinyl alcohol, polyamide, inks, adhesives, etc.

“In flexible applications, there’s really no way to replace all virgin materials made of PE or PP,” Gregorio said.

The U.S. film collection situation is also disadvantaged by comparison, given Europe's collection challenges. It relies primarily on store returns programs to collect post-consumer film. parts of europe Provides roadside membrane recycling services, but in the United States It is rare in the country.

"We're still far from that goal," Speakman said.