Category Archives: Recycling and Biodegradable News

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling, launched yesterday in London.

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling. The packaging giant said it is committed to working with retailers, coffee cup manufacturers, and the recycling industry to try and find a solution to the recycling of disposable coffee cups.

The company is keen to find an effective way to process coffee cups found in many coffee retailers on the high.

One of the key problems with recycling coffee cups is that often there is multiple materials used to manufacture the cups, and a lack of infrastructure such as mills set up to deal with specific multi-material wastes.

The objective is to significantly increase paper cup recovery and recycling rates by 2020.

Jim Malone, head of recycling at DS Smith, said: “We recognise the recyclability of coffee cups is a significant issue. When the cups are improperly discarded they are a highly visible source of litter. There are a number of pieces of research being undertaken to produce recyclable cups and we are willing to collaborate with all sectors of the supply cycle to engineer a recyclable solution.”

Waxed and polyethylene-lined paper coffee cups are not ideal feedstock and are treated as a contaminant in DS Smith’s packaging mill feed stocks. This is because these cups have to spend a longer time in pulpers to break down the paper fibres for recycling compared with mono-material recyclable paper and card.

Currently there are only a handful of mills in the UK that are set up to deal with specific multi-material wastes, such as milk and juice cartons. These mills can reprocess only small quantities of waxed and lined paper cups.

Circular economy MEP to boost renewables

Circular economy MEP to boost renewables, the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) has welcomed the European Parliament draft reports on waste legislation.

Circular economy MEP to boost renewables

Circular economy MEP to boost renewables, ACE said it commended the Rapporteur on the overall direction of the draft reports and supports in particular the proposals to encourage the use of bio-based packaging.

The ENVI Committee’s Rapporteur has proposed legislative action requiring Member States to take such measures as “improving market conditions” and “reviewing existing legislation hampering” bio-based packaging. This is a significant step forward from the policy intentions of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan, said ACE.

“ACE members welcome the Rapporteur’s emphasis on incentivising the use of renewable, bio-based sources in packaging materials”, said ACE president Kristian Hall. “These legal measures are needed to secure investments in the production of innovative materials from renewable sources. This will support Europe’s access to resources and improve the environmental performance of packaging.”

ACE said it is also encouraged by the Rapporteur’s proposal to increase separate collection and sorting of all packaging wastes and to reduce municipal waste landfilled by 2030 to 5%. “This sends a strong signal that all packaging that is recyclable should be recycled”, said Sabine von Wirén-Lehr, chair of ACE Task Force circular economy and senior manager, public affairs at Tetra Pak International.

ACE will consider the details of the Bonafè draft reports in the coming days and said it’s looking forward to further discussion with the European Parliament over what is needed in terms of legislation on waste to contribute to the realisation of a circular economy.

Glass Packaging Industry Legislation

Glass Packaging Industry the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) has supported the European Commission’s Circular Economy Packaging.

Glass Packaging Industry

Glass Packaging Industry. A new FEVE paper said it supports a legislative framework for mandatory separate collection schemes, targets focused on recycling, and acknowledgement of the superior value of permanent materials.

Today, 73% of all post-consumer glass packaging is collected for recycling on average in the EU, and about 90% of it is actually recycled into new bottles and jars.

But FEVE said the challenge is to collect the remaining 27% while ensuring the quality of recycled glass.

Vitaliano Torno, president of FEVE, said: “For the circular economy to function and for all member states to meet their targets, it is fundamental that separate collection schemes become mandatory across the EU to increase the quantity as well as the quality and safety of recycled materials”.

He added that the new recycling targets of 75% (by 2025) and 85% (by 2030) provide a good framework to support investments in separate collection schemes and recycling infrastructure. But the targets must unambiguously focus on recycling, without any competing EU-wide targets on preparing packaging for re-use. Reusable packaging is a product that only satisfies demand from very specific markets, typically local or those functioning in closed circuits, and such targets would create barriers to the free movement of goods in the internal market.

“Materials that can maintain their properties during their repeated use and that can be recycled over and over again must be put at the heart of the EU circular economy”, said Torno. “Glass is a permanent material that is 100% and endlessly recyclable without any degradation of its intrinsic properties no matter how many times it is recycled. This allows for important raw material and energy savings with major benefits for the environment and the economy.”

EU approve smart plant based food packaging

EU Bioplastic packaging project that extends the shelf life of food and informs when it is no longer fit to eat has been given the green light by the EU.

EU

EU launched the project four years ago with the aim of developing plant-based bioplastic packaging that not only extends the shelf life of foods, but also contains a sensor that notifies retailers and consumers of when the food inside is really no longer fit to eat.

The Portuguese-based company Logoplaste, in collaboration with SINTEF and other research partners, has developed a blow-moulded bottle, while the Greek project partner Argo has developed a pot designed to hold seafood such as crabs and prawns. Both types of container are covered with an oxygen-proof exterior coating developed by SINTEF.

Åge Larsen at SINTEF is now ready to present the first demonstration packaging, made of PLA (polyactic acid) and bio-PET (polyethylene terephthalate). Larsen told that this development takes plant-based food packaging a couple of steps further with, “the implementation of the smart element and, in addition, the oxygen-proof exterior coating.”

“The packaging is made of biopolymers to which we have added nanoparticle components. This provides the packaging with new and improved food preservation properties.”

Larsen previously said about the packaging: “It is designed mainly to protect the contents from their surroundings and thus extend shelf life. We achieve this by means of improved oxygen barriers. Standard plastic packaging allows the entry of air which places restrictions on shelf life. Moreover, the new approach considerably reduces the carbon footprint,” Larsen explained.

A three-layer coating has been developed consisting of a cellulose-based film sandwiched by two biodegradable biopolymer layers that serve as oxygen barriers. This can be utilised in the same way as the rigid plastic currently used as food bowls.

The fourth prototype produced as part of this project is a blow-moulded film. This is essentially plastic foil similar to that used to make plastic bags and as oxygen-protective coverings for plates containing food.

The researchers have also developed sensors that can detect, for example, whether the temperature of the food has become too high or if a product has soured.

Larsen added that there will always be an issue regarding how the sensors are incorporated into the product. This must be a decision of the manufacturer. Sensors installed on the inside of the packaging and in contact with the food, such as in bottle caps or corks, will have to be approved by the food hygiene authorities.

UK packaging recycling obligations met from 2014 results

UK packaging recycling, the Environment Agency has confirmed that the annual obligation for the amount of packaging waste recycled in 2015 has been met with the help of carry from 2014.

UK packaging recycling

UK packaging recycling Carry it refers to recycling that has taken place in December of the previous year but held against the current years recycling target.

Recycling figures (excl. carry in) show that 8,476, 729 tonnes of packaging waste was either reprocessed in the UK or exported against a target of 7,487,312 tonnes.

The final total for the year for paper was 3,667,387 tonnes against a net requirement of 2,715,816 tonnes, while wood came in at 374,991 tonnes and thus reaching above its 254,836 obligation.

Glass achieved its overall target with a 40,483 tonne surplus in glass remelt against a target of 1,035,167. Glass aggregate however only managed to produce 501,162 tonne return with a requirement of 537,080 tonnes.

Plastic which experienced an incredibly volatile year only met the obligation target with the help of a 65,444 tonne carry in from 2014, coming in at 891,141 tonnes against a 916,451 tonne target in year.

Steel fell agonisingly short in what was again very difficult trading conditions, achieving 363,927 tonnes on a target of 364,477 tonnes all be it with 23,948 tonne carry in acting as a buffer.

Aluminium registered 76, 027 tonnes, falling slightly short of its 76,252 tonne target with a 4,186 carry in taking it over the line.

Speaking on the 2015 Q4 supply figures Andrew Letham, sales and marketing manager at The Environment Exchange, told, the most notable returns was in plastic, where despite tough trading conditions there was a 23% increase on Q3 at 263,055 tonnes, the largest return ever seen in plastic. He said the 2015 figures brought some ‘staggering’ results in what were very difficult trading conditions.

The Environment Exchange said as new targets were confirmed alongside the budget, the agency recognised difficulties in plastic and reduced the increase from an intended 5% to a 2% increase until 2020. However, demand is still going to be higher than 2015 with a 35,000 tonne reduction in carry in.

Letham said: “If we continue to produce returns as seen in Q4 then we will ease past the revised targets but one would suggest that it should be taken as the exception rather than the rule,”. “Glass will be frozen at 77% with a 1% increase per year up to 80% which should see us achieve target this year but we will get further information on the 22 April with the release of the Q1 supply figures for 2016 when we will see if the current feeling of relative comfort in the market across all materials is to continue.”