RECOUP publishes report on the black plastic recycling challenge

U.K.-based RECOUP (RECycling of Used Plastics Ltd.), which is leading a cross-industry forum addressing the barriers to and improving the recycling of black plastic packaging, has published a report on its progress since the forum was set up at the end of 2017.

It was clear from the forum’s inception that while pressure was growing, research and developments so far had not led to any practical improvements in the recyclability of black plastic, RECOUP says.

The forum focused on sorting and reprocessing black and other undetectable colored plastic packaging. The work established that a number of solutions are available or in development, including use of transparent packaging or alternative colors that are detectable using optical sorting, use of detectable black pigments and development of sorting technology for the existing carbon black packaging.

Stuart Foster, RECOUP CEO, says, “Despite the inevitable politics and positioning behind issues such as black plastic packaging recycling, our role at RECOUP is to bring the various groups and stakeholders together to make practical steps forward. I hope we have helped to avoid knee-jerk reactions to the challenge of improving plastic recycling potential and instead have turned ambitions and collaborative thinking into actual long-term solutions.”

The report highlights a range of ongoing individual and collective actions, which are expected to cut the undetectable black packaging coming into the market by two-thirds by the end 2019, RECOUP says. Given one solution is detectable black pigment, it also appears that specifically excluding or highlighting black packaging as a problem color will no longer be valid.

Paul East, RECOUP packaging technologist and project leader, says, “We appreciate it can take time to deliver the changes needed to improve recyclability, but there is no reason why all plastic packaging can't adopt the basic principle that it must not inhibit the sorting or recycling process as part of the design specifications. As shown in the new report, removing or coming out of black in favor of a transparent pack or detectable color has been seen as the quickest solution in many cases and therefore most popular. To balance this, the report also includes the potentially important role of black and darker plastic as a base color as we move towards the requirement for greater recycled content.”

Although some of the work is still ongoing, the report provides an overview of the options, including details of a range of independent projects undertaken in 2019.

The full report is available to download on the RECOUP website at www.recoup.org/p/275/publications. This and many other topics will be discussed and debated at the next RECOUP Plastics Recycling Conference, Sept. 26 at KingsGate Conference Centre, Peterborough.