Consortium releases REFLEX R&D report

The results of a two-year research project that sought to develop strategies to increase the recycling of flexible packaging in the United Kingdom were released during the K 2016, held in Dusseldorf, Germany, in October.

The project, called REFLEX R&D, brought together a range of interested parties, including polymer producers, packaging manufacturers, global brand owners and waste management and recycling companies.

Members of the consortium include Axion Consulting, which took the lead on the project; Amcor Ltd., Dow Chemical Co., Interflex Group, Nestlé UK Ltd., Suez, Tomra Sorting Ltd and Unilever. The project was funded by the Innovate UK.

The consortium’s research looked at the commercial value of materials recovered by the recycling process and demonstrated that attractive yields of recycled materials could be achieved. The project addressed technical challenges in establishing an infrastructure to collect, sort and recycle flexible packaging in the U.K. As an example, the project looked at digital watermarking on packaging that is suitable for mechanical recycling and the use and enhancement of near infrared sorting technologies.

“We think that these changes and further technology optimization can improve the economics of recycling flexible packaging and make the concept more attractive to investors and recyclers,” says Richards McKinlay, Axion Consulting senior engineer.

“Flexible packaging excels in terms of material efficiency,” says Gerald Rebitzer, Amcor director of sustainability. “This creates a cascade of environmental benefits throughout the entire value chain and avoids waste at the source. What is still in its infancy is an end-to-end solution for this packaging type. This research could help close that gap.”

The consortium also developed guidelines to provide information to packaging designers and technologists, brand owners, retailers and converters to design flexible packaging that is suitable for mechanical recycling. However, the consortium says that the guidelines will not be released until further testing work has been completed and validated at European level.

Roger Morton, director of Axion Consulting, says, “The REFLEX project demonstrated how state-of-the-art technology in sorting and preparation for recycling can help increase the rate of flexible packaging recycling. It also showed how novel packaging designs and potential new marking techniques may further increase recyclability and efficiency of the whole process.”

The next step for the consortium is to bring together more brand owners, converters, waste management and recycling companies to help the group finalize and validate the design guidelines for recycling’.

“It is pivotal that the value chain works together to address the challenge of flexible packaging recycling. Technical advances made in the REFLEX project and the guidelines should help the plastic packaging value chain in future to manage better the end of life packaging and progress towards a more circular model,” Morton continues.

“Used flexible packaging is an important resource waiting to be mined for high quality materials with the potential to be recycled into all kinds of long-life applications from automotive products to rotational/ injection-molded items.”

Dana Mosora, director for sustainability and advocacy for Dow’s Packaging and Specialty Plastics, EMEA, says, “We’re shining a light on each part of the value chain to come up with a better integrated system to collect, sort and recycle flexible plastic packaging. We have identified a clear need for investment to develop the infrastructure which will enable recycling of flexible packaging with state-of-the-art technology today. We are also looking forward to work on developing the ‘Design for Recycling’ guidelines with a broader European consortium, to be formed by the proposed merging with the FIACE consortium and involving other relevant stakeholders.”