Page 74 from: October 2013

74 October 2013

The UK is facing an uphill battle to meet plastic packaging recycling

targets. Undaunted, specialists have embarked on various projects

across the supply chain in a bid not only to improve the collection

and recycling infrastructure but also to increase the demand for

recycled plastics. Here, ‘Recycling International’ reports on some of

the technology currently under the microscope.

Some people have the gift for adopting a cheer-ful and optimistic attitude towards even the
most Herculean of tasks. ‘There are big opportu-

nities in mixed plastics,’ Tim Baldwin happily told

the recent International Conference on Recycling

of Plastics in Bad Neuenahr, an event organised

by Germany’s Federal Association for Secondary

Raw Materials and Waste Management (bvse).

Shortly before making this comment, the project

manager for plastics at Zero Waste Scotland had

described the scale of the challenge facing the UK

in meeting plastic packaging recycling targets. It

will be a tough job for the country’s packaging

companies and recycling industry alike.

Baldwin highlighted figures from the Waste &

Resources Action Programme (WRAP) which

show that approximately 2.5 million tonnes of

plastic packaging enters the UK market every year.

In 2012, around 644 000 tonnes (or 25%) was

recycled; by 2017, 42%

(or 1.2 million tonnes)

are to be recycled. ‘That

means that within four

and a half years, around

550 000 tonnes extra

have to be recycled,’ he

said. ‘In order to

achieve this target, cur-

rent efforts would have

to be doubled.’ By the

way, 42% represents the

‘overall target’. The target for obligated companies

is considerably higher at some 57%.

Given this context, various projects across the

supply chain are currently under way to improve

the collection and recycling infrastructure, as well

as to increase the demand for recycled plastics.

Barriers to overcome
WRAP is working in partnership with the

industry to develop a viable process to recycle

post-consumer polypropylene (PP) packaging

waste into recycled PP (rPP) suitable for use in

the manufacture of new food packaging. PP is

widely used in pots, tubs, bottles, punnets and

trays to package a variety of food products. It

is also used for packaging household cleaning

and personal care goods.

‘The widespread use of PP means it is the third

most common polymer found in household

waste in the UK after high-density polyethylene

(HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET),’

explained Baldwin of Zero Waste Scotland – a

programme managed by WRAP. According to

him, PP accounts for 40% or 180 000 tonnes of

non-bottle rigid packaging waste from UK house-

holds. ‘With packaging accounting for around

half of PP demand, and most of it for food appli-

cations, there is a significant opportunity to use

rPP in food packaging if the technical and com-

mercial barriers can be overcome to produce a

food-grade material that meets EU regulations.’

Although PP is regularly recycled into such

products as buckets and pallets, recycling it into

food-grade packaging has not been possible to

date. ‘The recycling of post-consumer PP to

food-contact quality is more complex and chal-

lenging than the recycling of HDPE and PET due

to the nature of the PP post-consumer stream,’

stated the plastics expert, who is currently work-

ing with recycling businesses and plastics proces-

sors to develop the infrastructure to recycle more

plastics and also to integrate more recycled plas-

tics into product manufacture in Scotland.

The challenge is that PP packaging is widely used

for food and non-food containers, and in a wide

range of shapes, sizes and colours. Furthermore,

PP readily absorbs components of some of the

ingredients that have been added for functional

or fragrance purposes. These materials are typ-

ically high boiling esters and are particularly

difficult to extract from the PP via conventional

decontamination processes. The integral or

directly-printed labelling in multiple colours on

PP containers also presents a challenge.

Combined process
As a first step, WRAP tested whether a recycling

process already used to produce food-grade

rHDPE in the UK could be adapted to recycle

PP to meet food-grade approval. This appar-

ently revealed that the rHDPE process is not

highly effective at removing contaminants in PP.

P L A S T I C S

By Mareike Kuhn

Tim Marsden: use of recycled
plastics in food-contact applica-
tions is also a focus for the
British Plastics Federation.

UK plastics recycling
Success through
science?

p00_Plastics UK.indd 74 03-10-13 10:09