Page 35 - Plastics News July 2023

FEATURE

Why Re-Looping Is Plastics Recycling 2.0
our reliance on virgin resources. To
pivot from recycling to re-looping
requires turning used products back
into equal value products. Instead of
recycling plastic packaging to achieve
commodity resins, we would re-loop
plastic packaging into the highest qual-
ity resins possible. This is not a play
on words, it’s a fundamental shift in
mindset. Currently there is a discon-
nect between what brand owners and
retailers are putting onto the market
and what they require to meet their
sustainability goals, namely high-qual-
he best solution for the complex ryone knows we need to rethink the ity recyclate.
Tand growing plastic packaging way we use plastic packaging. Our This disconnect is causing chaos and
waste problem? Re-looping food- focus must be on how to maximize confusion. Instead of brands spending
grade plastics back into food-grade plastics’ lifecycle by leveraging plas- their resources on so-called green so-
recycled materials…here’s how. tic’s benefits and strategically manage lutions that overload rather than sim-
the material’s end-of-life options. Ad-
The plastic packaging waste situation plify recycling from paper wrappers
is projected to get worse. The world dressing the recovery and recycling for confectionery bars to plastic-lined
currently produces 430 million tons of plastic packaging would make a paper bottles, the emphasis should be
of plastics a year, two-thirds of which fundamental difference to reducing on acknowledging that what they put
are short-lived products that then be- our carbon emissions. Yet we remain on the market is what they will get
come waste. Research by University stuck on how best to achieve this.I back.
of Cádiz, Spain, in 2021 found plastic believe our current approach to re- KPMG recently flagged up a rather
packaging from takeaway food and cycling plastic packaging is one of the obvious fact that insufficient plastic
drink dominate litter. This situation biggest hurdles we must overcome. waste volumes are reaching sorting
is set to get worse on current trends, If we don’t update our perspective facilities. The main culprit? Lack of
with production estimated to triple by on recycling, the industry’s circular effective pre-sorting. While it is true
2060. UNEP’s latest report estimates economy efforts will have little to no that we need to increase recovery
that over the next 20 years, cutting meaningful impact. The current defi- rates, boosting the pre-sorting infra-
plastic pollution by 80% would pre- nition of recycling centers on convert- structure alone will achieve very little.
vent damage valued at more than $3 ing materials from used products into
trillion, including impacts on health, new materials for other products. What we need is to go back to the
climate, air pollution, the ocean en- Historically this has been recycling plastic packaging design drawing
vironment not to mention legal costs into lower-value products. board to really make a difference. A
for cases brought against plastic com- Now we have the technological ca- paradigm shift in the current design
panies. pacity to go one major step further guidelines for circular packaging has
— and this is where we could make the potential to transform recycling
In particular, the 80% cut would pre- rates. The guideline alterations I rec-
vent 500 metric tons of CO2 emis- a transformational shift. Instead of ommend will enable us to re-loop
sions per year, the report estimated, merely recycling, we should be re- rather than recycle, thereby reducing
about the same as the emissions of looping used products into high- waste, our carbon footprint and our
Canada. This shift could also lead to a quality materials and turning them drain on valuable resources.
net increase of 700,000 jobs by 2040, into high-value products. This would
mostly in low-income countries. Eve- simultaneously reduce waste and What does re-looping entail?

PLASTICS NEWS 35
July 2023