Page 62 - Plastic News November 2023

Trio Tackles Cold-Seal Film Recycling

es, an APR-approved lab.
Testing proved that the new film does
not adversely affect recycling steams.
Consequently, How2Recycle granted
the collaborators a prequalification
letter for the structure. Brand own-
ers will use the letter when submitting
their packaging to obtain How2Recy-
cle Store Drop-off certification.

In this exclusive Q&A,Courtney
McLachlan, North America marketing
manager at Bostik, answers Plastics-
Today's questions about the new film.
Tell us about the PE cold-seal film that
merican Packaging, Bostik, and recycling streams. the partner companies submitted to
ACharter Next Generation cre- At that time, How2Recycle requested
ate a breakthrough new cold-seal film testing of cold-seal materials using the APR-approved lab for testing.
compatible with store drop-off recy- APR’s Critical Guidance Testing for
cling. PE Film and Plastic Packaging, a lab McLachlan: It was a newly engineered
Three complementary plastics and evaluation to assess the compatibility structure, as a result of the collabora-
packaging companies have collabora- of PE-based flexible packaging with tion. The companies worked togeth-
tively engineered a polyethylene (PE) reclamation systems that accept films er to determine film grade, cold-seal
cold-seal film that passed the Asso- from store drop-off locations. grade, and cold-seal coat disposition
ciation of Plastic Recyclers (APR) test Cold seal welcomed for at-store re- for the structure.
protocol for PE flexible packaging to cycling. Each chosen component was inten-
make it eligible for the How2Recycle tionally designed to make it hard for
Store Drop-off label. Furthermore, How2Recycle stated the finished structure to pass the test.
that brand owners with cold seal in
The collaborators are film converter their PE packaging had one year to Please refer to our case study for
American Packaging Corp., adhesive validate that the packaging met APR’s more information about the structure
manufacturer Bostik, and PE film recyclability standards. Without vali- that was created.
producer Charter Next Generation dation, the brand owners would no The companies theorized that if chal-
(CNG). longer be allowed to display the How- lenging components could pass, then
Brand owners will benefit from the 2Recycle Store Drop-off label on their less challenging ones would be likely
companies’ work, as it ensures that packaging. to, as well. Additionally, this approach
packaging made from the new film Many brand owners rely on cold-seal would help truly reveal the extent
meets recognized recyclability stand- packaging, particularly for confections to which the chosen cold-seal adhe-
ards, is non-damaging to the recycling and other dry foods, so it became ur- sive may be impacting the recycling
stream, and is easy for consumers to gent to determine, definitively, how stream.
recycle. cold seal affects recycling. The companies then submitted the
The impetus for the partnership was In response to How2Recycle’s an- new structure, as well as a control
How2Recycle’s concern about how nouncement and request for test- structure, for testing. In addition to
cold-seal adhesives affect the recy- ing, American Packaging, Bostik, and the new structure passing the test,
cling stream, an issue that surfaced CNG jointly developed a cold-seal the companies learned that the new
when the group conducted its most film structure and submitted it for structure offered even better per-
recent guideline review of flexible PE testing at Plastics Forming Enterpris- formance than alternatives in some
cases.

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