GreenMatter; recycle the present, save the future! GreenMatter focuses in an innovative way on reducing the artificial grass waste heap. We manufacture circular products from recycled artificial grass fibres for on and around the sports field. The initiative originated from a close cooperation between Re-match, Lankhorst Engineered Products and W&H Sports. By carefully separating the artificial turf mats, a high-quality PE raw material flow is realised that is free of contamination and backing. GreenMatter supports clients such as municipalities and engineering offices in a practical and transparent way to implement circular solutions with the aim of reducing the artificial turf waste mountain. The composite delivery program of striking and edging boards, flower boxes, terrace and decking boards, shoring and a diamond head pole, offers sufficient possibilities to return every kilogram on or around the sports facility.

With the circular objective that we, as a society, have entered into to make our living environment future-proof, there is a greater need for sustainable circular solutions. With our products, we focus on future-proof circular solutions for (sports) facilities in the Netherlands and abroad, so that future generations can continue to use sustainable (sports) facilities as well as a demonstrable CO₂ reduction for the living environment. Distinctive factors of GreenMatter are; the cooperation with reliable partners, the quality & responsible products and that the products are 100% recyclable afterwards. With this GreenMatter delivers a completely closed circle. By carefully designing the products, metal and plastic are separated in the system. This guarantees that all components can be recycled without additional pollution and even with a negative CO₂ footprint.

MARSHALL-TUFFLEX: PVC-U RANGE OF CABLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS For more than 75 years Marshall-Tufflex has pioneered plastic extrusion in the UK and led the way in areas of product research, development and innovation. Recognising the astronomical impact the construction industry has on the environment - an estimated 25 million tonnes of waste from this sector ends up in landfill sites - Marshall Tufflex is leading the charge on tackling PVC-U waste within the building industry.

The company has used its expertise in PVC-U manufacturing to develop new ways to produce superior products that retain their high quality finish, using recycled PVC-U originating from post-industrial PVC-U windows. This is a grade of PVC-U designed to withstand the external elements – benefiting from increased durability.

In addition, Marshall-Tufflex has invested in its own PVC-U compounder, so the company can utilise both post-industrial and post-consumer waste.

Thanks to these innovations and its circular economy ethos, approximately 3,600 tonnes of recycled material was prevented from reaching landfill in 2018 – the equivalent in weight of 300 double decker buses.

Marshall-Tufflex has also been calling on the wider industry to think more carefully about product selection, posing a challenge that by 2028, all PVC-U cable management products installed in buildings should be manufactured with a minimum of 50% recycled content.

OGEL has invented a method to manufacture walls and roofs from WASTE POLYSTRENE.

Ogel has only 4 components: It can be used to build Garden Rooms, Flood Defences, Internal walls and Exhibition stands.

Benefits:  

Uses no tools or glue so is fully reusable 

Requires limited Construction skills 

Fully Modular 

Fire Retardant 

Compacts down for transportation

Patent protection:  The product is protected in UK, Europe, USA and China which gives us a product monopoly in the most lucrative global markets for 20 years.

Contact details: Gary Giles +44 (0) 7971 242353 Gary.giles@ogel.world

The virtuous lifecycle of a PET Bottle

The history of recycling at Freudenberg Performance Materials dates back to the 1990s. Freudenberg currently recycles around 2.5 billion post-consumer PET bottles every year. Laid end to end, this number would circle the Earth 15 times.

The production process starts with the recycling of PET bottles, which are selected, washed and reduced to flakes. Flakes are then transformed into fiber or used directly in the spinning process to manufacture recycled polyester nonwoven carriers for bituminous waterproofing membranes in the roofing industry.

The wide range of nonwovens products consist of 100% recycled PET. Even labels and caps are recycled and used as bitumen modifiers or in other plastic applications.

Recycling PET bottles means:

• LESS waste otherwise sent to landfills;

• SAVING of natural resources;

• LESS CO2 emissions to air (100 million-kg/year);

• LESS water consumption (- 50%);

The effectiveness of our contribution to environmental protection has been demonstrated by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis, carried out on our range of products.

Following international rules, LCA studies measure the environmental impact that a product has during its entire life cycle. Based on the results of the LCA analysis conducted on our range of products, Freudenberg Performance Materials succeeded in obtaining the coveted Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) label.

Zedex Sustane is a range of sustainable high-performance damp-proof course (DPC) and cavity trays, developed for use in modern construction applications and designed to meet the demand from the construction sector for products that contribute to a circular economy.

In developing the new Zedex Sustane DPC products one of the most critical aspects was to identify a suitable source of recycled plastic to deliver the same performance and production benefits as a DPC made from virgin material. This was achieved through the use of Sustane from Berry bpi, a sustainable, high performance polymer grade made from post-consumer and post-industrial waste.

Sustane is a unique range of sustainable premium polymer compounds. Made from 100% recycled plastic, Sustane replaces virgin polymers – setting new standards in recycled plastic. Developed and manufactured in the UK Sustane supports the circular economy by offering complete traceability, as well as being recyclable itself.

The careful selection and sortation of previously used plastics and the implementation of rigorous quality standards with full traceability to ensure material specifications are consistently met, means that Zedex Sustane DPC products demonstrate a consistently high level of technical performance. Matching and sometimes even exceeding products made from virgin resin.

In summary, Zedex Sustane has been created to maintain all the damp DPC protection benefits from materials made from virgin material while incorporating 100% recycled plastic. For specifiers, retailers and builders it provides a clear opportunity to demonstrate sustainability credentials by incorporating recycled plastic content within their DPC products across their construction projects.

Julen is the founder and CEO of The Gravity Wave – a company which retrieves the plastics from the Mediterranean Sea and transforms it into smartphones covers and 3D filament. The company aims to take 8 tons of plastic out of the sea, per year.

Julen realized the problem of plastic littering and decided to make a change. Together with a fishing company from Athens, Enaleia, which collects the plastic debris and Crazy & Things, who transform the marine litter into 3D filament and any kind of products made 100% of recycled material, The Gravity Wave was created.

Julen’s mission is clear: to remove all the plastic in the Mediterranean Sea, stop producing new materials and transform all the waste polluting the planet to generate profit while contributing to development, research and ethical corporations. He sees The Gravity Wave as a tool to make local change happen. And once this is achieved, he aims to replicate the business model globally.

The Gravity Wave is further collaborating with one of the biggest recycling plants in Spain, who clean, select and transform the waste sent from Greece into material which is used for manufacturing of 3D filament and smartphone cases, as well as a local a local company that has patented a machine to turn the plastic that cannot be recycled anymore into energy with a 0 emissions process.

Flor holds a Masters in Sciences Biology with a major in Ecology and Microbiology, and she recently obtained a diploma in Sustainability Business Management at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Since September 2017 she is working as a Sustainability Project Manager, being responsible for the implementation of ClearIntent with the European marketing team.

Flor engages with the global sustainability team to share best practices as well as strengthens sustainability awareness via internal and external training.

Flor is also the leader of the External Waste Goal and in 2019 she started the implementation of ecodesign within Avery Dennison. The purpose of the project is to change the mentality of how new products are designed by combining innovation for the development of future portfolios with the guidelines for recycling.

At the same time, she is actively working together with several organizations - such as CEFLEX, PETCORE or Plastics Recyclers Europe - to investigate the possibility of how PSL labels can enable recycling and understand the needs of the markets.

Last year, she led a deep dive search on different recycling streams around Europe to understand the process and to know better the needs of each recycler in terms of packaging labeling, being able to transform those needs into our new innovation ecodesign process.

Carlos has more than 30 years of professional experience in the waste & environment sector, and more specifically in the field of plastic packaging waste. His expertise includes company management and strategy, eco- design, selective collection, sorting and recycling. He is directly involved in the development of new recycling solutions for plastic waste in France, including chemical recycling. He also has extensive international experience in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia in the field of plastic waste management, and EPR schemes.

During his professional career, Carlos held different positions in research institutes, consultancy companies, waste management companies, and companies in charge of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme. Carlos joined CITEO in 2007 as technical director, covering all packaging materials: plastic, glass, cardboard, steel and aluminum. During this time, he was in charge of the implementation of the French program for extended household plastic packaging recycling.

Since 2017, his activity as scientific director is now focusing on research, development and projects identification, in order to promote innovation and create new sustainable solutions for the recycling of plastic packaging waste in France and in Europe. In 2019, he organized the International Forum Plastic Solutions in Paris which aimed to promote international depolymerization and dissolution projects. The next Forum, to be held in May 2020 will cover pyrolysis and gasification techniques.

Since 1996, An is part of Plarebel, a non-profit organisation that is the reference in Belgium for information, advice and guidance on all aspects of circular plastics, including circular design and effective recycling. In this role, she has been working as a consultant for Fost Plus concerning collection, sorting and recycling of household plastic packaging waste in Belgium. She contributed to the development and optimisation of the extended collection to all household plastic packaging types.

In 2018 she launched a new future trajectory for Plarebel to expand their product portfolio beyond the scope of household plastic packaging waste. An has the ambition to set society down the path towards a more circular approach for all plastics.

She is also an active member of EPRO, the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations, where she is leading the Working Group on Household Packaging Recycling. As leader of this EPRO Working Group, An has played an important role in the creation of the European PET Bottle Platform, a voluntary initiative grouping technical experts in the field of PET design and recycling for the evaluation of new technologies. At the beginning of this year, she took on the challenge as Technical Program Manager of the HolyGrail 2.0 project. Her role is to advise on the best way forward to turn a concept for intelligent sorting through using digital watermarks into a new industry standard for smarter recycling. An is also active in other industry associations and initiatives, and is constantly looking for new opportunities to respond to the many challenges in the transition towards a circular economy for all plastics.

Kim is a tenured professor at Ghent University, in the domain of Circular Plastics. She is a polymer processing engineer by education and has dedicated her multidisciplinary research group to the improved mechanical recycling of thermoplastics.

Her main research line involves the development of predictive quality models for contaminated recycled plastics, giving science-based insights into how recycled polymer quality will be affected by the presence of undesired other polymers, as well as smaller contaminants like inks or barrier layers. The model is meant to provide valuable insights for Design for Recyclability and to the fine-tuning of sorting and pretreatement processes.

Kim is the academic lead of the Plastics to Resource pipeline within the CAPTURE resource recovery platform, facilitating scientific value-chain cooperation on the topic of Circular Plastics between 10 professors, coming from polymer chemistry, food packaging, product design, life cycle analysis, techno-economical analysis, waste management, sorting/pretreatment, mechanical recycling and chemical recycling.

In 2019, Kim gained broad visibility with her TEDx talk ‘Plastics Rehab’, in which she provides to the consumer audience fact-based insight on why plastics are not ‘the enemy’ to sustainability. A follow-up short movie called ‘What does science say about plastics,’ is currently in preparation, as a science-based counterweight to the public debate on plastics.

In 2019, her team provided a value-chain overview of plastics recycling in ‘Mechanical Recycling of Plastics for Dummies’. On popular demand, the team is currently preparing an overview on REACH and Food Contact regulation for PCR content, likewise to be made freely available.

Kutterer Mauer is pleased to present its ultralight “Melody Edge Ultra” flip top cap. This low profile cap is not only up to 45% lighter than conventional caps, it is also a great example of ecodesign. It is, therefore, a very effective way of showing consumers how plastic consumption can be reduced. A full range of Melody Edge Ultra caps will be produced, which will available in three different diameters: Ø50mm, Ø 40mm and Ø 35mm. The Melody Edge Ultra cap is an innovative approach to creating truly sustainable packaging. The flip top caps are manufactured with 100% green energy and are made exclusively from post consumer recycled plastic (PCR). The masterbatch (used by FINKE) is also based entirely on PCR carrier material. The tube is manufactured by Tupack, one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality plastic tubes, and is also made exclusively from PCR (by RE Plano).

Oerlemans Plastics reduces CO2 with new packaging

The new packaging film is made out of 100% recycled material and there is minimal usage of ink. The result is that the CO2 footprint for this film is considerably reduced and this has a positive impact on the environment. Oerlemans Plastics produces webshop bags in all types and sizes. These webshop bags are used as flexible packaging for online ordered items in e-commerce purchases. Customers of Oerlemans Plastics make well informed, fact based decisions for sending products in plastic bags. Another advantage is that the plastic packaging contains less air than boxes. Delivery vans and trucks can be loaded more efficiently, which also results in less CO2 emission. Furthermore the webshop bag film can also be provided with 1 or 2 glue strips for returning, making the packaging reusable at least once. Oerlemans Plastics is a subsidiary of the Oerlemans Packaging Group. Oerlemans Packaging produces customer-specific, flexible high quality plastic packaging and films. New packaging concepts are constantly under development at the 7 Oerlemans Packaging production sites. Packaging can be printed in up to and including 10 colours, screen 54. Besides the customer-specific packaging products, Oerlemans Packaging also has an extensive range of stock. The Oerlemans Packaging Group consists of 6 subsidiaries. Each company has its own specialities. As a producer, OPACK can offer a complete product portfolio of flexible plastic packaging.

The NestRack® pallet from CABKA is part of CABKA’s continuous efforts in engineering high performance products made of recyclates for modern supply chains. With the NestRack®, CABKA is launching a pallet on the market whose functionality is inspired by the commonly used wooden pallets. However, the design has been further developed in such an innovative way that the pallet now combines all the relevant characteristics: the pallet is made of recycled plastic, the pallet is nestable and rackable which means it saves considerable space and transport costs while at the same time providing the required load capacity and usability for numerous industries. Being lighter and efficiently stored it saves up to 50% of CO2 emissions. The design enables great durability which stands for a long service life. At the end of its use, the pallet can be fully recycled to become a new pallet.

Key Data: 

Made of 100% recycled plastics 

Reduces time and effort for pallet handling and storage by up to 60% 

Available with Open Deck and Closed Deck 

Dimensions: 1219*1016*127 mm 

Pallet Weight: 10 kg (Closed Deck), 9.5 kg (Open Deck) 

Static Load Capacity: 2700 kg 

Load Capacity in Racking: 1200 kg for evenly distributed loads 

Extremely robust and easily washable

In April 2019, evian® unveiled its latest innovation – evian® (re)new – a stunning in-home water appliance which provides consumers with the unique purity of evian® natural mineral water at home from the source with a significant reduction in plastic packaging.

Reinventing the way evian® natural mineral water is delivered directly to consumers, the collapsible 5L ‘bubble’ surrounding the water incorporates new generation design thinking leveraging the physics of materials: the thin and light ‘bubble’ of evian® water is 100% recyclable and made of a 100% recycled plastic (rPET) skin that contracts when the natural mineral water is consumed, taking on a new shape after each use. It uses 66% less plastic than a 1.5L evian® bottle, compared per liter of water.

The introduction of the sleek in-home evian® water appliance is the latest move from evian® in its journey to become a circular brand by 2025 and will build on the brand’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2020, and following the launch of the evian® by Virgil Abloh SOMA® bottle earlier this year, evian® refillable glass bottle and perfect on-the-go accessory to use with evian® (re)new.

evian® (re)new has been launched in France and the UK for the moment with a strong community of 200 pioneer consumers. This exclusive community is experiencing our latest innovation at home and providing us with their feedbacks so we can optimize evian (re)new to extend its scope to a more global scale in 2020.

The Kutterer Mauer double walled jars provide the packaging industry with a truly sustainable solution. The cap and the outer wall of the jar – both available in a polished or matt finish – are made exclusively from post consumer recycled plastic (PCR) (by RE Plano). The masterbatch (used by Gabriel Chemie) is also based entirely on PCR carrier material. As the inner wall of the jar comes into contact with the contents, it can be manufactured with virgin resin to guarantee the required food grade quality. Green energy is used to produce all of the individual components. The jars are available with or without a liner and can be ordered with bespoke decoration (hot stamping). Logos can also be printed on the lid thanks to the interchangeable cores in the mould.

The new APET Evolve by Faerch trays are made from 100% recycled material and can be fully recycled into new food trays. Their unique look reflects the recycled content of the trays and provide consumers with visual guidance to make a sustainable choice in food packaging.

The new trays possess the same attributes as Faerch’s market-leading APET products and represent the ultimate level of circularity: They are made from 100% recycled content, and they can be fully recycled into new food grade trays without compromising on food safety or any other functional property.

Evolve trays are made from collected and recycled bottles and trays and are available in naturally fluctuating tones only, as no extra colour is added during recycling and production. Therefore, the colour of each tray reflects the specific blend of recycled content that it is made from. This provides a unique look, which clearly signals to the consumers that they make a sustainable choice when picking food packed in Evolve trays. It also guarantees that Evolve trays are reliably detectable using today’s sorting systems, as they have been detected before.

Furthermore, the unique design of the products directly communicate to consumers that these products are made from recycled content, but also serves as a further reminder to ensure that the used trays are collected, thus promoting circularity.

The body of our 100 % recycled PET bottle is solely made of recycling material and is extremely lightweight. This makes it the sustainability highlight of our innovative reusable material cycle that we created hand-in-hand with Lidl. It is the first PET reusable material cycle that unifies all steps of ‘bottle-to-bottle’ recycling under one roof.

The core of the innovation is a minimisation of the use of new PET material and the bottle weight, whilst at the same time retaining the positive product properties of a PET bottle (high product safety and stability, fully recyclable). Weighing just 27 grams, it is the one of the lightest bottles on the market. Every year, around 400 million of these bottles are produced completely from recycled materials. This is the first time that it has been possible to permanently produce such a lightweight bottle out of recycling material on this scale.

The goal of the cycle and this packaging is to save resources and to reduce CO2 emissions. The production of the recycled bottle and the weight reduction alone have led to savings of more than 15,000 tonnes of new plastic and over 27,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. The 100% recycled PET bottle is therefore a sensible, ecologically sustainable and economic alternative. It fulfils the goals of the REset plastic strategy of the entire Schwarz Group: www.reset-plastic.com

Worldwide, more than 380 million 4-loop big bags are sold every year, which equals an annual recycling potential of approx. 800,000 tons of material. PP woven plastic bags are far too valuable to end up on dumpsites or burned in an incineration plant so the key objective of Starlinger ́s sustainable concept “circular packaging” is to recycle post-consumer big bags in a closed-loop that begins with virgin granulate and leads back to regranulate (rPP) through the process steps usage, recovery, recycling and the final reprocessing of new big bags from virgin material mixed with up to 50% rPP. In cooperation with the big bag manufacturers Louis Blockx and LC Packaging this closed loop was simulated. Final tests of these rPP big bags have shown the same quality as big bags made from virgin material in terms of tensile strength, weight, and safety factor.

Starlinger provides the machinery equipment from mechanical recycling up to complete lines for big bag production. For the production of rPP big bags the technology had to be redesigned and adapted in such a way that all process steps have to be matched perfectly and the adding of regranulate up to 50% is possible without a quality loss in the end product.

The challenge in recycling big bags is that they come in many different forms, qualities and material mixtures. Therefore additionally the “Design for Recycling” (DfR), a big bag “passport”, traceability and material management are important factors within the closed-loop concept from Starlinger.

Ampacet ReViveTM 962 E is part of internal R3 (Reuse-Reduce-Recycle) program for sustainability.

Ampacet ReViveTM 962 E is a specialty compatibilizer masterbatch designed for EVOH-based polyolefin barrier films. The purpose of this masterbatch is to allow EVOH-polyolefin polymer mix to be reprocessed and therefore participates to the circular economy.

Ampacet ReViveTM 962 E improves the homogeneity and the physical properties of regrind material, enabling the reuse of EVOH-polyolefin multi-material reclaim material back into quality film applications. It therefore helps valorizing EVOH-based barrier film industrial scarps and wastes and reducing the consumption of virgin polymers.

Ampacet ReViveTM 962 E also preserves clarity of packaging it is made off.

Siliconized plastic films are used for many industrial applications whenever an anti- adhesive surface is required. The main siliconized plastic film used on the market is the BOPET (Polyester bi-oriented).

Siliconature produces two types of siliconized BOPET film - Silphan and R-Silphan. Silphan is the brand for the product composed of 100% virgin PET.

R-Silphan is the brand for the product composed of 70% virgin PET and 30% of recycled post-consumer PET. The R-Silphan is accompanied by GRS 2019-167 certification. Siliconature has invested around 50 million € for a special extrusion line, equipped with an additional extrusion system that permits to use post-consumer PET to produce BOPET. The line is equipped with an in-line silicone coating process. The new investment extrudes 15.000 ton/year of siliconized Silphan or R-Silphan and, both products have the same main characteristics. So the R-Silphan can replace the Silphan in all industrial applications where an anti-adhesive surface is required.

Siliconature is the first company in the world that produces regularly siliconized BOPET, manufactured using 30% of post-consumer PET.

An example of a large utilization of siliconized R-Siphan are the self-adhesive labels. When the labels are applied on the goods the R-Silphan remain as waste (it is called spent liner) and the best reuse would be to re-extrude it to produce new R-Silphan. The special silicone formulation used on R-Silphan has been studied to give the minimum impact when the spent R-Siphan will be re-extruded to produce new R-Silphan.

Ampacet Odor Scavenger is part of internal R3 (Reuse-Reduce-Recycle) program for sustainability.

Ampacet’s Odor Scavenger is an innovative powerful wide-spectrum odor absorbing masterbatch that has been specially designed for use with recycled polyethylene (rPE) to neutralize odors of post-consumer recycled material and keep them enclosed inside the polymer.

The addition of odor scavenger allows to increase the ratio of post-consumer recycled polyethylene (PCR) in the production of end articles, while keeping the odor level down.

Odor Scavenger has no significant impact on production process and physical properties of the polymer and helps reducing the carbon footprint.

Today 70 billion kilo of virgin polyester is produced all over the world every year. 91% of the polyester in the world is not recyclable because it contains colors or additives. So what if we could recycle all polyester? What if we could find a real CuRe?

Together with Cumapol, DSM-Niaga, DuFor and Morssinkhof, in close collaboration with NHL Stenden University, CuRe Technology discovered a smarter and scalable solution. Together the partners have decades of experience in virgin and recycled polyester, mechanical recycling, waste preparation and materials science. The new technology is called CuRe.

CuRe wants to realise low energy recycling for difficult to recycle, colored and mixed polyester waste streams, with the aim to CuRe any type of used polyester by removing the color and converting it into clear pellets with the same properties as virgin grade polyester. CuRe Technology, has strong own core technology and also allows for modular add on other technologies, giving flexibility to choose the best route depending on the type of polyester waste. A pilot plant has been built in Emmen for rapid scale-up, and the testing is projected for 2020.

The aim is to look for partnerships all over the world, not only to improve the technology, but also to share know-how of how we produce, use and collect polyester products.

We can not CuRe on our own.

Polystyrene Loop Coöperatief U.A. will build the plant as PolystyreneLoop BV in Terneuzen, Netherlands. The company aims to set up a demonstration plant for recycling polystyrene foam construction waste (both EPS and XPS) containing the legacy chemical HBCD and (H)CFC’s. It will separate and destruct the obtained HBCD and will recycle and sell polystyrene beads (PS) compliant to the POP regulation described in the Basel Convention. The separated bromine, will be destructed in the Bromine recovery unit (BRU) based at ICL, Terneuzen.

EPS construction waste coming from buildings that were insulated with EPS before August 2015 all contain a now banned POP substance, rendering all this EPS unrecyclable.

Members of the cooperative will take the 100% recycled EPS and will use it again in construction applications, as feedstock for extrusion of EPS beads, or via continuous XPS foaming.

It is the first time in Europe that a 2-step solvent upcycling factory is realised. The purification Process is a Solvent-based Purification and therefore “Physical Recycling”. This opens a real-life scale platform technology for other difficult waste streams like Styrenics based electronic waste (WEEE) also containing legacy brominated flame retardants.

The carbon footprint was verified in a peer reviewed LCA by TüV Rheinland and showed a 50% lower carbon footprint than the only other allowed End of Life option, which is incineration.

In the EU, the potential for recycling plastic waste is still largely unexploited, particularly in comparison with other materials like paper, glass or metals. Out of over 27 million tons of plastic waste collected in Europe every year, less than one third goes to recycling plants. This trend could become more pronounced now that Asian countries close their borders for plastic waste.

Acting as a catalyst, Valipac initiated the Circular Shrink Hood project and brought together the entire value chain to find a solution for the recycling challenge. Project partners were Total, Rymoplast-Morssinkhof, Oerlemans Packaging, Wienerberger, FEMA, Go4circle and Circular Flanders. The project team has successfully proven that the 3 million tons of plastic transport packaging used yearly in the EU can fit in a circular model.

The technical collaboration between Total, Rymoplast and Oerlemans yielded a 130 μm shrink hood containing 50% PCR that perfectly matches the performance parameters of a 100% virgin material film. The packaging trial (on an industrial scale) at Wienerberger proved that the shrink hood could be applied on pallets filled with bricks without any mechanical or process modification. Tested at an independent lab the circular shrink hood met the EUMOS 40509 standard, showing its road worthiness. Valipac is now disseminating the knowledge gathered during the project among a large number of companies interested in using a circular shrink hood to protect their products during storage and transport.

Ampacet Blue Edge 226 is part of internal R3 (Reuse-Reduce-Recycle) program for sustainability.

Ampacet Blue Edge 226 is a masterbatch designed to offset the “dirty” yellowish / brownish shades of recycled polyethylene (rPE).

Imparting a light bluish tone providing a clearer and fresher look and increasing customer appeal, Blue Edge 226 allows to improve the ratio of recycled polymer used in the production of flexible packaging.

Another significant impact of Blue Edge 226 is to reduce the formation of gels and visible defects during processing of rPE, enhancing the aesthetics of flexible packaging. Blue Edge 226 demonstrates a positive impact on sustainability of the plastic and plastic packaging industry and acts as a booster for circular economy.

Unilever is committed to halving use of virgin plastic in its packaging by 2025. The largest contribution to delivering this commitment will come from a significant increase in use of recycled plastic.

The rest –more than 100,000 tonnes in total –will come from reducing use of plastic altogether which will be achieved using new business models like re-use and refill, as well as new innovations to allow our products to go to market plastic free. In Partnership with Sabic, Unilever is introducing New Circular Resins on Magnum Ice Cream Tubs and Knorr UFS Euro-Containers.

Magnum Tubs have a unique product structure: Ice cream with chocolate shards are encased in a chocolate shell all around and on top of the ice cream. Since every great Magnum experience starts with the iconic sound of cracking chocolate, we had designed a squeezable pack, only possible on plastic, to crack the chocolate shell before eating the product. They are made of PP which is widely recyclable.

Knorr Food Service Products are used by Chefs to create exciting, high quality culinary experiences. Made from Polypropylene, the Euro-containers that Chefs use every day offer superior protection, reuse-ability and communication vs. Single use packaging. Since plastic packaging is required to deliver a holistic product experience, Unilever took the lead and is the 1st global company to use recycled Food Grade PP in its food packaging. This enabled the move to a renewable plastic source while supporting the circular economy. This initiative helps create an effective circular plastics economy, driving increased collection, reduced leakage of waste plastics into environment & reduced sourcing from fossil fuels.

Ecoplasteam is an Italian company that has developed an innovative process for the recycling of polylaminate materials, which are most commonly used for beverage cartons, composed of 20% polyethylene, 5% aluminum and the remaining 75% cellulose. This packaging, once collected and sorted, is sent to the paper mills that extract the cellulose. The paper mills deliver polyethylene and aluminum waste to Ecoplasteam company for processing.

In Ecoplasteam, through a patented process, these materials are processed to produce a new recycled plastic, the EcoAllene®.

The new material is similar in characteristics and uses to virgin plastic, and it can be used to produce products in the stationery, work equipment, various types of packaging in the cosmetic and detergent sector, fashion accessories and furnishings. The first production plant is running in Italy, with a capacity of 6,000 tons per year. Three new plants are scheduled by 2023.

The characteristics that make EcoAllene® so distinctive are: it is made of 100% post- consumer material, it can be recycled again and it is colorable. The most important feature is its constant processability and supply, guaranteed by the constant supply of waste raw materials.

This allows EcoAllene® to be constant and repeatable over time and in the lots that are supplied to the customer.

Virgin plastic is produced from petroleum, while EcoAllene® “oil” is the waste of food packaging: constant over time in terms of composition and characteristics.

Interactive IML labels are enhanced with a Digimarc Barcode. This imperceptible barcode transforms the mono-polypropylene IML package into an intelligent packaging, by giving it a digital identity and allowing it to give expanded product information or to tell a story.

In technical terms, a Digimarc Barcode is an approximately 2x2 cm ‘tile’ containing 2 elements, firstly data - a ‘product SKU’ set of information, including the Global Trade Item Number, and other data such as track and trace solutions. The other element is synchronization/navigation. This is data for the camera reading the tile, on how the object is presenting that tile—its scale, skew angle and rotation, for example.

Collection & recycling of packaging waste is a huge challenge and often not easy to understand for the consumers. Interactive IML in combination with an App featuring AR allows the pack to talk to the consumer and explain how to recycle the empty pack. It can be connected with the GPS location so that wherever you are, you get the correct information. At the same time big data is collected that can be of huge importance to optimize the way waste is collected and recycled in the future.

HolyGrail2.0 Compatible - Interactive IML puts intelligence into the packaging itself, so a recycling system with cameras and Digimarc Barcode detection can benefit from an exhaustive set of data, which even allows for ‘hyper-sorting’.

In essence, the object has a ‘digital recycling passport’ explaining how and where it was made, distinguishing a food or non-food package and confirming the percentage compositions of each layer in it, including any different plastics. The result is a more efficient and high-value waste stream, as part of a true circular economy.

SealPPeel die-cut lidding is a mono PP-material solution for heat sealing PP, PS and PET packaging. Allowing the complete packaging to be fully recycled contributing to the circular economy.

Often people throw away the empty packaging with the aluminum lidding still attached to it. Or when opening the pack, the aluminum lid was torn apart, leaving aluminum residues on the sealing edge, preventing packaging being sorted and recycled. In case material with aluminum residues does get recycled, they can cause serious problems during the recycling process and it will have a negative impact on the overall quality of the recycled material.

Unique sealing technique - SealPPeel has a lower temperature resistance than aluminum foil and therefore, polymer based lidding solutions are more difficult to seal without destroying the surface layer. Verstraete has developed a patented and unique heat-sealing technique to allow proper sealing at lower temperatures without having a negative impact on the sealing time.

SealPPeel is mono PP-material without heat-seal lacquer, alternative to aluminum lidding, fully recyclable and DfR and Circular Economy proof, allowing the entire packaging to be recycled.

Safety & Convenience - metal detectors can be used on packaging sealed with SealPPeel, it meets all food safety regulations, is suitable for use in microwave ovens, easy peel off, with no tearing and no residues.

Efficiency of the process is increased with lower sealing temperature and shorted sealing time, leading to reduced energy costs and lower CO2 footprint.

In a world first, this project developed a label substrate that is made from 100% PCR Polyethylene. The label utilises a soluble adhesive which allows recyclers to more easily remove the labels from plastic containers.

In trials PE bottles were granulated to flakes before undergoing the hot-wash process which washed-off the labels – including the adhesive. The flakes were washed at 70°C with NaOH and detergent. After rinsing and drying the lighter label film fragments were then efficiently separated from the heavier bottle flakes in an elutriator. The bottle flakes ended up being free from adhesive or ink residuals – providing a high- quality raw material that can be recycled and turned into new high-quality products. Combining this innovation with advanced sorting technology like invisible barcodes or fluorescent markers/tracers that are printed on the labels in order to sort the different materials and distinguish between food-grade and non-food-grade applications, leads to premium quality recycled materials.

By using a label material made from 100% Post-consumer recycled PE we save resources, reduce the carbon footprint and further enhance the circular economy of plastic materials.

A combined wash-off adhesive label and smart sorting technology will close the loop by improving the recyclability of the primary packaging (bottles, jars, etc.) and increasing yield and quality of the recycled materials, making them more valuable to recyclers and the entire packaging supply chain.

With higher quality, the PCR materials gain acceptance from brand-owners, retailers and packaging companies in many more applications.

VACUNITE® redefines the benchmark for performance in bottle-to-bottle recycling: Uncompromising safety, productivity and quality are ensured thanks to the highest decontamination efficiency, rPET granulates with the best colour values, top IV stability, compactness of the system as well as low energy consumption throughout the entire process.

The combination for safety: Advanced VACUREMA® + Polymetrix SSP

This is made possible by the unique combination of two technologies: VACUNITE® unites VACUREMA® technology, which has been tried and tested for decades and has been further developed especially for this application - together with newly patented vacuum-assisted V-LeaN Solid State Polycondensation (SSP), which was also specially developed by Polymetrix (the manufacturer) for EREMA for this demanding application. Key quality and safety advantage: All thermal process steps take place in nitrogen and/or vacuum atmosphere, largely eliminating undesirable flake and pellet discoloration and reliably removing additives which could lead to unfavourable reactions in the melt. The nitrogen used in the SSP is cleaned and can be fed back into the previous processing stage so that nitrogen consumption is reduced as a result. To increase the transparency of the preforms, the pellets are dedusted again before filling.

Compact and cost effective VACUNITE® is special not only because of the exceptional quality of the output material. Overall, the technology requires 40 percent fewer components, making the plant much more compact at the same time as consuming up to 36 percent less energy than comparable systems on the market.

The special design of conical co-rotation MAS extruder allows the use of a twin-screw extruder for film recycling under economic conditions. (without pre-densification or agglomeration prior to the extrusion process). The main distinctive feature of the MAS twin screw extruder is the conical design, which provides a big feeding opening and as a result a huge intake volume.

Due to the intake volume, it is possible to feed film fluff without pre-densification or agglomeration prior to the extrusion process. Flexible, exchangeable kneading elements ensure the right amount of shearing, which is required to get best possible homogenisation. In comparison to conventional single screw extruders, used in film recycling, a co-rotation twin screw provides significantly better homogenisation. Therefore, it is possible to set new quality recycling levels, which allow a significantly wider use of the recycled pellets.

The screws in conical design are segmented and adjusted with exchangeable mixing / kneading elements. The tailored screw geometry, in combination with the suitable screw speed, allows to adjust the shearing rate to the exact required level to prevent gels and cross linking.

Because of the short processing unit of the MAS extruder, the total connecting power and the general production costs related to output quality are very low. Based on data from existing MAS customers, the energy consumption with PE is approximately 0,32 - 0,35kw/kg for the extrusion process and melt filtration.

Until now, shredders and downstream equipment have operated independently with virtually no communication between them. With this newly developed technology, it is now possible to integrate a shredder in the process chain for the very first time in accordance with the EUROMAP’s open software interface standard OPC UA and allow for dosed line feeding according to the Industry 4.0 concept. The objective was to interlink all the equipment in the process chain so that complex parameters are adjusted automatically and dynamically in line with Industry 4.0 principles. This significantly increases the productivity of the recycling process and achieves maximum recyclate quality. The new technology means that, precisely the right amount of material is supplied to washing components, sorting and drying systems, and the extruder. Thanks to this optimized process, guaranteed by the shredder ́s new functions, post-consumer plastics get ready for real upcyling. It is now possible to optimally operate the facility at all times, which not only significantly increases efficiency but also improves the quality of the recycled material. Overfilling, running when empty and downtimes are a thing of the past. This increases the availability and quality of high-class recyclates making genuine upcycling a reality.

“Smart Control is new control system that provides user-friendly monitoring, maintenance & repair and guarantees safe and intuitive operation.” The digital version of each granulator with Smart Control focuses on user-friendliness: the familiar fast operation and intuitive interface ensure perfect processes. To ensure safe and smooth operation, power consumption, rotation speed and temperatures are measured, analysed and documented in real time. In this way, direct conclusions can be drawn about relevant downtimes and excess of these is reported at an early stage – long before malfunction can occur. With the new “eco” operating mode, power consumption can be reduced by up to 40%. The Smart Control unit measures the power consumption, evaluates it over long periods of time and actively learns the requirements of the respective applications, in order to independently apply optimum operating settings. During operation, the operator can read current consumption with a digital Ampere meter in real time operation and gain access to detailed statistics on long term operation. Another novelty is boost operation, with which the grinding capacity can be temporarily increased, in order to compensate for production-related fluctuations. In addition, various rotation speed ranges are available for a wide variety of plastics. Even plastics with extremely low melting temperatures can be granulated without using additional cooling. Detailed, user-friendly “step by step” instructions are available, for example for changing blades, maintaining V-belts and cleaning the granulator quickly and efficiently. It also explains checking the V-belt pre-tensioning force, which can be carried out with a test device included within the scope of delivery.

All CMG units for recycling applications, both post-industrial and post-consumer, feature the Adaptive Motor Power function, unique in the size reduction industry. The granulator is able to independently determine which power level to adopt to carry out its work, depending on the quantity of material to be ground, the dimensions, the shape, the weight, the thickness, the type of plastic, and even the temperature of the piece. The AMP allows to optimize the quality of the regrind to the maximum achievable (particle homogeneity and absence of dust) and to reduce the utilization of energy to the minimum possible. 20 to 25Wh/kg is the small amount of energy that a CMG granulator uses, compared to 40 Wh/kg and above a conventional unit consumes. The return on the investment for the AMP is produced in a very short time. The key objectives & innovation aspects of this new development are: energy efficiency, dimensional homogeneity of the regrind particle, absence of dust, longer knife life, minimized overall wearing. The lowest Total Cost of Operation is guaranteed.

Also innovative are the advanced controls employed to obtain such high degree of process management and the Industry 4.0 compliancy of the equipment, all in full observance of the Circular Economy guidelines.

The AMP technology is a development fully owned by CMG.

CW Dewiring Machine has been developed to increase safety, automation and productivity in plastic bale opening in the plastic recycling processes. The machine is used to automatically cut and remove the bale wires from industrial plastic bales such as PET or mixed plastic bales. The machine helps the operators to work safer when manual bale wire cutting, and opening is no longer needed. The automatic machine also helps the recyclers gain more profit and save on recycling line downtime when the metal wires are completely removed before they even enter the recycling line. As the bale wires are cut, removed and coiled by the CW Dewiring machine the recycling process possible magnetic metal separation needs to handle only the metal that might be inside the baled material. The use of CW Dewiring machine also helps to keep the possible plastic shredding machinery to work for longer periods without the need for blade renewing as the metal wires don’t end up to the process. The main benefit is still the increase in working safety when no manual bale wire cutting, and handling is no longer needed.

Key objectives of the CW Dewiring machine are to increase working safety, remove the bale wires from the bales and to coil the long bale wires into a tight and easy to handle bundles. The focus is to help plastic recyclers to work and handle their bales more safely, effectively and smarter.

RE Plano developed an innovative concept for sorting and compounding of ABS made exclusively from post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR). This enriched compound has such a high ABS content that it can be used to produce a monofilament – the printing material needed for 3D printers – and fully substitute virgin ABS material. Available on an open spool, the ABS printing filament (very low diameter deviation) can be used in all conventional 3D printers. The high quality of the material allows for its use in closed-loop applications.

Mandalaki Studio, in collaboration with Estrima, presents the first electric concept car made with 80% recycled plastics.

An innovative electric mobility project that combines functionality and sustainability in a unique product.

Recycled plastic regains new life through a machine that does not pollute and preserves the quality of the air. It is easy to park and fun to drive.

A synergistic combination that brings a double benefit: less plastic on the planet and more clean air in our cities.

Starting from this target, Mandalaki studio has developed, together with the company Estrima, the new Birò O2 model, the first electric car with a higher percentage of recycled plastic than any other vehicle on the market.

To give shape to this concept of purity and sustainability, the studio has developed a livery that recalls the air flow: a bubble of pure oxygen that moves silently in our cities. The inspiration comes from the motion of winds and ocean streams that represent the vital flow of our planet; from this idea Mandalaki has designed a unique livery, created through computerized generative art techniques and a particular use of color. An important step towards 100% sustainable mobility.

The Recycle Fan Shroud application by Ford Otosan, contains 50% recycled PP, sourced from office equipment, and is the first recycled fan shroud application in Turkish automotive industry. Commonly the fan shrouds are made from a compound consisting of 70% virgin PP and 30% glass fibres. In its recycled fan shroud however Ford uses 50% recycled PP, 20% vrigin PP and 30% glass fibres. With the substitution of virgin materials, 2,2kg of CO2 are saved for each part and the parts will be used for more than 6000 vehicles each year.

Fan shroud is used in engine cooling systems as fan cover, helping to achieve optimum air flow across the heat exchangers. Rig and vehicle durability tests were carried out for the recycled product, showing the same performance as virgin materials. Ford Otosan collaborated with Ravago, who compounded the materilas, and Kaplam Plastik, who supplied the parts, for the development of this project. Localisation of compound supplier for materials which were previously imported lead to additional CO2 footprint reductions in the life cycle assessment of the product.

In the light of this study, Re3(Recycle, Reuse, Reduce) project was triggered for enhancing the sustainable product development by increasing the use of recycled materials. Furthermore this project comprehends reducing single use plastics and increasing reuse of disposable products in the company.

Philips aims to lead in large-scale implementation of post-consumer recycled plastics content in the consumer electronics industry. The introduction of the new SENSEO® Viva Café Eco represents a breakthrough for Philips and its product design teams. The SENSEO® Eco coffee maker effortlessly combines the growing need within the industry to focus on sustainable, long-term solutions, with the continued serving of the quality coffee experience that SENSEO® consumers expect and love.

Until now, most recycled plastics could be found in internal parts of appliances. The SENSEO® Viva Café Eco raises the bar with all visual plastic parts now made from recycled content, which is 75% of all the non-food contact parts weight. Next to this, the Philips design teams has developed a speckle effect with special printing techniques that enhances the appeal of the coffee maker without affecting the product’s end of use recyclability. This gives the appliance a sense of natural imperfection and environmental awareness that resonates with the consumer.

The product has been developed within the European research project PolyCE* and the recycled materials are co-developed with our suppliers MGG Polymers and Sitraplas. The quality of the circular recycled plastics is as good as virgin plastics and, as the material will become available as a standard recycled plastics grade, it allows us to expand its use in other Philips product categories.

At SENSEO® we believe that consumers shouldn’t have to choose between good tasting coffee and taking care of the environment. We are therefore committed to continue our journey in innovating for sustainability.

“Der Gelbe Sack” is used for the collection of lightweight sales packaging from households. The sacks are provided by municipalities and are given to final consumers for free.

The filled sacks are collected by waste management businesses, which then sort the contents so they can be sent on for recycling.

These recycling sacks help conserve natural resources as they are made of 95% recycled postconsumer plastic film.

As recycling sacks are so thin, the amount of recycled plastic able to be used to make them was much lower before we came up with our innovation.

We succeeded in producing the “Gelbe Sack” recycling sacks without using virgin material for the first time in 2018.

Our product offers final consumers a sustainable way to collect/sort their recyclable waste. The “Gelbe Sack” recycling sacks are a fully recyclable product as it is only made of PE.

Interseroh managed to develop a new formulation for its customized recycled plastic Procyclen, so that it is suitable for new application: The seat pan of the FALK Chair designed by the Danish furniture provider HOUE is made from post-consumer plastic – recycled from separately collected packaging waste.

HOUE is known for its Scandinavian-elegant furniture for affordable prices. To combine high quality and functionality HOUE only works with established partners. Using sustainable materials in production is a new and mandatory experience all companies need to learn, so cooperating with Interseroh was an obvious choice. In the “Recycled-Resource” procedure, used plastic packaging collected in Germany in the dual system are converted into granulate with special formulas that can be used for new products with the same performance parameters as virgin plastic. Procyclen is a customisable “recompound”. By altering its formulation, Procyclen can be matched to customers’ exact requirements in terms of viscosity, mechanical properties stability, UV/thermal resistance and colouration.

The newly developed Procyclen is a material that consists mainly of processed lightweight packaging waste modified with additives and inorganic filler materials, including glass fibers. This ensures the high level of rigidity that is required for the chairs. Scratch-resistance stabilizers additionally ensure a good surface quality. The colourants, including UV stabilizers, serve to maintain the colours for a long time. The ecolabeled FALK Chair demonstrates how far recycling technology has come creating products with high design and functional value.

Created through a collaboration between Isku and Fortum, an iconic school chair gets updated for the 2020s with a new, sustainable outfit made out of the Fortum Circo® post-consumer recycled plastic based compound.

Isku’s classic school chair, called Prima, has been used in schools since the 1990s and it serves students from elementary school age to high schools. Special attention has been paid with Prima chair’s materials and design to ergonomics, comfort, safety, strength and cleanability, all highly important features in a school environment. Earlier the plastic components of the chair were based on virgin PP, but in the new version they are made 100% of recycled plastic. Furthermore, at the end of its life-cycle, all the parts of the chair are 100% recyclable.

Fortum supplies Isku with Fortum Circo® PP-CF compound with a matrix of plastic consumer packaging collected from Finnish households. The recycled plastic is reinforced with Finnish, renewable cellulose fibre. The compound offers clear advantages compared to plain post-consumer recycled PP by giving the material added strength, shortening the product’s manufacturing time, and further reducing the carbon footprint of the material.

For students, the chair works also as a concrete example of the circular economy and of the fact that recycling plastic is really worthwhile. When sorted and recycled, the daily plastic packaging waste generated at home, like bread bags, yogurt containers and shampoo bottles, can get a new life, for instance as a chair that is used every day.

Consumer goods companies spend over USD 40.000 MM per year in Point of Sale Materials (POSM) to promote their products to the shoppers.

The majority of this trade marketing items are made of virgin and of non-recyclable raw materials and when its life cycle ends, they go to the trash.

The most important POSM and one of the most utilized are the additional displays exhibitions frequently used in all retail channels across the industry.

Armo Europe Systems created and patented a modular display system for the point of sale that is designed to be completely reusable, repairable and it is made of 100% recycled post-consumer and post-industrial waste of the same type as the clients’ packaging, so it is 100% recyclable. This system is reconfigurable so the clients can create different types of exhibitions of their products for each seasonality activation in the retail, increasing the reusability of it. Armo integrated an easy way to assemble all the pieces and parts of the displays, and all the graphics are supported by superficial tension eliminating the need to use adhesives and making easier the activation in the point of sale.

The idea behind this is the integration of the circular economy and the valorization of plastics waste with the marketing industry, allowing the clients to achieve their sustainability goals, reaching savings of around 40% per year of their trade marketing budgets and in the same percentage the reduction of pollution associated with POSM. This is the Lego® of the Point of Sale Exhibition Modules.

RH New Logic designed by Flokk is a high quality circular office chair with optimal ergonomics and visual elegance. It is unique for its premium segment with its extended use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics. It fulfills all strict technical requirements associated with fully functional office chairs, even with a high share of PCR polypropylene (PP) – proofing how PCR plastics can be used for structural and complex components, if designed properly.

By introducing 90% recycled PP, whereas 68% from post-consumer stream, RH New Logic highly contributes to battle our plastic waste crisis by adding value on waste – and thus stimulate a profitable market for collecting & recycling. Flokk provides fabrics made of 100% recycled PCR PET as well. As carbon footprint is considerably lower when using PCR plastics, total carbon footprint of RH New Logic is 96 kg CO2-e (from cradle-to-gate), less emission than one person on an average flight within Europe.

The seat and back cushions are easily clicked on/off – enabling changeable wearing parts, prolonging lifetime far beyond the 10 years of guarantee. Fabrics are fixed with Flokk patented ‘drawstring spindle’, removing need for glue or staple, enabling easy repair and replacement. The total chair is designed for easy disassemble, with plastics parts marked for streamlined sorting and recycling.

Flokk puts high effort into its transition to circular business models, with several sitting-as-service pilots, and a successful take-back program with Dutch partner remanufacturing used chairs into second-life. RH New Logic is an important product to realise Flokk’s circular agenda.

Keter is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of resin-based household and garden products. With a focus on innovation, Keter provides an impressive range of furniture, storage and organization solutions. Operating in a sustainable manner and being mindful of our impact on the world around us, has always been a key priority and the time has come to formalize our efforts through a sustainability program that will lead our industry. The 2019 global launch of the ‘We Care’ sustainability strategy is a significant milestone for the business. A headline aspiration is to double the use of recycled materials across our operations from 40% to 80% by 2028. This is an industry-leading ambition that will only be achieved through careful planning and significant investment in many areas. But it is a target worth striving for and we hope to inspire others to follow.

In the injection molding factories in the Netherlands, many sets are produced with 100% recycled material. The Salemo lounge-set was the first garden furniture-set, which was developed and designed for this purpose. The usage of recycled material does not impact the look & feel, use and benefits of this item. Without any limitations it is a 100% sustainable product and fully recyclable after end use.

Keter has developed a partnership with its recycled material suppliers in order to develop a constant, reliable and high-quality flow of recycled raw material. Many other lounge sets were developed to be produced with recycled material since the introduction of the Salemo-set.

At its European innovation and development center in Belgium, Samsonite is continuously researching new sustainable materials. By focusing on technological innovation, Samsonite aims to increase the re-usage of waste from industries and consumers that would otherwise go to landfill.

The “post-consumer” edition of S’Cure ECO is the first suitcase on the planet repurposing post-consumer recycled plastic waste. This way, household plastic waste is being re-used and a material that is traditionally discarded is now turned into a qualitative functional product.

Perfectly suited for the modern traveler’s needs, the suitcase is constructed using high quality recycled materials. The suitcase’s shells are made using recycled polypropylene from post-consumer household waste and the inside fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles. This makes the S’Cure ECO “post-consumer” product line not only highly sustainable, but also light and strong for the best travel experience.

The base material comes from Quality Circular Polymers (QCP); a first-of-its-kind plastic recycling venture that produces circular polymers. Together, we succeeded to lift the material to a higher level to fulfill the high demands a travel suitcase needs to live up to. The larger part of our post-consumer household waste consists of high quality plastics, such as yoghurt cups and ice cream packaging. These have the right material specifications that are needed in a suitcase, such as stiffness and impact resistance.

The new Sustane refuse sacks uses the latest multi-layer film production technology from Berry bpi recycled products.

Manufactured using recycled PE plastic, the new Sustane refuse sacks incorporate a middle core containing 60% recycled farm film polymer that enable them to be up to 20% thinner. The use of recycled farm film also offers enhances performance strength, meaning it is more durable, reliable and longer lasting for consumers and other end users.

Recycled farm film is used for inner layers of the sack while the exterior uses the same material for Berry bpi’s best-selling Green SackTM which is made using 100% recycled plastic from packaging film.

As the largest collector of farm film in the UK, Berry bpi takes the used film and processes it at its wash plant facilities before recycling it back into premium sustainable polymers. This provides a suitable alternative to virgin plastic polymer, perfect for circular products such as Sustane refuse sacks.

They are also lighter and smaller than traditional tie top sacks, measuring just 19 cm against the usual 23 cm size for 60 litre tie-top sacks. This enables more to be packed per box, therefore maximising transport efficiencies.

Their multiple layer structure also ensures Sustane refuse sack’s strength with ‘Falling Dart Impact Tests’ – the traditional method for evaluating the impact strength of a plastic film – at 100g being 20g greater than traditional refuse sacks.

In summary, Sustane refuse sacks are thinner, stronger and more resource efficient, while meeting retail and consumer demands without compromising on performance.

The Wham Upcycled range is a collection of household storage boxes and lids made from 95% recycled post-consumer single use plastics.

With this range What More UK aims provides a sustainable alternative to the common plastic storage boxes which most of us use in our daily lives. The Wham Upcycled range is comparable in terms of strength, durability, and price to other products on the market, yet at the same time the Upcycled range epitomises the concepts of a circular economy. At the end of the product’s life, it can be easily recycled.

These products demonstrate to the world that Plastics are an extremely useful group of materials which need to be used in such a way as to maximise its positive characteristics. This is precisely the opposite of how single use plastics are currently used.

One of the most common uses for plastic storage boxes is to contain household plastics before going to recycling. There is a certain poetic irony about using a box made of recycled single use plastics to contain other items before recycling. It is hoped that this will promote knowledge and understanding of the circular economy.

What More UK is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of housewares, bakeware, cookware, and plasticware. The company has won numerous accolades including the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and the 2019 Innovation Housewares Awards. What More UK is led by Director Tony Grimshaw OBE and is a proud member and patron of Made In Britain, which supports and promotes British manufacturing, enabling buyers and consumers at home and abroad to identify British-made products.