Tag Archives: recycling

Pringles and Lucozade Recycling Villains

Pringles tubes and Lucozade Sports bottles are the “villains” of the recycling world, according to The Recycling Association.

Pringles and Lucozade Recycling Villains

The Recycling Association named them in a list of products that pose the biggest challenges for recycling and reuse.

The popular Pringles carton has been replicated by own-brand retailers in what’s become known as the “Pringleisation” of packaging.

With its metal base, plastic cap, metal tear-off lid, and foil-lined cardboard sleeve – Pringles’ combination of materials make the packaging harder to separate and were described in the report as a “nightmare”.

The Lucozade’s bottle is recyclable but, again, its combination of materials featuring a sleeve made from a different kind of plastic makes recycling hard.

Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said: “Improvements are desperately needed in product design.”

UIN what appeared to be in part a personal vision, he outlined what he deemed as the worst recycling offenders:

–           Pringles (and products with similar packaging): “Number One recycling villain. These things are a… nightmare. Impossible to separate the parts.”

–           Lucozade Sport (and drinks with similar packaging): “Number Two villain. This bottle is so confusing to computer scanners that it has to be picked by hand off the recycling conveyor. Then it often just gets chucked away.”

–           Cleaning spray bottles: “Labels often say the product is recyclable, but that’s only the body. The spray has two or three other polymers and a metal spring. It’s almost impossible.”

–           Black plastic food trays: “Supermarkets think black trays make meat look redder so they colour the tray black but that makes it worthless for recycling. Also, if someone leaves the torn film on the tray, with a bloody card below it, we just have to chuck it anyway.”

–           Whisky packaging: “It grieves me to say this as one who likes his whisky but whisky causes us problems. The metal bottom and top to the sleeve, the glass bottle, the metal cap… very hard for us.”

A £1.5m prize for inventors to design products that are practical and easily recycled will soon be launched by Prince Charles.

The Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, promoted by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, features innovations in general product design and materials so items are easier to recycle.

Chris Grantham from the London branch of the global design consultancy Ideo, agreed with the findings, saying that Pringles and Lucozade Sport (and brands with similar packaging) were singled out by the industry as almost impossible to recycle.

He also applauded other easily recyclable products such as milk bottles, where suppliers worked together to produce all plastic milk bottles and caps using the same plastic.

Owners of both Pringles and Lucozade responded with the packs’ food waste saving and carbons emissions credentials.

Kelloggs, the owner of Pringles, said there was an environmental advantage to its design.

“All parts of a Pringles can act as a barrier to keep [the crisps] fresh. That means a longer shelf life, which minimises food waste,” a spokesman said.

Lucozade said it was reducing carbon emissions, adding: “We recognise our responsibility to limit our impact on the environment and welcome any technological breakthroughs that support this ambition.”

The benefits of packaging need to be heard

The benefits of packaging need to be heard. The world has changed enormously since INCPEN was established in 1974. Yet today, some of the issues the packaging industry has to deal with seem depressingly familiar.

The benefits of packaging need to be heard

 

One of the first challenges we faced in 1974 was the growing problem of litter, with environment groups blaming packaging. They were also critical of increasing consumerism and people’s changing lifestyles but they criticised packaging instead because this put the blame on industry, not individuals.

Litter, especially marine litter, remains a problem and packaging is still singled out as the main culprit. The reason given by politicians for introducing charges for carrier bags is typically to prevent them ‘spoiling the landscape’ as litter. The facts are conveniently ignored. According to the latest (2014) survey of litter by Keep Britain Tidy, commissioned by INCPEN, carrier bags were less than 1% of littered items. But the charge has set a precedent for adding costs to packaging and there are now campaigns to impose deposits on drinks containers and taxes on other types of packaging.

No one points out that there is a huge difference between a carrier bag charge, which can be avoided simply by using your own bag, and deposits or taxes which everyone has to pay. In response to the public’s negative perception of packaging, policymakers are tending to propose measures that typically focus on used packaging.

The industry needs to continue to develop clever packaging that responds to changing demographics, lifestyles and shopping habits and helps make supply chains more sustainable. But if companies want the freedom to be able to use the best pack for the job, they will also have to explain the role of packaging and that it has a net positive enviroment benefit in protecting more resources than it uses.

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling, launched yesterday in London.

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling

DS Smith supports coffee cups recycling. The packaging giant said it is committed to working with retailers, coffee cup manufacturers, and the recycling industry to try and find a solution to the recycling of disposable coffee cups.

The company is keen to find an effective way to process coffee cups found in many coffee retailers on the high.

One of the key problems with recycling coffee cups is that often there is multiple materials used to manufacture the cups, and a lack of infrastructure such as mills set up to deal with specific multi-material wastes.

The objective is to significantly increase paper cup recovery and recycling rates by 2020.

Jim Malone, head of recycling at DS Smith, said: “We recognise the recyclability of coffee cups is a significant issue. When the cups are improperly discarded they are a highly visible source of litter. There are a number of pieces of research being undertaken to produce recyclable cups and we are willing to collaborate with all sectors of the supply cycle to engineer a recyclable solution.”

Waxed and polyethylene-lined paper coffee cups are not ideal feedstock and are treated as a contaminant in DS Smith’s packaging mill feed stocks. This is because these cups have to spend a longer time in pulpers to break down the paper fibres for recycling compared with mono-material recyclable paper and card.

Currently there are only a handful of mills in the UK that are set up to deal with specific multi-material wastes, such as milk and juice cartons. These mills can reprocess only small quantities of waxed and lined paper cups.

Sonoco launches recyclable containers

Sonoco Consumer Products Europe has teamed up with Vegeplast to launch the Vegetop container with a special shaker top made of organic, compostable plastic.

Sonoco

Sonoco, the rigid paper, plastics and closures firm is using a specialist for injection-moulded and biodegradable plastic from Vegeplast, boosting its sustainability credentials.

The container is made of recycled paper with a robust paperboard base featuring a product-specific inner coating.

“We can now offer our customers a rigid paperboard container that sets new standards in environmental friendliness,” said Sébastien Fabre, sales manager at Sonoco. “The Vegetop® cap and our containers offer a perfect combination. The body of the container is recyclable and the plastic lid is 100% compostable.”

Rolf Regelmann, director of sales and marketing at Sonoco Consumer Products Europe, added: “Today’s consumers place increasing importance on environmentally-friendly packaging. The rigid paperboard containers with Vegetop meet these expectations without compromising on visual appeal. Our Vegetop containers stand out at the point of sale and are extremely convenient for consumers thanks to the practical shaker top.”

UK packaging recycling obligations met from 2014 results

UK packaging recycling, the Environment Agency has confirmed that the annual obligation for the amount of packaging waste recycled in 2015 has been met with the help of carry from 2014.

UK packaging recycling

UK packaging recycling Carry it refers to recycling that has taken place in December of the previous year but held against the current years recycling target.

Recycling figures (excl. carry in) show that 8,476, 729 tonnes of packaging waste was either reprocessed in the UK or exported against a target of 7,487,312 tonnes.

The final total for the year for paper was 3,667,387 tonnes against a net requirement of 2,715,816 tonnes, while wood came in at 374,991 tonnes and thus reaching above its 254,836 obligation.

Glass achieved its overall target with a 40,483 tonne surplus in glass remelt against a target of 1,035,167. Glass aggregate however only managed to produce 501,162 tonne return with a requirement of 537,080 tonnes.

Plastic which experienced an incredibly volatile year only met the obligation target with the help of a 65,444 tonne carry in from 2014, coming in at 891,141 tonnes against a 916,451 tonne target in year.

Steel fell agonisingly short in what was again very difficult trading conditions, achieving 363,927 tonnes on a target of 364,477 tonnes all be it with 23,948 tonne carry in acting as a buffer.

Aluminium registered 76, 027 tonnes, falling slightly short of its 76,252 tonne target with a 4,186 carry in taking it over the line.

Speaking on the 2015 Q4 supply figures Andrew Letham, sales and marketing manager at The Environment Exchange, told, the most notable returns was in plastic, where despite tough trading conditions there was a 23% increase on Q3 at 263,055 tonnes, the largest return ever seen in plastic. He said the 2015 figures brought some ‘staggering’ results in what were very difficult trading conditions.

The Environment Exchange said as new targets were confirmed alongside the budget, the agency recognised difficulties in plastic and reduced the increase from an intended 5% to a 2% increase until 2020. However, demand is still going to be higher than 2015 with a 35,000 tonne reduction in carry in.

Letham said: “If we continue to produce returns as seen in Q4 then we will ease past the revised targets but one would suggest that it should be taken as the exception rather than the rule,”. “Glass will be frozen at 77% with a 1% increase per year up to 80% which should see us achieve target this year but we will get further information on the 22 April with the release of the Q1 supply figures for 2016 when we will see if the current feeling of relative comfort in the market across all materials is to continue.”