Recycling and reusability: The focus for packaging in 2018

The year has just begun and a great deal has already happened in the plastics industry. Theresa May made a stand around stamping out ‘avoidable plastic waste’ within 25 years, plastic micro beads have been banned in the UK and China have banned the importation of plastic waste. Palagan Managing Director, Simon Barton, shares his thoughts on what he thinks the trends in the plastics industry will be in the next twelve months…

After reading a recent EPPM article, I am further convinced that 2018 will be dominated by a media and consumer led mindset on plastic packaging and recycling. The responsibility lies with manufacturers and plastic packaging suppliers to drive the direction of the industry through new innovation and technology this year.

1. Following Fairy’s lead

P&G launched their 100% ocean and post-consumer packing Fairy Liquid bottle towards the end of last year. It will be interesting to see how many other cleaning and bathroom products follow this lead during the year. Consumers now have the option to act through their purchasing decisions to make cleaner oceans. We will have to wait for innovation to catch up to see if it is possible to use ocean plastics in food and pharmaceutical industries. Until then, there are plenty of other options for greener packaging.

2. The media focus will fade but the drive for change won’t

Although the media is focusing heavily on plastics packaging today and this is likely to simmer, other big retailers and manufacturers are expected to follow suit with targets on (I) using less material, (ii) designing to reuse or recycle and (iii) to maximise the use of recycled content where possible.

3. Sorting it out

There are several types of plastic that are hard to identify in sorting and hence they are most often not recycled. Black food trays and sweet wrappers being the most notoriously difficult. Rather than replacing these as packing solutions it is most likely that the development of improved technology to make these more easily identifiable and hence sortable will be a key driver this year. Advanced infared and magnetic filtering as well as watermarking of these difficult plastics are likely to be areas that research and developers will target.

4. Redesigning to make recycling easier

Food in particular is often packed in multiple different types of materials which makes recycling more difficult. Consumers are confused and labelling unclear. With the focus of consumers on recycling, the pressure will be on manufacturers to make it easy and provide clear recycling printed details. On pack recycling labelling is likely to be legislated in 2018, to make it infinitely easier for consumers and recyclers alike.

5. Carbon neutral is the ultimate goal

There will be an even greater focus on plastic packaging manufacturers to review their production processes. Minimising water waste, energy consumption and carbon emissions during production is an ongoing journey. The ultimate goal of carbon neutral manufacturing may not be realised in 2018, but it is close on the time horizon.

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