recycling

India’s propensity for agriculture means that the country produces a high amount of agricultural waste. A NITI Aayog report quoting MNRE data states that about 500 million tons of agricultural residue is produced every year; NCBI data reveals that about 92 million tons of crop residue are burnt. 

"Eliminating waste plastic from our environment is a complex global challenge that requires a comprehensive, collaborative approach across the entire plastics lifecycle. P&G is taking a thoughtful approach to addressing the collection, processing, revitalization, and reuse of materials. That's why we selected Eastman's molecular recycling technologies which enable former waste to be transformed into useful products," explained Lee Ellen Drechsler, Procter & Gamble Senior Vice President of R&D. 

Congratulations on being selected by the international judging panel as a Sustainability Awards 2021 finalist! Could you please introduce your successful entry and what’s innovative about it?

The successful entry is a specifically engineered Sundae Cup & Lid that we developed in partnership with Havi for McDonald’s to be used throughout Europe initially. The product is made from 100% wood fiber, without any plastic additives and has been formulated for use with ice cream and a broad range of sauces and toppings.

Rieke’s Mono™-2e dispenser, which is currently in production, was the first dispenser pump on the market made from one polymer grade resin, making it more easily recycled, without sorting or separation. After proving production robustness, it became commercially available and ready for advanced design applications for customers serving the beauty, personal care and other end markets.

Ineos Styrolution, which has recently launched several mechanically recycled PS products, claims that the material’s easy-foaming properties allow for the production of XPS foam packaging trays.

Through the partnership, the companies will work to engineer and test new chemical recycling methods with a focus on flexible packaging such as pouches and bag-in-box – which are suitable for a variety of food and beverage applications

The Association of Plastic Recyclers has recognized three shrink label innovations for their compatibility with PET recycling processes.

In recent months, APR awarded critical guidance letters acknowledging that Siegwerk’s washable inks, CCL Label’s floating polyolefin label, and Garware Polyester’s crystallizable co-polyester film with washable inks meet the APR Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability.

All three technologies are designed for shrink sleeve labels applied to PET bottles.

Aiming to pivot the packaging market away from single-use plastics, Carton Service CSi, LLC specializes in manufacturing paper-based packaging for the food, beverage and medical industries. Introducing their new “Cartons 4R Earth” line, Carton Service hopes to inspire companies across many industries to utilize paper-based packaging for non-traditional items, such as liquid soaps, soap refills, dry foods like cereal, snack, crackers and confections, or semi-solid foods like potato salad and coleslaw.

In June last year, U.S.- based Credo Beauty set guidelines for its 130+ partner brands to phase out single-use products and packaging. This includes sheet masks, make-up wipes, cleansing pads, and other single-use items, like sample packets.

In addition, it asked brands to eliminate substances like per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and some bisphenols in their product packaging. The retailer focused on bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS), but insisted that all its brands incorporate packaging free from all bisphenols.

• Sainsbury’s is the leading supermarket with the largest roll out of the initiative to date

• The mass roll out will help drastically reduce the amount of plastic waste pollution

• Just 17% of UK local authorities collect flexible plastics for recycling

• Common household items that can now be recycled include crisp packets, food pouches, salad bags, biscuit and cake wrappers