As the turn of the year approaches, the plastics packaging sector is facing a series of legislative headwinds – but in the UK at least, there was something to cheer about.
In a move welcomed by the Food and Drink Federation, the new UK government has decided to allow companies to use mass balance accounting in calculating recycled content for the country’s Plastic Packaging Tax. Waste management firm Biffa supported the increase in the tax rate in line with inflation, but called for the tax to remain ‘progressive’.
With the final round of talks concerning a global plastics treaty set to conclude in December, there was less optimistic news coming from the US, with a report commissioned by the Environmental Investigation Agency warning that a proposed target to reduce 40 per cent of global primary plastics production by 2040 will still not be enough to meet the 1.5 deg C climate target set under the Paris Agreement. Rapid action is needed to stop the plastics industry from missing the target, the report argued.
Ahead of the treaty talks, a global coalition of business leaders called for ‘binding global rules’ to harmonise the policy landscape, strengthen national legislation, and help businesses scale proven solutions for priority sectors such as packaging. The bosses of ALPLA, Amcor, Berry Global and Borealis were among the 22 signatories of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty open letter.
Another legislative storm is brewing in the EU, after a market analyst claimed confusion over rPET legislation in Europe is causing turmoil ahead of its 2025 deadline. With just one month to go before all EU countries must include at least 25 per cent recycled content in PET beverage bottles, the market is in “chaos” due to huge levels of uncertainty around the Single-Use Plastics Directive, according ICIS’s Matt Tudball.
To add industry woes, the president of Plastics Recyclers Europe has suggested European recyclers are struggling to survive in a market flooded with uncontrolled imports, and the situation is only set to get worse unless it is addressed urgently. Ton Emans called the downward trend in the European plastics recycling market “alarming”.
Converters, at least, are doing their best to secure a reliable supply of recycled material. North American packaging manufacturer Winpak has signed a long-term deal with Nova Circular Solutions for the supply of post-consumer rPE. Nova will supply high-quality rPE under the brand name Syndigo for flexible plastics packaging. ALPLA, meanwhile, has entered the South African PET recycling market after opening a €60 million ($65.4m) plant in KwaZulu-Natal.
The plant will produce up to 35,000 tonnes of rPET annually, which will be converted into plastics packaging at ALPLA’s production plant in Lanseria.
Further up the supply chain, Braskem has reached an agreement with Neste for the supply of renewable and recycled feedstocks for polymers and chemicals production. Products based on these feedstocks will be sold mainly in South America.
In a strong month for recycled-content innovation, Tetra Pak and Lactalis have unveiled a carton package that uses certified recycled polymers linked to used beverage cartons. The material has been certified by ISCC Plus, and is allocated to the package based on a mass balance attribution method.
ISCC Plus certification through mass balance has also been granted to a new Cadbury sharing bar, made with recycled plastics using chemical recycling technology. In a project with Amcor and Jindal Films, Mondelēz International is aiming to use the recycled material in approximately 300 million bars of chocolate.
Further positive NPD news came from Canada, after graphene manufacturer HydroGraph Clean Power revealed that using fractal graphene powder could ‘dramatically’ improve the performance and sustainability of PET bottles. In tests, it showed that the enhanced performance of PET bottles could lead to light-weighting and a reduction in plastics use. Faced by mounting challenges from Extended Producer Responsibility legislation worldwide, the PET bottle industry would clearly welcome anything to strengthen its case.
And finally…
A Florida man went viral after using plastics sheeting to protect his prized Corvette in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. John Santos, of Palm Beach, bought the luxury vehicle in January, and caused something of a stir after he covered it in plastics as the storm headed towards US shores.
After a video of his preparations amassed 63 million views on TikTok, it became clear that sheet wrapping cars ahead of storms was now a ‘thing’, with similar videos popping up across social media. While such innovative use of plastics as a safety barrier has to be applauded, many were perhaps right to ask why Santos simply didn’t get into the car and drive to somewhere safer.
Noli Dinkovski
