As part of our Finalist Interview series ahead of the Sustainability Awards, we spoke to Martin Bonat, polyolefin recycling expert at ALPLA about the company’s red rHDPE - utilized for Werner & Mertz’s Rorax pipe unblocker - and its recycling method for coloured plastics, nominated in the Commercialized Best Practice category.
You’re a finalist in the Sustainability Awards 2024. Congratulations! To start off, could you summarize your entry, in less than 50 words?
For the first time, we are using red rHDPE from household collections for our customer Werner & Mertz’s Rorax pipe unblocker. We source the PCR material from our own ALPLA recycling facilities. Then we enable the recycling of coloured plastics by separating the colour streams in a fine sorting step.
Why do you think the judges were impressed with your entry? Tell us about what is innovative about your project and/or about its impact on packaging sustainability.
Normally in HDPE recycling, only white and transparent flakes are sorted out and the coloured remainder is processed into grey material. We sort the mono colours yellow, blue, green and red and use them to make coloured rHDPE. In this way we add value to the variety of colours, create a closed bottle-to-bottle cycle and prevent downcycling. At the same time, we ensure the quality of the material for recycling.
Finally, can you tell us about the ongoing development of your project, e.g. how your innovation/initiative has been received by the industry, or what the next steps are in commercialization/product development?
Since September 2023, all bottles of Rorax pipe-free power granulate have been made from 50 per cent red rHDPE. The material is obtained from household collection from the Yellow Bag.
Around 420,000 bottles have been put into the market since launch. At ALPLA there are other examples in the field of colour-to-colour rHDPE recycling in the pipeline, because the world is not only natural, white or grey, but colourful.
The winners of the Sustainability Awards 2024 will be announced at the Sustainable Packaging Summit, taking place in Amsterdam on 12-13 November. The Summit mobilizes leaders of the FMCG value chain, policymakers, NGOs, recyclers and investors to collaborate, remove barriers and identify opportunities on the road to sustainable transformation.
To learn more or register, visit: https://www.packagingsummit.earth/2024
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
The ultimate guide to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in 2024
How are the top brands progressing on packaging sustainability?
Sustainable Innovation Report 2024: Current trends and future priorities
Everything you need to know about global plastic sustainability regulation
No comments yet