The European Aluminium Foil Association and Flexible Packaging Europe have founded an alliance to drive recycling performance for small aluminium packaging, supported by Nestlé Nespresso, JDE Peet’s, Lindt, and Bel Group.
Other participants include Amcor, Constantia Flexibles, Actega, Delica, Alupak, Speira, Aluminium Féron, Laminazione Sottile, Symetal, Datwyler, Formika, and AlInvest.
Together, the companies aim to achieve higher recycling rates for small aluminium formats like coffee capsules, chocolate and cheese foils, and dairy lids.
While modern and large sorting facilities are thought to be capable of separating this kind of packaging for recycling, this is not the case across Europe. As such, much of this packaging is incinerated and only partially recovered through bottom ash treatment.
However, this treatment does not meet the requirements of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) – and as deposit return schemes for beverage containers scale up across Europe, beverage containers are being removed from household recycling streams.
As such, the collaborators aim to improve the recyclability of small aluminium formats in sorting plants and support a circular economy.
“We need to join forces in the value chain to make progress, particularly with small aluminium packaging, in order to achieve the PPWR targets,” explains Guido Aufdemkamp, executive director of the European Aluminium Foil Association. “This alliance provides a shared foundation to improve collection, sorting and recycling in a targeted way.
“Together, we will identify the respective bottlenecks in waste management which hinder a good recycling performance and conduct relevant studies supporting practical implementation of measures. We also rely on the experience in our network of national aluminium recycling organizations and other existing initiatives to put in practice the necessary actions.”
Previously, Aluminium Deutschland, IG Metall, and IGBCE joined five federal states and various social partners in the German Aluminium Alliance, which aspires for climate neutrality and competitiveness for Germany’s aluminium industry.
The European Commission has also adopted the 2025-2030 working plan for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products and Energy Labelling Regulations, with steel and aluminium among the list of priority products to implement eco-design requirements and energy labelling by 2030.
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