TOMRA Recycling and Henkel have teamed up to advance the sortability of packaging, with one of TOMRA’s detection systems installed at Henkel’s test laboratory in Düsseldorf.
The detection system is expected to be utilized to test packaging before it is launched on the market and see whether it has the right properties for easy sorting and recycling after disposal.
The test system at Henkel’s site in Düsseldorf is TOMRA’s multi-functional sorting solution AUTOSORT. The scanner is equipped with a near-infrared and a VIS sensor. Using this sensor combination, the device can apparently detect the product material type - such as plastics like PP, PET, HDPE or paper - and the colour of the packaging, which can be decisive for sortability.
TOMRA says the AUTOSORT has been installed in around 100 countries worldwide to date, enabling Henkel to achieve results that meet those of real-life industrial plants.
Dr. Volker Rehrmann, EVP and head of TOMRA Recycling, said: “Sorting is an essential step in ensuring that packaging can be recycled instead of ending up in incineration plants. At TOMRA, we know how product packaging needs to be designed so that modern sorting technologies can recognize it clearly, and we have made it our mission to share this knowledge. A functioning circular economy is only possible if everyone involved in the value chain works together.”
Alba Santmarti, packaging sustainability manager at Henkel Consumer Brands, adds: “Design for Recycling is an integral part of the product development process at Henkel. We invest in our in-house capacities to check the sortability of our consumer goods packaging at an early stage. This is the only way to recycle valuable materials in subsequent steps and close material cycles.”
TOMRA also partnered with Syensqo in March, to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of separating and sorting multi-component plastic structures in which polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) serves as a barrier layer. The companies developed a set of experiments with multilayer samples of commercial packaging waste consisting of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and Syensqo’s Ixan PVDC.
Henkel recently announced it will be presenting its new ‘anti-slip’ palletizing and end-of-life adhesives at FACHPACK this year, which is taking place in Nuremberg, Germany from September 24th-26th. The company states it is already offering solutions that comply with the planned Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) requirements for the packaging industry.
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