Exploring the practice and economics of increasing recycled content

Putting recycled plastics to better use in more products is key to making the circular economy a reality. For CEFLEX, a pillar of achieving our #missioncircular is identifying and evaluating sustainable end markets and applications for recycled materials from polyolefin packaging, supported by robust data and analysis.

The importance and urgency of achieving this transformation is underlined by packaging legislation from the European Union – requiring flexible plastic packaging to incorporate 35% recycled content in non-contact sensitive plastics and 10% in contact sensitive applications by 2030, with targets raising to 65% and 25% respectively by 2040. 

Creating this change and replacing virgin materials involves overcoming technical, economic and environmental challenges to ensure recycled materials are consistently available at the right quality and at a competitive price.

To achieve this, the entire value chain must collaborate and innovate together to ensure recyclability of flexible packaging, recycling at scale and recycled materials being used again is a connected chain of processes.

"The primary challenge today is insufficient demand for recycled materials. Either because they can sometimes not meet the required qualities and quantities end markets need or – most often – are more expensive than virgin materials. Currently, the primary recycling method is conventional mechanical recycling, which, in basic terms, produces a plastic pellet with a certain range of colour and use applications – the markets for which are finite." says Graham Houlder

He reasons that design for recyclability continues to be a foundation stone to increasing recycled content and helps accelerate the circular economy in three ways: boosting feasibility, increasing the efficiency of recycling and improving the quality of recyclate produced. Something converters and brand owners need to continue pushing faster to achieve he says.

"With optimal design in place, we can focus on the essential alignment between recycling capacities, technologies and end market demand to bring ‘right quality’ recycled content aligned to new and existing applications keen to use more of it."

Building a picture of how and where recycled content can be used

Once successfully collected, sorted and recycled, household plastic packaging can become a post-consumer recyclate (PCR) – recycled plastics available to be re-processed into new products. These recycled materials produced from waste polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP) can be used in a variety of products within a range of sectors including household, logistics and manufacturing.

We see this recycled content in everyday items such as laundry baskets, refuse sacks and garden furniture through to more complex and technologically advanced products such as food packaging, agricultural films and automotive parts, which can all be made, in part, using PCR.          

All plastics – both virgin and recycled materials – must meet clearly defined and often stringent technical and performance specifications for a product to be fit-for-purpose. This often represents an engineering challenge: everything from the thickness of the packaging, to its colour, from the lifetime requirements to performance under stress, need to be considered.

Post-consumer plastics entering a recycling process and converted into materials to be used again and again need to be carefully managed and tested to ensure they meet these criteria and are able to replace virgin materials.

Fundamentals for optimising and serving sustainable end markets with mechanically recycled content

Based on our analysis of over 50 product applications made from virgin polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP), each with their own technical specification and performance criteria for increasing use of post-consumer recyclate (PCR), three fundamental observations stand out:

• Contact sensitive nature of an application is the key driver for quantifying the size of accessible markets for mechanically recycled PE, PP and mixed polyolefins (PO)

Plastic packaging applications in direct contact with food or medical supplies, for example, are subject to high technical and legal requirements. This represents a significant part of the market for virgin polymer – roughly 50% of flexible, rigid and other applications - and therefore both a significant challenge and opportunity for incorporating recycled content.

• Demand for mechanically recycled polyethylene (rPE) is primarily into like-for-like products

The most common family of polyolefins found in flexible packaging today are likely to be used in the circular economy as non-contact sensitive rPE from flexible packaging into PE flexible products - with some potential use in non-contact sensitive rigid applications. The quality and blend of PE grades (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE) will affect which end market applications are suitable.

• Recycled polypropylene (rPP) from flexible packaging has high potential to replace virgin materials in rigid and other products

This appears to be true for both packaging and non-packaging applications because of the versatility of PP and quality of PP flexible packaging. Using AMI data and CEFLEX assumptions, we estimate that more than 85% of virgin PP used in flexibles is contact sensitive – quality material which is key in determining the value and potential of rPP end markets

CEFLEX end market analyst, James Marshall explains some of the best short-term opportunities for increasing recycled content revealed by recent work.

"We have taken a lot of raw data about the use of virgin polymer demand – so where in Europe are businesses using polyethylene and polypropylene? What extrusion process is being used? And what’s the final product, application and sector? We then analysed if a product category is contact or non-contact sensitive, flexible or rigid, packaging or non-packaging to get an idea to where the highest potential for boosting recycled content exists." he explains.

Our analysis highlights a couple of major opportunities. Firstly, to strengthen and expand markets for mechanically recycled polyethylene (rPE) back into flexible applications and some potential use in rigid and ‘semi-flexible’ products from fibre and cable extrusion. And secondly, a strong potential for polypropylene recyclate (rPP), with clear opportunities into rigid and other extrusion products and possibilities for mechanical PCR into flexible applications, such as labels, tapes and textile packaging.

Keen to understand more?

Recent interviews with Graham Houlder and James Marshall expanding on the dynamics and opportunities for boosting recycled content are now available on ceflex.eu along with a factsheet explaining our approach and initial assessments.

• INTERVIEW: Knowing exactly where and how we can use more recycled materials is key to shaping recycling infrastructure and investment - Graham Houlder

• INTERVIEW: Without sustainable end markets, there is no circular economy - James Marshall

• FACTSHEET: Unlocking the environmental and financial value of circular materials

To access continued and far more detailed assessments, consider joining the CEFLEX stakeholder community. Contact [email protected] for more.