Green materials: Seal/Dow to adopt PCR resin for e-commerce packaging; Ineos/Lactel to produce recycled HDPE milk bottles

Seal, a Hong Kong-based waste plastic recycling company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US chemical firm Dow to produce Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) resin based e-commerce packaging. An official MoU signing ceremony was held recently at Seal's flagship recycling facility in Fanling in the presence of key representatives, stakeholders and strategic partners from both parties, as well as Ravago Group, a European plastic products manufacturer and one of Dow's channel partners in Asia Pacific.

Under the terms of the MoU, Seal and Dow's collaboration will produce PCR resin based e-commerce packaging in Asia Pacific, offering sustainable courier bag solutions to top global e-commerce players. This will help to increase the recycled content of their packaging, a major step in achieving their sustainability targets. In addition, Seal is also using Dow's compatibiliser modification solutions to recycle plastic hangers waste the company collects, and designing new products with recyclability in focus.

Seal's flagship site in Fanling handles and treats nearly 36,000 tonnes/year of worldwide waste and recyclables. It houses the largest shredder in Hong Kong to separate the metal parts from consume plastic waste like hangers and shred the plastic into small pieces for further processes. In addition, Seal's in-house laboratory provides tests of the separated materials, results of which help determine the recycling blending formula and ensure quality control of the final production of plastic pellets.

According to David So, Chairman of Seal, Seal was founded in 2020 by its parent company China Eco-farming, an investment holding company. Its current projects on carbon offset and carbon neutrality fall in line with the latest policy address by President Xi Qinping at the 14th five-year plan (2021-2025). He also added that Seal initially started with the recycling of used hangers made of PS and PP.

He went on to say, “As an ambitious company, our vision is to expand our recycling projects through application and material bases, including recycling LDPE from courier bags, HDPE from water buckets, nylon materials from electrical appliances and PVB from glass lamination. Our recycling collaboration with Dow allows us to introduce the first PCR plastics into the manufacturing of courier bags at our packaging facility in Dongguan, which is intended to meet the sustainability commitment of the Fortune Top 50 e-commerce enterprises."

Meanwhile in other news, Ineos O&P Europe says it is making a significant investment to develop a comprehensive portfolio of circular solutions for the packaging industry. The collaboration with dairy brand Lactel, it adds, is yet another major milestone in this direction.

Advanced recycling technology converts waste plastic back to its basic molecules which are then used in Ineos’s production sites to include recycled contents and replace traditional fossil-based raw materials.

Lactel, a brand of the French Lactalis group, is the first dairy brand, in collaboration with Ineos, to explore a solution for UHT milk bottles produced with circular polyethylene, derived from post-consumer recycled material.

"This trial production of 140,000 milk bottles, based on HDPE from advanced recycling technology, is a world first and a major step forward for Lactel towards a circular economy. This new innovative product will be used in the Montauban production plant for an initial production run. At Lactel we are extremely excited to bring this new environmental innovation to our iconic milk bottles,” explains Anne Charles-Pinault - Lactel France General Manager.

After an independent certification process, initiated several months ago, Lactel’s Montauban plant has been successfully RSB-certified this April 2021. The milk bottles produced in this way are compliant with food safety regulations and are fully recyclable. (The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) is an international, multi-stakeholder, independent organisation that supports the development of the global bio-based and circular economy through sustainability solutions, certification, innovation and collaborative partnerships.)

Subscribe to Get the Latest Updates from IMA  Please click here