Frequently asked questions

We are focusing on eco-effectiveness, which means designing products for recovery and continuous cycling of materials. Concepts such as cradle to cradle and circular economy are based on this approach, and strive towards an economy where materials stay within the system. Eco-effectiveness focusses on maximising the positive environmental impact and influences long-term performances. This is why we are focusing on recyclable and recycled materials for our packaging from renewable sources.
Each package has special requirements, to find out which is the most sustainable solution for the customer’s product, an individual analysis is needed.

Every packaging method impacts the environment, so we should decide whether packaging is needed at all. If yes:

we should reduce material where possible (less weight, smaller size container etc.)
design products fit for recycling
use recycled materials
use renewable materials

Furthermore, plastics have multiple advantages, other material don’t have. For example, if plastic is necessary, e.g. for food contact, hygiene products, chemicals, etc.:

It is light, so less CO2 emission is needed for transportation
Cleaning after using is possible, so reusability for several times and applications is given.
Using plastics again or in circles is easy and possible, so the CO2 emission is less than using new virgin materials.
Mono material are used for our products, so recycling can work very well.
Plastic can be produced out of bio based raw materials too, which are renewable as well.
High protective and clean properties for the filled product.

Recycling means usually, mechanical recycling.
Mechanical recycling is the use of used material (recyclate) for the same or new applications. There are different qualities of the recyclate and requirements, e.g. migration limits, processability on certain machines etc.

Other recycling exists as well:

Raw material recycling like chemical recycling, can be interesting in the future.
Energetic recycling is described as using the not-mechanical recyclable material to gain energy through incineration e.g. for the cement industry

Recycled material has a lot of advantages compared to virgin material:

Recycled plastic saves raw materials (crude oil or renewable raw materials).
Recycled plastic saves energy consumption: The recycling process needs 2/3 less energy than the conversion from crude oil to virgin PET.
This way of acting will protect the climate.
Rather burning the packaging or store it in landfills, recycled plastic can be used as valuable material again, e.g. for durable products.

For plastics: There is end-consumer waste and industrial waste. Industrial waste has usually a higher purity. End-consumer waste is separated in paper, plastics/ metals, residual waste, organic waste. The plastics/ metals are used for the further described recycling steps. This is later called PCR material (Post-consumer waste recyclate). Every contamination with other types of waste may result in less quality of the recyclate, depending on the type of contamination.
A separate system is the deposit PET-bottle collection and subsequently recycling.
For glass: It is collected in separate bins, mostly together with the caps (metal or plastic).

Different ways of collecting per EU member state (source: adapted, https://ec.europa.eu, Assessment of separate collection schemes in the 28 capitals of the EU, 15.11.2015):

Sorting has usually the following steps to separate plastics and metal:

Sieve: removes organic waste (e.g. maggots etc.) and small pieces like broken fragments of glass. Bottle caps won’t be separated.
Wind sifters: separates flexible packaging and flat objects from 3D-objects. A NIR-detector separates PE and other plastics subsequently.
Metal sorting, 2 steps: magnetic metals (Iron, tin) will be removed by a magnet, non-magnetic metals as aluminium will be removed by eddy current separator.
NIR (Near infra-red): sorts plastics by polymer type. This works, because products reflect a specific light spectrum, which is specific for a certain type of polymer.

Important!: This is why products with large labels often can’t be identified, black and dark coloured products with the Carbon black pigment can’t be detected, because the colour doesn’t reflect the NIR-light.

Sorting of plastics depends on:

shape – flexible or rigids
material, e.g polymer type – PET transparent, PE, PP, mix, (PS, only in Germany, Austria, some parts of France)
For PET: colour – transparent, mixed. Coloured or opaque PET won’t be recycled

(HD)PE and PP – in different streams, but the process is the same:

Shredding: the material into small pieces
Washing: a bath with circulating water (ca. 40°C) removes most residuals, labels and adhesives
Separation by density: Different plastics are separated by different density, so one is sinking and the other is floating. PE and PP have a density < 1 g/cm3, so it’s floating in water. The floating plastic will be separated.
Density ranges may overlap (PE & PP), that makes it challenging to guarantee a material purity.
Granulates: Flakes are further processed (melted) into granulates, that’s the recyclate.

PET clear, after sorting out any coloured or opaque PET:

Shredding: the material into small pieces
Washing: a bath with circulating water (ca. 40°C) removes most residuals, labels and adhesives
Separation by density: Different plastics are separated by different density, so one is sinking and the other is floating. PET and PS have a density > 1 g/cm3, so it’s sinking. PE and PP have a density < 1 g/cm3, so it’s floating in water. The sank plastic is separated.
Alkali hot-washing: Washing with alkali surfactants and water (ca. 85°C)
Drying & sorting: the flakes will be sorted again by colour
Granulates: Flakes are further processed (melted) into granulates, that’s the clear recyclate.

The overarching part of the packaging is identified by specific light sensors, which identify the material by reflection of a specific light spectrum. Packaging products may still contain or have components of other materials, e.g. caps, labels, etc. If a metal cap is still attached to the jar, the plastic packaging will probably be sorted out because the metal is sorted in front of plastics. Packaging with plastic caps, e.g. PP will probably be sorted into the stream of the packaging, because the size is larger as of the cap. The label is as well important, because the producer have to make sure, that the label-material and print don’t disturb the detection – each label has to be checked.

The a. material, b. density and c. print of the label as well as adhesives are relevant for recyclability of the packaging.

a. The material: Is important, because of the detectability and the density. PVC prevents the detection of the packaging material, so the whole packaging can’t be sorted right and recycled. Labels for HDPE containers should be made from PE and with water soluble adhesives, because it will end up in the PE stream. Paper labels are not optimal, but if they are used they have to be as small as possible (<50% of packaging surface) and have to had a water soluble adhesive.
b. The density and adhesive is important, because if the adhesive of the label is not water soluble and can’t be removed from the packaging. Because it subsequently can’t be separated by density, it may remain in the flakes and effects a discolouration of the recyclate, e.g. for PET, so it can’t be further used for recycled products. For PET containers, OPP or PE labels are probably ok if they are >50% of the packaging surface, because they have a different density as PET. Water- or alkali-soluble adhesives suitable for PET should always be used (adhesives are named by PETcycle).
c. Even if every parts of the packaging are fit for recycling, the print of the label can influence the detectability. So, it would be the right way to let the detectability check by a recycling institute to prove it.

Some conditions are impacting the quality of the recycled material, the quality per batch differs as well:

PET:

Colour: Currently, only transparent PET has a valuable recycling stream. Coloured PET is declared as not recyclable, because there are no valuable applications for recycled coloured PET. The transparent rPET has a different colour, because it’s processed more often and this causes some changes of the molecular structure. One by-effect is the colour change.
Processing: Sometimes it is necessary to adapt production processes for recycled materials and causes downgrading (use the recyclate for products with less quality requirements). Plastics are not endless recyclable.
Food grade: rPET has food-grade. It’s currently the only recycled material with food-grade.
Source: rPET food-grade comes from the deposit beverage bottles, e.g. from Germany, which has a separate recycling circle. Other rPET sources with food-grade are currently not available.

PE/ PP

Colour: rHDPE has a green or grey look, because some different colours are mixed together. (That is different to the PET recycling.) We don’t have experiences with rPP yet.
Processing: Sometimes it is necessary to adapt production processes for recycled materials and causes downgrading (use the recyclate for products with less quality requirements). Plastics are not endless recyclable.
Food grade: rHDPE and rPP don’t have food-grade.
Source: rHDPE/ rPP are made from post-consumer waste (PCR). This is why the recyclate isn’t as pure as virgin material.

It means the plastic decomposes under industrial composting conditions, with requires a timeframe. There are two types of composting: industrial and home composting. Usually composting means industrial composting.
Industrial composting conditions are controlled and set at higher temperatures (55-60°C), combined with controlled humidity, presence of oxygen and presence of specific microorganism-balance. The regulation EN 13432 requires at least 90% to disintegrate and break down in CO2 after 12 weeks. The break down should not have a negative effect on the quality or processing speed of the compost.

Home composting conditions have lower and less stable temperatures. That doesn’t mean, that the material can be disposed in the nature or degrades in water or soil, it means e.g. that it disposes in garden compost under specific conditions. In Europe, there are DIN Certco and TÜV Austria, which are examining the home composting, but not yet with an EU regulation, but only French and Australian standard.

For package still containing organic content at disposal, e.g. coffee capsules, tea bags. But until the disposal systems aren’t working with these materials, it will probably interrupt all systems, e.g. organic waste processing will be interrupted by compostable organic waste bags. However, anything of these kind of packaging are part of Pont’s portfolio.

Conventional plastics mixed with additives to mimic degradation. The material will turn into small particles under the influence of oxygen, this process is accelerated by UV light and / or heat. The particles, called microplastic, won’t biodegrade, will remain in and are harmful for the environment. This is why the European Commission has decided to ban the use of oxo-degradable plastics in the next years, but it’s not yet decided when.

There are 2 different types of micro plastic: primary and secondary micro plastic.
Primary micro plastic are pellets, which are produced by the industry for further processing (e.g. for cosmetics like peeling, shower gels, binding agents etc.).
Secondary micro plastic results out of disintegration of larger plastic pieces through weather conditions as sun, wind, waves or mechanical effects.
Information: the origin of most of the micro plastic are car tyres.

The surface properties of polymers, also micro plastic, act as a magnet for pollutants. These pollutants are in the water and enrich on the polymer surface. The micro plastic with pollutants are absorbed by the organisms in the ocean. Because of the food chains, the micro plastic ends in animals, maybe plants and therefore in human bodies as well. The pollutants can be released in the body and effect the health of the organisms. How a critical concentration of plastic effects organisms is not cleared yet.

Due to the rapid evolution of the sustainability into the packaging sector as well as local differences of recycling processes and law, information provided within this document are for information only.
We advise you to check your local regulation’s update.