Sean Milmo, European Editor11.12.19
Approximately five years after the European Union drew up an action plan for turning itself into a circular economy, it has – at least at the EU level – started a transition to a system of the three Rs: Reduce, recycle, reuse.
Across Europe, a long process of “closing the loop” of product lifecycles has started through big increases in recycling and the reuse of materials to bring benefits to both the environment and the economy.
According to the European Commission, the EU executive, a circular economy is defined as a means for maintaining “the value of products, materials and resources for as long as possible by returning them into the product cycle at the end of their use, while minimizing the generation of waste.”
By 2030 there will be a common EU target of a 70% recycling of packaging waste. This will be supported by a mandatory reduction of landfill to a maximum of 10% of municipal waste by 2035.
Ink Industry and the Circular Economy
The move to a circular economy will be a massive task for ink producers and their suppliers because with many materials, particularly in packaging, the effective separation of inks from their substrates is being seen as being crucial to the success of recycling processes. Inks, as well as other additives, have to be completely detached from recycled materials for reuse.
This will require major technological innovations among ink manufacturers and their raw material suppliers.
The pressure will be mounting on the ink producers, not just from the regulators but also their customers, particularly consumer product manufacturers who are having to respond to a swing in opinion among European consumers who have become increasingly worried about the environment amid mounting evidence of radical climate change.
“Consumer attitudes are changing and there is a growing consensus that brands and retailers need to act and make necessary changes for both the future of the planet and their businesses,’’ said Tony Hitchin, GM of Pro Carton, the European trade association of carton and carton board manufacturers. It has recently conducted a consumer survey of seven key European markets.
“The environment has never been so high on (consumers’) agenda and consumers are willing to act to protect it, be that with their feet or their wallets,’’ Hitchin continued. “It’s time for us all – associations, brands, retailers and manufacturers – to listen to consumers and make sure that packaging sustainability is a priority for us all.’’
“As a result of rising consciousness among Europeans of climate change and the need to protect the environment, the European print companies and their suppliers have become much more aware of the impact of the circular economy on their businesses,’’ said Alex Fisher, head of communications at the International Association of Deinking Industry (INGEDE), Munich, Germany.
“Price is still a big factor in buying decisions with print products but sustainability is now being given much more importance,’’ Fisher added.
Recycling Rates
The European Commission aims to track the rate of transition to a circular economy among member states – soon to total 27 after the long-postponed departure of the UK.
Among the 10 indicators, it will be applying to monitor progress will be recycling rates, especially for specific waste streams, like packaging, use of secondary, recycled raw materials and trade in recyclable raw materials.
Of the two main packaging materials, paper and cardboard have been set as the highest recycling target of 85% by 2030 and plastics the second-lowest at 55%
The plastics packaging target compares with an actual recycling rate of 41% in 2016. The Commission wants all plastics packaging to be recyclable by 2030.
In addition to improvements in the collection of packaging waste, the Commission is focusing on a greater contribution from R&D in developing circular solutions, advances in packaging design and more effective separation of different materials in waste streams.
The industry is also taking its initiatives to boost recycling. Some of these are in sectors in which recycling has had a relatively low profile due to technological and logistical difficulties in collecting, sorting and processing the materials.
One of these segments is flexible packaging, most of which are made from polyolefin and other plastics but approximately 20% of which is produced from paper or aluminum. In some parts of Europe, there are few means for collecting, sorting and recycling flexible packaging.
Now companies and associations in the flexible packaging value chain have formed CEFLEX – a Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging.
Among the first leading inks producer to join the new organization has been Sun Chemical.
“As a global supplier of both printing inks and lamination adhesives, Sun Chemical is uniquely placed to contribute to the development of next-generation structures and products that will drive the circular economy for flexible packaging and assist in our customers meeting their sustainability goals,” said Felipe Mellado, Sun Chemical’s chief marketing officer.
By next year it aims to complete a roadmap with design guidelines and a program for demonstrating the “significant value’’ of flexible packaging to the circular economy. By 2025 it expects there will be an established collection, sorting and reprocessing infrastructure for the material across Europe.
Buyers of recyclates or secondary materials would in most cases not want them to contain impurities like inks or their ingredients.
Complete removal of inks, additives and other ingredients is often essential because large amounts of residues will pile up in a material during its different reuse cycles.
Deinking of printed paper has been taking place in Europe for several decades. Yet there are still major problems with the elimination of inks and their chemicals in printed paper. UV/LED inks can, for example, still create complications for paper recyclers.
“UV inks are a big problem,’’ said Fisher. “They form plastic layers which break into large, thin fragments which are difficult to remove in the deinking process. The recycled paper has dark specks in it from the fragments, which can be an issue if it is to be used as a secondary material for publishing.’’
There is also a similar difficulty with inks with plant seed oils applied as binders because the oils polymerize into a film that can be hard to eliminate by deinking.
Collaborating on Solutions
Collaboration is becoming crucial as a means of finding innovative solutions to the complications of recycling packaging and other printed products.
“Plastic recycling is such a complex topic, that, in fact, it cannot be solved by one industry player or one sector of industry alone,” said Klaus Wohnig, board spokesman APK AG, a specialist producer in recycled plastic.
APK is combining with Siegwerk to make plastic packaging more recyclable in the age of the circular economy.
Only about 10% of the resources used in plastics production are recovered through recycling, with much of the remaining 90% being incinerated, according to Siegwerk.
“We face a huge challenge which we need to solve in a short time,” said Joerg-Peter Langhammer, the company’s head of sustainability.
A priority was to increase the recycling of packaging made from polyolefins, mainly comprising polyethylene and polypropylene. Despite being the most used of plastics raw materials for packaging, they have a recycling rate below 40%, possibly because the majority of them are classed as flexible packaging.
With printing inks having the ability to lower the quality of recyclates unless the inks are properly managed during the recycling printing, APK needed an expert partner.
“Printing inks in particular, but also pigments and the organic residues from post-consumer waste, represent a challenge when it comes to manufacturing a reusable recyclate that is as versatile as possible,’’ said Wohnig.
Siegwerk is collaborating with Stora Enso, a paper, packaging and biomaterials producer, in the development of deinkability improvements.
With the help of research with Stora Enso, Siegwerk introduced earlier this year a UV/LED ink that solved the problem of deinkability being impeded by UV/LED inks forming fragments that attach themselves so strongly to paper fibers they cannot be separated by the recycling process. The solution to the problem has been to create an ink whose cured film is fragmented into hydrophobic particles so small that they can be easily detached from the paper fiber.
With a growing number of R&D partnerships being formed in Europe to focus on the difficulties with inks in the recycling of printed materials, some of the major problems should be solved. But the solutions will have to be found quickly to avoid holding back the formation of key parts of the circular economy.
European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.
Across Europe, a long process of “closing the loop” of product lifecycles has started through big increases in recycling and the reuse of materials to bring benefits to both the environment and the economy.
According to the European Commission, the EU executive, a circular economy is defined as a means for maintaining “the value of products, materials and resources for as long as possible by returning them into the product cycle at the end of their use, while minimizing the generation of waste.”
By 2030 there will be a common EU target of a 70% recycling of packaging waste. This will be supported by a mandatory reduction of landfill to a maximum of 10% of municipal waste by 2035.
Ink Industry and the Circular Economy
The move to a circular economy will be a massive task for ink producers and their suppliers because with many materials, particularly in packaging, the effective separation of inks from their substrates is being seen as being crucial to the success of recycling processes. Inks, as well as other additives, have to be completely detached from recycled materials for reuse.
This will require major technological innovations among ink manufacturers and their raw material suppliers.
The pressure will be mounting on the ink producers, not just from the regulators but also their customers, particularly consumer product manufacturers who are having to respond to a swing in opinion among European consumers who have become increasingly worried about the environment amid mounting evidence of radical climate change.
“Consumer attitudes are changing and there is a growing consensus that brands and retailers need to act and make necessary changes for both the future of the planet and their businesses,’’ said Tony Hitchin, GM of Pro Carton, the European trade association of carton and carton board manufacturers. It has recently conducted a consumer survey of seven key European markets.
“The environment has never been so high on (consumers’) agenda and consumers are willing to act to protect it, be that with their feet or their wallets,’’ Hitchin continued. “It’s time for us all – associations, brands, retailers and manufacturers – to listen to consumers and make sure that packaging sustainability is a priority for us all.’’
“As a result of rising consciousness among Europeans of climate change and the need to protect the environment, the European print companies and their suppliers have become much more aware of the impact of the circular economy on their businesses,’’ said Alex Fisher, head of communications at the International Association of Deinking Industry (INGEDE), Munich, Germany.
“Price is still a big factor in buying decisions with print products but sustainability is now being given much more importance,’’ Fisher added.
Recycling Rates
The European Commission aims to track the rate of transition to a circular economy among member states – soon to total 27 after the long-postponed departure of the UK.
Among the 10 indicators, it will be applying to monitor progress will be recycling rates, especially for specific waste streams, like packaging, use of secondary, recycled raw materials and trade in recyclable raw materials.
Of the two main packaging materials, paper and cardboard have been set as the highest recycling target of 85% by 2030 and plastics the second-lowest at 55%
The plastics packaging target compares with an actual recycling rate of 41% in 2016. The Commission wants all plastics packaging to be recyclable by 2030.
In addition to improvements in the collection of packaging waste, the Commission is focusing on a greater contribution from R&D in developing circular solutions, advances in packaging design and more effective separation of different materials in waste streams.
The industry is also taking its initiatives to boost recycling. Some of these are in sectors in which recycling has had a relatively low profile due to technological and logistical difficulties in collecting, sorting and processing the materials.
One of these segments is flexible packaging, most of which are made from polyolefin and other plastics but approximately 20% of which is produced from paper or aluminum. In some parts of Europe, there are few means for collecting, sorting and recycling flexible packaging.
Now companies and associations in the flexible packaging value chain have formed CEFLEX – a Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging.
Among the first leading inks producer to join the new organization has been Sun Chemical.
“As a global supplier of both printing inks and lamination adhesives, Sun Chemical is uniquely placed to contribute to the development of next-generation structures and products that will drive the circular economy for flexible packaging and assist in our customers meeting their sustainability goals,” said Felipe Mellado, Sun Chemical’s chief marketing officer.
By next year it aims to complete a roadmap with design guidelines and a program for demonstrating the “significant value’’ of flexible packaging to the circular economy. By 2025 it expects there will be an established collection, sorting and reprocessing infrastructure for the material across Europe.
Buyers of recyclates or secondary materials would in most cases not want them to contain impurities like inks or their ingredients.
Complete removal of inks, additives and other ingredients is often essential because large amounts of residues will pile up in a material during its different reuse cycles.
Deinking of printed paper has been taking place in Europe for several decades. Yet there are still major problems with the elimination of inks and their chemicals in printed paper. UV/LED inks can, for example, still create complications for paper recyclers.
“UV inks are a big problem,’’ said Fisher. “They form plastic layers which break into large, thin fragments which are difficult to remove in the deinking process. The recycled paper has dark specks in it from the fragments, which can be an issue if it is to be used as a secondary material for publishing.’’
There is also a similar difficulty with inks with plant seed oils applied as binders because the oils polymerize into a film that can be hard to eliminate by deinking.
Collaborating on Solutions
Collaboration is becoming crucial as a means of finding innovative solutions to the complications of recycling packaging and other printed products.
“Plastic recycling is such a complex topic, that, in fact, it cannot be solved by one industry player or one sector of industry alone,” said Klaus Wohnig, board spokesman APK AG, a specialist producer in recycled plastic.
APK is combining with Siegwerk to make plastic packaging more recyclable in the age of the circular economy.
Only about 10% of the resources used in plastics production are recovered through recycling, with much of the remaining 90% being incinerated, according to Siegwerk.
“We face a huge challenge which we need to solve in a short time,” said Joerg-Peter Langhammer, the company’s head of sustainability.
A priority was to increase the recycling of packaging made from polyolefins, mainly comprising polyethylene and polypropylene. Despite being the most used of plastics raw materials for packaging, they have a recycling rate below 40%, possibly because the majority of them are classed as flexible packaging.
With printing inks having the ability to lower the quality of recyclates unless the inks are properly managed during the recycling printing, APK needed an expert partner.
“Printing inks in particular, but also pigments and the organic residues from post-consumer waste, represent a challenge when it comes to manufacturing a reusable recyclate that is as versatile as possible,’’ said Wohnig.
Siegwerk is collaborating with Stora Enso, a paper, packaging and biomaterials producer, in the development of deinkability improvements.
With the help of research with Stora Enso, Siegwerk introduced earlier this year a UV/LED ink that solved the problem of deinkability being impeded by UV/LED inks forming fragments that attach themselves so strongly to paper fibers they cannot be separated by the recycling process. The solution to the problem has been to create an ink whose cured film is fragmented into hydrophobic particles so small that they can be easily detached from the paper fiber.
With a growing number of R&D partnerships being formed in Europe to focus on the difficulties with inks in the recycling of printed materials, some of the major problems should be solved. But the solutions will have to be found quickly to avoid holding back the formation of key parts of the circular economy.
European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.