Day: February 1, 2022

As environmental awareness increases, both globally and locally, the amount of waste generated in South Africa is attracting more concern. Significant volumes of waste are still being diverted to landfill sites, which reflects a continued and dangerous “take-make-dispose” relationship with consumer products.

In response to both consumer and legislative pressures, some of South Africa’s largest retailers and brands are now putting a greater emphasis on the recyclability of their packaging.

The World Wildlife Fund South Africa’s plastics report (Plastics: Facts and Futures), published in November 2020, showed that out of the major municipalities, only eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng have significant landfill space left. There is therefore an urgent need to divert plastic and packaging waste and other end-of-life materials away from landfill sites.

Legislative moves

The Plastic Carrier Bags and Plastic Flat Bags Regulations published under the Environmental Conservation Act, 1989 (Plastic Bag Regulations) are premised on the popular slogan: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Read with the plastic bag levy introduced in 2004 under the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, an indirect tax has been imposed on the movement, manufacture, or consumption of plastic bags. Retailers pass this tax onto consumers by charging for every sale of a plastic bag.

The Plastic Bag Regulations also impose certain “compulsory specifications” on plastic bags (such as a minimum thickness of 24 microns), to make plastic bags more environmentally friendly and reusable. Under the most recent amendments to the Plastic Bag Regulations, there is now a deadline that all plastic bags should contain designated amounts of “post-consumer recyclate” at certain intervals, until they ultimately contain 100% post-consumer recyclate content by 1 January 2027 (subject to permissible exceptions).

But our legislators have acknowledged that we need to do more in encouraging circular economy thinking and practices. In May 2021, the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations published under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 took effect, marking a new waste management policy approach that is now regulated by law.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is founded on product stewardship and the “polluter-pays principle”, to encourage circular economy practices (such as sustainable packaging design), increase recycling rates and divert waste from our landfills. The EPR Regulations prescribe mandatory EPR measures which designated producers of identified products in (among others) the paper, packaging and single-use product sector must comply with.

These include upstream obligations (i.e., regulating the design, production, and composition of products to encourage avoiding, reducing, and reusing waste), as well as downstream obligations (i.e., regulating the waste implications associated with products after their consumption, such as recovery, recycling, and disposal).

In support of the EPR Regulations and their requirements, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) published a Draft Packaging Guideline: Recyclability by Design for Packaging and Paper in South Africa (Draft Packaging Guideline) on 6 October 2021. Its main purpose is to reduce the volume of packaging in landfill sites by improving product design, increasing the quality of production practices, and promoting waste prevention.

The Draft Packaging Guideline focuses on the design of packaging to facilitate recycling and represents a small but important aid for the journey to sustainable production and consumption, specifically seeking to maximise the value of recyclate (where the specification of recycled materials in the design of new products supports the recovery of material).

Ethical marketing

Large retailers such as Mr Price, Woolworths, Shoprite and Spar and large brands such as Estee Lauder and Coca-Cola have, for several years, been aggressively pursuing sustainable packaging goals by developing, and increasingly using, environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging. This enhances the appeal of their products to many shoppers.

However, there are certain legal and ethical obligations relating to the advertising of sustainable packaging.

South Africa’s consumer protection laws give consumers the right to fair and honest dealing, disclosure of information and fair and responsible marketing which is not false, deceptive, or misleading regarding the services and product provided.

There is also a Code of Advertising, which requires brands and retailers to ensure that, among other things, all advertisements are legal, decent, honest, and truthful and prepared with a sense of responsibility to the consumer.

Brands and retailers should ensure that advertisements are not framed to abuse the trust of the consumer or exploit their lack of experience, knowledge, or credulity. They must ensure that advertisements do not contain any statement or visual presentation which, directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity, inaccuracy, exaggerated claim or otherwise, is likely to mislead the consumer.

Beyond these regulatory mechanisms, the marked rise of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations and impacts which organisations are expected to understand, internalise and disclose against has brought with it a warning against ‘greenwashing’ – the phenomenon of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound.

Brand owners and product labels need to be wary of false advertising, as an increased number of claims and litigation in the ESG space have been premised on greenwashing attempts by big corporates and retailers.

Where will this lead?

These measures all demonstrate the importance being placed on sustainable packaging and providing accountability mechanisms to root out false advertising in various industries. Failure to adopt and abide by these mechanisms will see a significant increase in ESG-related litigation based on misrepresentation and sustainability falsehoods in product labelling and packaging design.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the sustainability and competitiveness of brands is linked to their ability to give effect to the concept of “recyclability”, namely that it must become both technically and economically feasible to recycle product packaging. This will require brands to support and implement circular economy practices and initiatives in packaging design.

With the legislative mechanisms now in place, we expect a variety of mechanisms, solutions and initiatives being implemented throughout the packaging value chain.

Manufacturers, converters, importers and brand owners of certain types of packaging (such as glass, metal, paper packaging and single-use plastic) will, following their registration with the DFFE under the EPR Regulations, now be required to budget for the implementation of upstream and downstream measures to improve the recyclability of their products at the end of their life – whether on their own or by paying Producer Responsibility Organisations (registered non-profit companies in the recovery and recycling space) to do so on their behalf.

We understand that industry is also working on universal and uniform labelling requirements, which are expected to be enforced in the near future.

The informal waste sector will play a crucial part in the mandated EPR schemes that will be implemented in the packaging sector, as will innovative technologies to track packaging materials, their use, and their composition throughout their lifecycle.

Due to climate change, recyclability should be at the forefront of product design and development and brands ought to remember that they have an ethical and legal duty to contribute to the South African consumer sector’s environmentally sustainable future.

Source:

https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/178/223010.html

PepsiCo is committed to changing the way packaging is made, used, and disposed across its food system. This pledge sees PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa become the first market within PepsiCo’s Africa, Middle East, and South Asia (Amesa) sector to reduce its reliance on virgin plastics and incorporate 20% recycled PET (rPET) in its products.

Increasing the use of materials such as rPET, is part of the ‘Positive Value Chain’ pillar of PepsiCo’s recently announced PepsiCo Positive agenda, which the food and beverage giant says places sustainability at the core of how the company operates.

Driving a circular economy for packaging

PepsiCo has pledged to changing the way packaging is made, used and disposed of across its food system.

“The reduction in the use of virgin plastic packaging, demonstrates the company’s commitment to driving towards a circular economy for packaging and reducing plastic waste,” says Bronwyn Patten, senior franchise director: WECA, PepsiCo SSA. “This means we must recycle and reuse the packaging material that we put into the world. This not only limits waste, but also reduces the carbon footprint of the packaging that we use.”

Pieter Spies, CEO of The Beverage Company, comments, “We are honoured to be the Pepsi bottler of choice in South Africa and to be a part of their aggressive pursuit of creating sustainable packaging solutions. As The Beverage Company we are committed to delivering premium products that promote sustainability while protecting our natural resources. Our research and development strategies are focused on leveraging the most innovative technology available and designing packaging that is of the lightest possible weight.”

He adds, “We have been a contributing member of Petco – the PET Recycling Company – for many years and have participated in driving the Reduce, Re-use, Recycle behaviour among customers by implementing, measuring and expanding on the management of waste to landfill. We believe that it is important to drive the circular economy and are engaging with industry players to see how we can bring multi-disciplined parties together to collaborate to further increase the collection of post-consumer plastics before going to dump sites.”

Reinventing packaging

While recycling helps to reduce emissions and plastic waste overall, PepsiCo says wants to have a bigger impact on the environment. Therefore, the company’s priority has been to tackle one of the key contributors to greenhouse gases by reducing and reinventing its packaging.

As part of the newly introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, the requirement for the beverage packaging industry is inclusion of 10% recycled content in the first year (2022) and leading up to 20% inclusion by year five.

Patten adds, “At PepsiCo, we aspire to a world where packaging never becomes waste. The commitment goes beyond Pepsi brands and the switch to 20% rPET will take place in phases with the 2-litre soft-drinks portfolio already completed. The balance of the product portfolio will be completed during Q1 of 2022.”

The company’s brands, across its food and beverage portfolio, are accelerating their efforts to realise PepsiCo’s sustainable packaging vision and leveraging their influence to educate consumers on recycling and the planetary impacts of their choices. This feeds into the company’s ‘Net Zero Emissions commitment by 2040’ and its sustainable packaging goals, PepsiCo says.

Source:

https://www.bizcommunity.africa/Article/410/162/223752.html

Aldi announces that its own-brand rice will be available in fully recyclable, monomaterial PE packaging developed by Coveris, with the rollout expected across January and February 2022.

The new packaging is a result of a two year partnership between Coveris and Veetee, one of the UK’s largest rice suppliers, to launch the packaging for Aldi’s own-brand Worldwide Foods 1kg basmati rice and 1kg brown rice SKUs.

According to the companies, the rice was previously packed in a non-recyclable, OPP and PE mixed laminate. The SKUs will now be packaged in Coveris’ MonoFlexE monomaterial PE to PE laminate solution, which it says is fully recyclable and will reportedly enable around 30 tonnes of film to enter the soft plastic recycling stream annually.

Using Coveris’ extrusion and film science capabilities, MonoFlexE for rice is apparently packed with the same block bottom, FFS format and offers like-for-like shelf-life properties and packing speeds as the former mixed laminate substrate. Coveris adds that MonoFlexE rice packaging is also available with up to nine colour HD flexo print and gloss or matte varnish for on-shelf appeal.

In addition, the packaging artwork has been updated for the launch and will now feature the retailer’s recycling logo on the front, with OPRL (On-Pack Recycling Label) recycling guidance on the back.

Mark Robinson, flexibles technical director at Coveris UK, says: “Aligned with Coveris’ sustainability strategy NO WASTE, we continue to use film science technology to advance our recyclable flexible films into new categories.

“The launch of MonoFlexE for Aldi rice following a successful, collaborative project with Veetee is a breakthrough for this market and we can be very proud to work with Aldi and Veetee to innovate packaging for improved recycling.”

Richard Gorman, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, comments: “We are always open to innovative solutions to reducing plastic waste, so we are pleased to work with Coveris and Veetee to launch our own-brand rice in fully recyclable packaging, which marks a further step towards achieving our plastic and packaging goals.”

Aldi is aiming for 100% of its own-brand packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by the end of 2022. The retailer has already removed plastic straws from its own-label drinks cartons, as well as trialled the removal of plastic shrink-wrap from its baked bean multipacks deals and introducing a recyclable inner bag for its cereal packaging. At its Ulverston store in Cumbria, UK, Aldi is also offering packaging-free, loose buy options for staples including rice, which could lead to the development of refillable options in other stores if successful.

Coveris’ MonoFlexE packaging for Aldi rice launched in January 2022 for half of the two SKUs, with the remaining 50% of its basmati and brown rice items to switch throughout January and February.

Source:

Using Coveris’ extrusion and film science capabilities, MonoFlexE for rice is apparently packed with the same block bottom, FFS format and offers like-for-like shelf-life properties and packing speeds as the former mixed laminate substrate. Coveris adds that MonoFlexE rice packaging is also available with up to nine colour HD flexo print and gloss or matte varnish for on-shelf appeal.

In addition, the packaging artwork has been updated for the launch and will now feature the retailer’s recycling logo on the front, with OPRL (On-Pack Recycling Label) recycling guidance on the back.

Mark Robinson, flexibles technical director at Coveris UK, says: “Aligned with Coveris’ sustainability strategy NO WASTE, we continue to use film science technology to advance our recyclable flexible films into new categories.

“The launch of MonoFlexE for Aldi rice following a successful, collaborative project with Veetee is a breakthrough for this market and we can be very proud to work with Aldi and Veetee to innovate packaging for improved recycling.”

Richard Gorman, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, comments: “We are always open to innovative solutions to reducing plastic waste, so we are pleased to work with Coveris and Veetee to launch our own-brand rice in fully recyclable packaging, which marks a further step towards achieving our plastic and packaging goals.”

Aldi is aiming for 100% of its own-brand packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by the end of 2022. The retailer has already removed plastic straws from its own-label drinks cartons, as well as trialled the removal of plastic shrink-wrap from its baked bean multipacks deals and introducing a recyclable inner bag for its cereal packaging. At its Ulverston store in Cumbria, UK, Aldi is also offering packaging-free, loose buy options for staples including rice, which could lead to the development of refillable options in other stores if successful.

Source:

https://packagingeurope.com/news/coveris-develops-recyclable-rice-packaging-for-aldi/7802.article

As part of its No Plastic in Nature initiative, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has produced a position paper that emphasises reduction and reuse while also setting out its principles for evaluating whether it is possible to establish a credible and effective chemical recycling system.

WWF begins its Chemical Recycling Implementation Principles with a statement saying it does not intend for the paper to be an endorsement of any chemical recycling technologies. Instead, the group says the paper is aimed at encouraging responsible decision-making during the development of a sustainable and circular plastics economy.

The key purpose of WWF’s No Plastics in Nature vision is to foster reduction and reuse as the “top strategies”, but it also acknowledges that recycling is necessary for materials where there are not currently reuse systems in place, especially such technologies that allow materials to maintain value and remain in circulation across multiple lifecycles.

The paper identifies pyrolysis, gasification, and solvent-based extraction as examples of chemical recycling and likewise recognises theoretical claims that these technologies could help to reduce demand for virgin, fossil-based plastic and provide alternative waste management systems where mechanical recycling currently lacks technical capacity.

However, the paper goes on to add: “Based on currently available evidence, there are significant concerns that these technologies are energy-intensive, pose risks to human health, and/or will not be able to practically recycle plastic beyond what mechanical recycling already achieves”. WWF says that chemical recycling technologies could increase carbon emissions, reduce progress already made to manage plastic pollution, disincentivise other solutions like reduction and reuse, and potentially endanger worker health and safety. A report from RaboResearch found similar concerns with regards to “worse-than-advertised” environmental impacts, on-going delays, and scalability challenges.

The paper therefore suggests that the impact of chemical recycling “will depend on how it is implemented and designed”. With chemical recycling patents, investments, and technologies continuing to expand, WWF offers its principles “to help ensure that chemical recycling technologies will serve a useful, complementary role in the circular economy”.

There are ten principles in total, which WWF says are equally weighted in terms of priority:

1. Chemical recycling should not divert resources from efforts to implement existing proven approaches to address the global plastic pollution problem.

2. Chemical recycling processes should demonstrate a reduced carbon footprint compared with the production of virgin resin.

3. Chemical recycling must not negatively impact local communities and must demonstrate their operation is safe for human health.

4. Safeguarding nature – chemical recycling technologies must not adversely impact our air, water, and environment.

5. The use of chemical recycling should be complementary to existing waste management systems and not compete for feedstocks with mechanical recycling.

6. Plastic waste streams should be matched to the most environmentally efficient technology available.

7. Only material-to-material applications of chemical recycling should be considered recycling and part of a circular economy.

8. Chemical recycling systems should not transform recyclable material into non-recyclable material.

9. Claims made regarding chemical recycling should be true, clear, and relevant.

10. Plastic recycled with chemical recycling technologies should be verified with chain of custody.

With regards to the environmental impact of chemical recycling, WWF posits that any chemical recycling technology developed should achieve at minimum a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) at demonstration scale compared to the virgin production system. It adds that this reduction should increase as technologies begin to scale, with a focus on maintaining the 1.5^oC target limit proposed by the Paris Agreement.

WWF’s focus also appears to be on ensuring that chemical recycling technologies are complementary. According to the paper, this means limiting the unintended environmental consequences of chemical recycling and especially avoiding a situation where using chemical recycling to eliminate plastic pollution results in another significant ecological challenge to address in the future. 

This would also require chemical recycling to work in addition to, and avoid undercutting, proven mechanical recycling methods. Therefore, WWF notes that there needs to be clear and standardised guidance on which recycling technologies will produce the greatest yield and quality of recycled products, with decisions in favour of or against particular methods based on transparent data.

WWF emphasises the need for material-to-material chemical recycling, building in the opportunity for a closed-loop system and requiring that the materials produced from chemical recycling are themselves recyclable. The “ideal case” identified in the paper is the upcycling of waste plastics into more value feedstock. According to WWF, this would mean that fractions of material that are converted into energy, fuel, or lost in the recycling process would be excluded from data on the recycling rate of chemical recycling and not considered part of the circular economy.

To maintain accountability, WWF calls for public-facing claims about recycled content to be clarified, particularly with relation to a mass-balance approach versus physically segregated recycled content, which the group says should be distinguished. WWF says that recycled content claims should only apply to recyclable products. Additionally, all claims should be compliant with local legal guidelines and verified by 3^rd parties, especially where chemical recycling technologies cannot be distinguished from virgin, fossil-based plastics by the public, according to WWF. 

As for the human impacts, WWF says that environmental justice principles must be upheld during the implementation of chemical recycling technologies. This means reducing and controlling the risks to human health associated with the high levels of heat, pressure, and chemical solvents that may be required during chemical recycling, and avoiding chemical recycling in cases where this safety cannot be guaranteed.

On the new principles, Alix Grabowski, director of plastic and material science at WWF, comments: “Even as technologies advance, we can’t recycle our way out of the growing plastic waste crisis.

“Instead of just focusing on recycling, we should prioritize strategies like reducing our overall single-use plastic consumption and scaling up reuse, which offer the best opportunity to achieve the widescale change we need.

“For a technology like chemical recycling to be part of a sustainable material management system, we must carefully look at how its designed and implemented and whether or not it offers environmental benefits over the status quo, adheres to strong social safeguards, and truly contributes to advancing our circular economy. These principles are designed to do exactly that.”

Source:

https://packagingeurope.com/news/wwf-releases-chemical-recycling-principles/7812.article