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The Sustainable Packaging Coalition® is a collection of organisations based in the USA with the singular goal of making packaging more sustainable. With only 14% of all global plastic packaging collected for recycling and limited options available to recycle, new technologies are urgently needed to tackle the rising issue of plastic packaging waste. Aside from the devastating effects on the environment and wildlife that we see across the media, the effects of plastic pollution on human health are now also beginning to become evident. It is also estimated that $80billion of plastic resource is being incinerated or sent to landfill each year – a resource which can instead be recycled.
For the award and conference, SPC worked with Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm focused on building the circular economy. The challenge was to present new technologies and new approaches to recycling flexible film, a plastic product which is currently considered unrecyclable due to its multi-layer make up and varying types of plastic. Around 414,000 tonnes of plastic-based flexible film is used in the UK annually, and most of it is incinerated. Applications for the award were to show how these materials could be recovered, re-used and re-processed into new packaging or products, diverting it from the the environment, and helping to drive a circular economy.
Mura Technology’s Chief Technical Officer Richard Daley was invited to present at the SPC Impact Conference in Seattle, where the audience included some big-hitting manufacturers such as Unilever, Mars and PepsiCo. Richard’s presentation highlighted the patented HydroPRS™ technology, which breaks down the polymer chains within plastic products using supercritical water and converts them into valuable chemicals and oils. By using these products in the manufacture of new plastic or as a feedstock for the petrochemical industry, we reduce the need for fossil fuel resource and contribute to a circular economy.
Winning the FlexPack Challenge was an exciting time for ReNew ELP, who are on track to build the world’s first commercial scale HydroPRS™ site in Teesside, North East UK.
