It is now just over five years since the plastic manual was born. At the time, there was nothing like it and the first list of advice and guidelines in order to recycle more packaging was immediately in demand. Three years later, the other three types of material – paper, metal and glass, had also received their own manuals. Today they are something of a packaging bible.
The recycling industry is undergoing major changes. The municipalities now take full responsibility for the collection of packaging, FTI has been phased out and Näringslivets Producenansvar, NPA, is in full swing. This means, among other things, that it is no longer FTI that, together with the material companies, owns the manuals, but NPA. In other words, NPA is responsible for both content and updates.
– We are of course continuing the work in close collaboration with the producers. It is important because it is on behalf of the producers that we operate, says Malin Malmberg, material specialist at NPA. The manuals live on and should be used just as before.
The manuals help producers design packaging that can be recycled, both when designing a new packaging solution and when updating an already existing packaging.
– Examples of design improvements made according to guidelines in the manuals are choosing a mono-material instead of mixing different types of materials and reducing the printing surface on plastic packaging to increase recyclability.
The manuals increase the understanding of the recycling processes and what recommendations and guidelines are based on.
– We need to have close cooperation throughout the recycling chain in order for us to reach our common goal – more recyclable packaging.
The manuals are continuously updated when new technology is introduced or the state of knowledge changes. Since there are the most news for paper and plastics, these manuals are updated more often than the others. The latest update of the plastic manual was made before the inauguration of Svensk Plaståtervinning’s new facility Site Zero in Motala.
– Thanks to Site Zero, twelve plastic fractions can be sorted out instead of five. The plastic fractions that have been added include plastic troughs, flexible PP and polystyrene, explains Malin Malmberg.
Updates to the manuals are made as before in close cooperation with the recyclers, after which they are then sent out for referral to selected collaboration partners in the packaging industry.
– It is our recyclers who know how recycling works in practice and we of course listen to them.
Now the packaging and recycling industry is waiting for the effects of new national legislation that has recently come into force as well as
on new regulation at EU level. NPA is monitoring developments closely.
– We look forward to what comes with the new EU regulation and will ensure that our design guidelines are in line with it, says Malin Malmberg. The plastic manual is already at the forefront and is largely harmonized with the guidelines in RecyClass, which operates on a global market within the EU.
The biggest change in the EU’s proposal is that the guidelines will become mandatory for all member states. Packaging must then be designed so that it can be recycled. It will also be a requirement to use a certain quota of recycled material in new packaging. NPA and the recyclers have already started that work.
– It is good that we are working towards more recyclable packaging already today. Otherwise, we risk, for example, running out of recycled material that can be used for new packaging, concludes Malin Malmberg.
This article is part of NPA Magasin
This is RecyClass
RecyClass is a cross-industry initiative working to promote the recyclability of plastic packaging in Europe. This is done in technical committees by bringing together the packaging and recycling industry with the goal of harmonizing design guidelines for plastic packaging.