In-mold advantage | 101In-mold advantageWith in-mold labels, there’s no trade-off between recyclability and shelf appeal, says Nico van de Walle, product and circular economy manager at MCC Verstraeteetting business goals that have sustainability at their core is increasingly becoming the norm across most industry sectors, and MCC Verstraete is no exception. As we strive to enhance Sour position as a responsible leader and pioneer in the rigid packaging market, we are continually facing new challenges that we see as opportunities to sustainably evolve our business.Focusing on developing innovative technologies that deliver recyclable, reusable or compostable IML packaging for our clients is therefore top of our agenda. Yet navigating the complex and fragmented regulation, tax and infrastructure landscape requires continually broadening our range MCC Verstraete’s current key focus is on mono-material IML packaging that is fully recyclableof products. There is no one-solution-solves-all and we are regularly diversifying our product innovation accordingly.As they stand, the current Design for Recyclability guidelines “Pledges to reduce the use of plastic appear to be a trade-off between marketing departments and those in charge of recycling. Ask any recycler and they will opt packaging materials often result in for minimal packaging design, while the marketing teams will be regrettable substitutions”focusing on creating on-shelf standout.The reality is there doesn’t need to be a trade-off between these important stakeholders. Well thought-through packaging and IML fully decorated PP IML pack can be recycled into food-grade rPP label design can in fact resolve both issues. But frst we need to that can be turned back into new food IML packaging.cut through the disruptive noise around reducing plastic that often This is a major milestone in our quest to increase the availability does little to advance the circular economy and, in many cases, of affordable high-quality food-grade mechanically recycled PP. clouds the real issues.The numerous pledges to reduce the use of plastic packaging Breakthroughmaterials, fueled by consumers’ belief that paper or cardboard We play an active role in a number of cross-value chain packaging is ‘greener’, often results in what I coin ‘regrettable organizations and initiatives to continue boosting the circular substitutions’. economy. One such project, spearheaded by Nextek, is Next-Loopp, These alternatives often include blends of plastic and cardboard which provides us with the opportunity to fnd a real breakthrough that make the pack diffcult if not impossible to recycle, resulting in into a sustainable circular economy for food-grade PP packaging. it generally ending up in landfll or incineration. NextLoopp’s combination of effcient sorting and the cleaning Worse still, in some countries organizations are being rewarded and decontamination of polypropylene packaging to food safety either via reduced EPR fees or exclusion of plastic taxes for using standards is precisely what we are looking for. these types of hybrid packaging. There is absolutely no rationale for Meshing our disruptive innovations in packaging and IML using less plastic if the alternative materials don’t get recycled. label design with NextLoopp’s groundbreaking technology will Certainly, we all need to work towards lightening plastic enable us to play a crucial role in driving the circular economy packaging and we are continually researching improved IML for PP packaging. solutions that can facilitate this objective, but our current key focus And NextLoopp is certainly accelerating through the barriers is on mono-material IML packaging that is fully recyclable. In fact, it of sorting and decontamination. It recently dispatched PPristine is now possible to have a decorated mono-material IML pack that is recycled PP prototype resins from post-consumer food packaging also best in class when it comes to recycling. to 43 participants for further trials. These trials will endorse the To achieve this, we are fne-tuning cutting-edge technology to suitability of recycled plastics to be a drop-in replacement for virgin design intelligent in-mold labels that are poised to play a crucial PP plastics. role in sorting. Combining this latest innovative IML solution This is particularly timely as forthcoming legislation will impose with the state-of-the-art recycling and decontamination process the use of rPP in every single food or non-food packaging.developed by Nextek, we will soon be able to demonstrate how a On a fnal note, I believe the European Recycling Industry needs to step up its support for all packaging stakeholders, from the producers, designers, decoration providers to the brand owners that are developing new innovative solutions in order to optimize packaging recyclability. To turn plastic packaging back into the valuable material it has the potential to be, we need to combine all the most effcient disruptive technologies available across the entire packaging ecosystem, from recycling processes and packaging to label design.The photo shows Nextek’s marker technologies that NextLoopp uses to separate For more information about MCC Verstraete, go to: FGrPP. Pol-yPrism applies luminescent materials to labels on plastic packaging, verstraete.mcclabel.comcreating what is best described as an invisible barcode for plastics recyclingApr - Jun 2022