Challenges

Tackling accessibility and convenience in the recycling process of packaging materials, starting with creating environmental awareness and will to change.

The bottom line is: consumers have to want to contribute to a better future and have the conditions to do so.

Through this challenge, we will be addressing consumers’ recycling routine (and will to do so) and the pain points of the entire recycling journey: from the separation of materials at home to container accessibility and its final placement in the bins.

The glass packaging waste stream is one of the most circular in the SPV value chain, allowing for its reintroduction as new packaging. Recycling provides energy savings and allows for reduced costs.

HORECA is a significant producer of glass packaging waste, and, like the ordinary consumer, they suffer from the same constraints but on a larger scale.

In this challenge, we’re tackling the constraints in the disposal of glass packaging waste:

• Heavy residue;.
• Can be reused;.
• Causes noise pollution when deposited and when later unloaded into the collection truck;.
• It is a waste from a package that allows the prolonged conservation of products – return period to the eco point may be longer than other packaging waste;.
• If misplaced outside the container (creating litter around it) can become dangerous and discourage new approaches to the container.

Aluminum belongs to a category of material that is, in principle, “infinitely recyclable”, while being highly versatile. It is crucial to collect it and send it for recycling.

Innovating the digitization and traceability of aluminum from packaging throughout the value chain (production, distribution, segregation, disposal) would make it possible to track and preserve the material within the system, closing the cycle of this material (circular economy).

For this type of packaging, we’re tackling the following challenges:

• Consumer: difficulty in recognizing aluminum packaging, in addition to cans, as recoverable in terms of recycling, which results in the non- selective disposal of these packages;
• The sorting center: in the case of smaller packages, which are very common in aluminum material, they tend to get lost in the waste of current mechanical sorting equipment (ballistic and trommel), so it is important to study ways to capture them.
• Additionally, large-scale sorting present a low sorting efficiency in the recovery of this material;
• The recycler: using the same package of components that are not compatible with the recycling of aluminum, such as steel, can severely limit their recycling potential (ECODESIGN).

The “Pay-As-You-Throw” (PAYT) systems are financial incentive systems for citizens to promote separation at origin and increase selective collection rates.

These systems are based on applying two environmental policy principles: the polluter pays principle and the concept of shared responsibility.

PAYT incentives and the technological solutions for registration, measurement, and collection are still pressing challenges.

Cardboard packaging for liquid food (ECAL) is packaging made up of more than 50% paper/cardboard (Standard EN 643), polyethylene, and, in the case of aseptic packaging, aluminum.

Due to its paper/cardboard main constitution, ECAL packages, after sorting, are sent to paper recycling factories. On the other hand, polyethylene and aluminum fractions are successively separated through centrifuge/filtration processes but are not yet sent for recycling.

We’re aiming to find innovative solutions to optimize the reuse process and make recycling of the various materials present in cardboard packaging for liquid foods a reality.

Addressing the paper and cardboard packaging with different add-ons like moisture resistance properties or coatings such as plastics or waxes. These properties may limit their recycling potential in traditional paper/cardboard recycling processes.

We’re aiming to find innovative solutions, both in terms of recycling and ECODESIGN, to optimize the process of using the various materials present in carton packaging for liquid foods.