Summary:
Enhancing recyclability in package design is a key strategy for reducing environmental impact and promoting sustainability. By adopting practices that improve the recyclability of products, manufacturers can make a difference. They can contribute to a more circular economy while meeting the growing demand for eco-friendly products. Through thoughtful design and material selection, manufacturers can create innovative products that pave the way to a more sustainable future.
Who should attend:
Designers, Engineers, OEMs, Brand Owners, Sustainability Managers, and Marketers Engaged in Package Development.
What you will learn:
Increasing the usage of post-consumer recycled resin and reducing the amount of plastic are proven strategies for enhancing sustainability in packaging. However, both strategies present unique challenges to aesthetics, processing, and/or performance. This presentation will explore ways to address these challenges for brand owners, recyclers, and converters.
- Designing for Recyclability:
- Understanding how to incorporate materials that are easily recyclable and compatible with existing recycling infrastructure, including mono-materials and recyclable additives.
- How to implement design practices that enhance sorting within existing infrastructure.
- Enhancing Recycled Material Properties or Increasing Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Content:
- Investigate technologies and additives that improve the mechanical and aesthetic properties of recycled materials.
- Discuss methods to ensure consistent quality, processing efficiency, and performance of products made with recycled content.
- Review strategies to achieve color consistency when using recycled plastics.
- Lightweighting as a strategy to reduce carbon footprint.
- Ways to Lower Carbon Footprint:
- Extending shelf life and reducing food waste.
- Reducing packaging waste.
- Reducing transportation expenses.
- Collaborating to Reach Sustainability Goals:
- Review sustainability opportunities across the product's entire life cycle - from design to end-of-life.
- Ways to increase consumer awareness of recyclability by embedding messages into product designs, such as symbols or text that indicate recyclable materials or parts.
- Leveraging circular design principles by designing products that can be easily repaired, reused, or remanufactured.
How Avient can help:
These products and services can support each of the four recycling strategies.
- Design for Recyclability:
- Molded in color and metallic
- APR-recognized NIR-detectable dark colorants
- APR-recognized barriers and process aids
- Special effect colorants
- Enhancing Recycled Material Properties:
- PCR Color Prediction Service: Tackles the color consistency issue for recycled plastics.
- Compatibilizers
- Thermal stabilizers
- Process aids
- Impact modifiers
- Clarifiers and toners
- Rheology modifiers
- Chemical foaming agents: Smartheat™
- Oxygen scavenging: Capture™ & Amosorb™