Plastic Waste
How do we improve the quality of plastics recycling?
A significant amount of plastic waste is downcycled into products of much lower quality than compared to their original condition.
Packaging sold in the supermarkets rarely gets returned as recycled packaging to the supermarket shelves, and today’s food packaging is not recycled into new food packaging on a wide scale. Instead, it is used for other applications, and these applications do not have to fulfill the same, strict, quality criteria for food packaging. This approach maintains the demand for new virgin materials.
In order to increase the quality of the secondary raw materials resulting from recycling of plastic packaging, two developments must take place:
- A significant amount of the plastic packaging, which is currently on the market, must be designed in a way, which allows for high-quality recycling. Too many products are made from multilayer material, harmful amounts of printing inks or non-washable labels that compromise quality.
- Even though significant improvements have been made in the past few years, existing infrastructural capacity, and sorting technologies for mechanical, as well as chemical recycling of plastic packaging must be improved.
Please contact us if you wish to collaborate regarding plastics recycling.
Contact about recycling plastic waste
Circular Copenhagen
Test sorting facility contributes to test ways of using recycled plastic
More on recycling and reuse of plastic waste
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Food and beverage cartons
With an annual amount of almost 3,000 tons, beverage cartons and other composite packaging represent a potential source of raw materials in the residual waste stream in Copenhagen.
Beverage cartons are currently collected in a comingled fraction with plastics. They are then sorted for recycling at a central sorting facility.
Please contact us if you want more information or wish to engage in dialogue about recycling of beverage cartons.
Network for reusable takeaway packaging
In 2018, the Technical and Environmental Administration did a test collection scheme for waste generated in the public space. The test showed that more than half of all plastics collected in public space sorting containers was made of PET food packaging, and almost all of it was take-away. This translates into approximately 300 tons of PET plastic take-away, which ends up in the public space waste bins every year in Copenhagen.
The City of Copenhagen has created a network for reusable takeaway in Copenhagen. The purpose of the network is to facilitate a dialogue with the actors and stakeholders to become wiser about barriers and solution, so that we together can meet the challenges in order to promote recyclable takeaway in Copenhagen.
Test sorting facility for plastic waste
Copenhagen has invested in a test sorting facility for plastic waste, where the city supports technology development, performs sorting tests, provides test samples of raw material for industry partners, and demonstrates the recycling process for plastic waste to citizens, companies, and organizations in Denmark and abroad.
Book a visit to the Test Sorting Facility (New window)
Intelligent packaging – Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0
Driven by AIM – European Brands Association and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, an industry consortium will test and demonstrate the power of digital watermarks for more accurate waste sorting and higher quality recycling.
Visit the Homepage of Digital Watermarks Initiative (New window)
Circular food tubs and trays
Tubs and trays comprise about 1/3 of the total quantity of plastic waste collected from the households in Copenhagen. Many tubs and trays are designed in a way, which make them impossible to recycle into new tubs and trays. They are made from multilayer materials (e.g. PET/PE) or from a type of polymer, which cannot be rinsed and sufficiently cleaned. However, tray-to-tray recycling is a reality for monolayer PET-trays.
Currently, most tubs and trays are downcycled to products, which are not suitable for food contact. This means that a substantial part of the plastic packaging consumed in Copenhagen must be regularly replaced by new packaging products made from virgin materials. This is not a circular solution.
In order to improve this situation, moving towards a more circular production and consumption of plastic packaging, Copenhagen established a Partnership for Circular Food Trays which demonstrated the feasibility of recycling post-consumer plastic packaging to food contact materials.