CCL invests to boost plastic recycling in Europe

A new six-meter multi-layer co-extrusion line will be installed to produce EcoFloat shrink sleeve material. This hybrid polyolefin film facilitates easy separation of labels from PET bottles and other types of plastic containers in the recycling process to enable bottle-to-bottle circularity. The new line is expected to operate capacity comes on line in early 2022 with most of the capital deployed in 2021.

‘CCL developed a floatable polyolefin shrink film to meet the new market demands and to help Brand owners reach their sustainability and recycling targets set by the EU. We see this as the sustainable decoration technology of the future for a whole range of packaging in the beverage, dairy, home care and other industries,’ said Guenther Birkner, president of Innovia and food and beverage business at CCL.

‘This is why we have decided to invest in new capacities in Europe to be in an ideal position to supply the growing demand we expect in the future. Alongside the investment into the extrusion, it was important to secure the raw material supply first and we are very pleased that our partner Polyplastics decided to invest as well in additional capacities to support us long-term on our journey towards providing sleeve materials which have been designed to support recycling,’ added Birkner.

Polyplastics has announced plans to construct a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) production facility in Leuna, Germany to meet growing demand for its Topas COC polymers.

‘The cooperation with CCL/Innovia has been a pivotal factor allowing us to make this investment and setting up a second manufacturing site for COC,’ commented Gregor Bommel, managing director of Topas Advanced Polymers.

‘Our investment is part of our commitment to boost plastic recycling and take steps towards a circular economy as stated when we signed the Global Commitment of the New Plastics Economy led by the Ellen MacArthur foundation earlier this year. In future, the EU will set a target for the recycling rate in municipal waste. Reaching these will not be feasible without investing in new technologies for packaging materials that support ‘Design for Recycling’. As a floatable, low density polyolefin film, EcoFloat fulfills the requirements for sleeves as defined in packaging design guidelines,’ concluded Birkner.