Siegwerk joins two initiatives to promote circularity

Siegwerk has joined 4evergreen and CosPaTox, two initiatives promoting sustainability, as it continues to pursue the strategic direction to become a company for circular packaging technologies.

Siegwerk has joined 4evergreen and CosPaTox, two initiatives promoting sustainability

The first initiative, 4evergreen, is a cross-industry alliance with members representing the entire packaging value chain, aiming to optimize packaging circularity and climate performance. It endeavors to raise the overall recycling rate of fiber-based packaging to 90 percent by 2030 through the initiatives and insights from different workstreams, focusing on various aspects of the collection, sorting, and recycling as well as the circular design of fiber-based packaging.

‘Growing waste volumes and stricter regulations increase the demand for recyclable packaging. Siegwerk strongly supports 4evergreen’s objective to increase the recycling rate of fiber-based packaging further. Siegwerk is committed to increasing circularity in packaging and excited by the opportunity to participate in realizing the objectives of 4evergreen,’ said Dr Daniel Drochner, head of technology at Tobacco business unit of Siekwerk. 

The second initiative, CosPaTox, is an EU project to establish a quality standard for non-food plastic post-consumer recyclates from mixed feedstock input streams. The scarcity of qualitatively acceptable recyclates is a recognized obstacle to introducing recycled plastics to package consumer goods. 

While there is a reasonably large volume of generally usable post-consumer waste already collected and processed in many EU countries, these don’t meet the legal requirements for food safety. Enabling the use of recycled non-food plastics for cosmetics or cleaning products packaging is an essential part of creating circularity in the value chain. To address this, CosPaTox initiative is working towards the creation of additional quality definitions.

‘The participation of different stakeholders along the value chain is a prerequisite for a high level of commitment. Finally, the standard will add to circularity taking into account consumer safety issues,’ commented Dr Evert Delbanco, director of food safety and toxicology at Siegwerk.

‘Both initiatives, while different, are a direct reflection of Siegwerk’s holistic understanding of creating a circular packaging system. Firstly, it is not about paper vs. plastic; it is about finding the best packaging solution for the circular use case. Secondly, it’s about addressing concrete needs in the current system such as the gap in recyclate quality standards,’ concluded Alina Marm, head of Siegwerk’s Circular Economy Hub.