We are being asked by our corporate office to use materials with post-consumer recycled content where we can. What are my options for stretch film?
Hi Angie,
Thanks for sending in your question. We have been receiving this question lately from companies of all sizes.
Mandates are easy to create, but as we know, they can sometimes be quite difficult to implement. Especially when there is so much ambiguity in the legislation, current and pending.
Let’s begin with a little history to set the stage. Recycling was great for years because all those things we threw in the blue bins went directly to China, where they processed it, turned it into a finished recycled product, and sold it back to us. The quality was poor, as was the performance… but it was cheap. It was cheap because the Chinese government subsidized the manufacturing, and we provided an ample supply of raw materials. We did not build out our recycling infrastructure because it required a significant investment, and products made from recycled material were just too expensive, with consumers unwilling to pay the premium. And why should we have bothered building out the infrastructure when we had someone willing to take it from us in its current form? A perfect solution. However, that all changed in 2018 when the Chinese government banned Imports of recycled materials. So, where has all that material we placed in our blue bins gone? Yep, you guessed it, right into the landfill next to the material we put in our regular trash bin. Besides making us feel like we are doing something good for the environment, there was no real benefit. Like everything in life (except death and taxes), there are exceptions. Some recycling collection and processing centers do convert certain materials into a reusable form. Unfortunately, as of today, they handle only a small percentage of the recyclable material we generate, and they are not available in many parts of the country. So, if we all switched to materials with 30% PCR content today, there is insufficient infrastructure to meet the demand. Then, as demand outstrips supply, prices for recycled material (feedstock) will naturally increase, even more than they already are.
Now, let’s view it from another angle. Not all materials are recyclable because while one of the materials may be recyclable, it may be combined with another material that is not. Sorting can be automated to some extent, but today, it is still largely a manual operation. This means that it is not only expensive to reclaim recycled material and to transform it into something that can be reused, but it also requires a significant amount of energy, generating greenhouse gas in the process. Not quite the perfect solution we had expected.
We know it will be more expensive, we know it may be harder to secure a reliable supply, but what about performance? Depending on the application, it will range from a diminished visual appearance to a loss of mechanical properties. In the case of stretch film, visual appearance is not that important, but the mechanical properties are. To understand why, let’s explore what happens when PCR is introduced. Recycled resin has undergone a heat cycle (melted, extruded, cooled), and because of that, it will liquify at a slightly higher temperature than virgin resin, resulting in gels that do not incorporate fully into the flow of resin when the film is extruded. These “lumps” will vary in size and shape. Because they are not fully incorporated, they do not stretch at the same rate as the rest of the extruded film. If you stretch wrap a pallet of product with recycled film, the web can break because the gels separate from the film as it stretches, causing a mechanical failure. The thicker the film, the less effect the gels will have. You can’t stretch recycled film as far, and it will likely need to be a thicker gauge than you are using now, which means you will use substantially more stretch film to meet your load containment standard. One step forward, two steps backward from a sustainability standpoint.
Please don’t get me wrong, I think PCR will be the future, it’s just not quite here yet. Recognizing that and being focused on providing a sustainable solution to stretch wrapping loads, we have developed a patented technology that reduces the amount of stretch wrap necessary to meet your load containment standard by 50% to 60%. Meaning the energy needed and greenhouse gas used to produce the stretch film you are using now can be immediately cut in half with no sacrifice in performance. It means you also cut the amount of material going into the waste stream in half. A sustainable solution that meets or exceeds your load containment standard, and one that you don’t have to pay a premium for, sounds like a no-brainer, and it is, if you look at the big picture and consider all the factors.
Thanks for asking!