Dow has launched two new grades to its Revoloop portfolio of recycled resins at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe, happening on June 19-20 in Amsterdam.
The US-based chemicals company has partnered with Germany-based shrink film manufacturer RKW Group to incorporate the post-consumer recycled (PCR) grades in RKW's ‘My Multipack’ collation shrink film.
For the first time, the grades include 100% and 85% post-consumer recycled derived from household waste. Up until now, Dow’s Revoloop portfolio included grades with a maximum of 70% recycled content.
“These grades were really tough to develop because generally when you use household waste as feedstock, grades often have some gel issue, colour issues, sometimes other issues,” Fabrice Digonnet, mechanical recycling leader EMEA at Dow told Sustainable Plastics at PRSE.
“The development process was really to look at how, first of all, our suppliers would meet Dow’s requirement in terms of quality control, colour, cleanliness,” Digonnet added. “And second, when formulating the grades we made sure to upgrade the quality so that our converting partner - in this case RKW – is capable of using them as if it was a virgin grade.”
RKW has incorporated the resin with 100% mechanically recycled content in its new shrink film. In that final application, the PCR grade is mixed with virgin content on a 70% to 30% ratio, respectively. Of the 70% PCR content, 35% originates from household waste.
“We were positively surprised,” said Antony Taing, sales director Multipack & Household, at RKW. “Usually, as Fabrice said, grades from household waste have a lot of disadvantages. But in this case, the processing went very well, and that’s why we are also confident to showcase our new product, we believe that there will be no impact for our customers.”
RKW is seeing increased demand for products incorporating PCR content, Taing explained.
“The customers have been going through a journey, first with incorporating post-industrial content (PIR), and now PCR, partly driven by a sustainability agenda, and partly by EPR fees.”
Before the collaboration with Dow, however, ‘customers were a bit stuck by availability of high quality materials’. Now that RKW has access to a stable and consistent supply of high-quality resin from Dow, it can finally offer its clients ‘the quality they have been looking for’.
The partners are confident they are ‘not too far’ from achieving 100% PCR content in shrink film applications.
Find Dow at PRSE at Hall 9, Booth 9-333.