TotalEnergies Corbion and South Korean water producer Sansu are developing an embossed label water bottle made of 100% Luminy PLA.
The initiative aims to make the recycling of the bioplastic more efficient. TotalEnergies Corbion and Sansu have been partnering since 2019 to recycle Sansu’s Luminy PLA water bottles.
The process, however, has been ‘cumbersome’, TotalEnergies Corbon said in a statement. Before the bottles are cleaned, crushed, cut into flakes, and shipped to back to TotalEnergies Corbion’s Thailand plant for de-polymerization into polylactic acid monomers, their labels and caps must be removed. Only then can TotalEnergies Corbion recycled them back into bottles.
Now, the companies signed an agreement to develop a bottle made entirely of Luminy PLA and incorporating an embossed logo, thereby avoiding the need to remove labels and caps before recycling the bottles.
The bottle’s design for recycling is expected to significantly expedite the processing of post-consumer recyclate PLA bottles and increase the adoption of Luminy bioplastic.
“This partnership is another example of how TotalEnergies engages with partners in the value chain to advance the adoption of Luminy PLA bioplastics and contribute to lowering carbon emissions from plastic usage,” said Thomas Philipon, CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion. “Furthermore, this collaboration is a clear example of design for recycling which can also be applied to PLA. This initiative is in line with the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation being finalized in the EU and promoting design for recycling criteria.”
TotalEnergies Corbion is also part of a consortium working to develop PLA recycling infrastructure and technology in South Korea. The push to establish a recycling stream for PLA comes partly in response to a global bioplastics market that is now growing at an annual rate of over 20%.
The company already commercially produces its Luminy rPLA, containing 20% and 30% post-industrial and post-consumer PLA waste. In 2022, it demonstrated that PLA can be effectively sorted from other municipal plastic waste using existing separation equipment - quelling an often-heard objection to including PLA in the recycling stream.