VATIS UPDATE Article

A new research from Resource Recycling Systems (RSS), the United States, shows flexible packaging can be captured in single-stream materials recovery facilities (MRF) with automated sorting technologies in use today. This could create a new stream of recovered materials while improving the quality of other recycling streams. The research was commissioned by Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF), a collaborative of brand owners, manufacturers and packaging industry organizations that want to improve recycling and increase recovery rates for flexible film and packaging options.

“Flexible packaging has many positive attributes – highly efficient, great product protection, and low environmental impact. However, recovery has been one of its weak points. This study is shedding light on pathways that can be deployed to improve flexible packaging end-of-life options,” said Brad Rodgers, at PepsiCo. This first phase of the MRFF research program included baseline testing, equipment testing, and a series of recovery facility trials to test existing sortation technologies commonly used in MRFs, such as screens and optical scanners. RRS developed the test methodology and conducted the research trials.