Paper packaging is on trend – but due to the coatings often required, it’s not as environmentally friendly as consumers tend to believe. In the third and final part of our Paperization blog series, we take a closer look and explore how the benefits of paper and plastic might still be sustainably combined.
Coatings make recycling paper packaging a challenge. One way to combine the advantages of paper and plastic is through cardboard-plastic combinations: Saving plastic significantly reduces CO2e emissions, the product is optimally protected in the thin-walled plastic cup, and the material’s barrier properties contribute to the shelf-life and safety of the food. The cardboard sleeve ensures the stability of the packaging, a pleasant feel, and a sustainable look that consumers appreciate. Additionally, the cardboard sleeve reduces the plastic content by over 30%. The significant advantage of this packaging variant is that cardboard and plastic can be easily separated, recycled, and fed into the right material stream for reuse.
However, consumers do not always separate the cardboard sleeve from the plastic cup before disposing of it in the trash, which can lead to difficulties in recycling. Greiner Packaging has tackled this problem with its K3® r100 innovation: Cardboard wrap and plastic packaging are separated from each other during the waste disposal process without human intervention. As a result, achieving excellent recyclability does not depend on proper separation by consumers, as is the case with all previous cardboard-plastic packaging, but happens completely independently during waste disposal. It’s a decisive step towards greater sustainability and recyclability – but it’s still not the last word on the subject. Sorting facilities also need to have the appropriate sorting options for the separated paper and plastic components (and this is not yet the case everywhere in the EU). The recyclability of its cardboard-plastic combinations is a major concern for Greiner Packaging – and is therefore constantly being put to the test and further developed.
