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NOT SO FLEXIBLE SUSTAINABILITY • CLAIMS THAT FLEXIBAGS OFFER A SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO TANK CONTAINERS ARE SIMPLY NOT TRUE, ITCO HAS STRESSED MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY (MSC), the largest container liner operator and reportedly cash-rich after the boom in freight rates over the past year, has announced a move into the flexibag market, offering this as an alternative for the shipping of non-hazardous liquids in bulk. MSC says it
tank container sector. In a statement issued the following week, the International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) has attempted to rebut MSC’s claims, with its president, Reg Lee, aiming to correct what he called “a number of misconceptions”. For instance, MSC says that flexibags are
is the first carrier to offer an in-house service, including the selection and fitting of flexibags at its own depots. Announcing the new service on 9 June, MSC made a number of claims about flexibags, particularly in terms of their sustainability advantages, that have drawn the ire of the
single-use and fully recyclable, which makes them a good choice for use with edible cargoes. Lee counters that flexibags are neither eco-friendly nor sustainable: each flexibag is made of plastics films consisting of polyethylene and a polypropylene sleeve; it weighs more than 40 kg – equivalent to around
HCB MONTHLY | JULY-AUGUST 2022
7,500 single-use shopping bags – and will most likely end up being disposed of in landfill rather than being recycled. A tank container, on the other hand, can transport several cargoes each year over a lifetime of at least 20 years; moreover, at the end of its life around 90 per cent of a tank container can be easily recycled through a well established material recovery service. Indeed, Lee says, flexibags cannot be fully recycled, even if the receiver takes care to do so. While solid plastics are readily recyclable, the thin films that make up the flexibag itself are not easily or economically recyclable. As such, Lee says, most flexibags will simply be dumped in a landfill, most probably still contaminated with their cargo, further endangering the environment. CLEAN BEFORE DISPOSAL MSC further states that there is no need to clean a flexibag after use, unlike a tank container that has to be taken to a cleaning
