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Expanding Use of Recycled Plastic
A PRIORITY AREA for our operations is increasing our reclamation capacity of post-industrial (PI) and post-consumer waste (PCW) to use in our products throughout Europe and North America. At our Arklow, Ireland, production site, we use the resin produced by Shabra Plastics, a post-consumer waste recycler and reprocessor, to manufacture food packaging products. The agreement helps to further secure Waddington Europe’s long-term source of rPET while also enabling the company to expand its line of Eco Blend® products made with post-consumer recycled content sourced domestically in Ireland back into the Irish market.
For the second consecutive year, Novolex is also investing in capacity to recycle store drop-off films and PI waste at our North Vernon, Indiana, recycling facility. These efforts are in support of greater circularity of polyethylene (PE) film products, which requires advanced processing equipment to successfully process a broader range of material.
By keeping Irish plastic packaging waste in an Irish recycling system, we are confident that we can offer forward-thinking customers like Waddington Europe longterm savings, less reliance on foreign external suppliers, a positive public perception and increased customer loyalty. On a macro level, the localized economic model can increase jobs and innovation, the security of raw material supply as well as reduce damaging pressures on the environment.
RITA SHAH, CEO of Shabra Plastics
SUSTAINABILITY TERMINOLOGY
In Europe, it’s common to use “post-consumer waste,” or “PCW,” to refer to materials diverted from the waste stream for recycling. This term is used interchangeably with “post-consumer recycled,” or “PCR content,” in some sections of our report.
