Glass packaging
Minimising plastic waste in the glass industry Talos Recycling is helping to ensure container glass manufacturers achieve their sustainability goals throughout the entire supply chain, working alongside manufacturers such as Ardagh to recycle their used flexible plastic packaging back into a closed-loop manufacturing process. Jamie Gibson* reports.
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ustainability is a core value in the glass industry and glass itself is a perfect model for the circular economy, as it can constantly be recycled back into new glass packaging. One of the challenges facing the industry is to ensure the whole supply chain is just as sustainable. The benefits of using flexible plastic packaging within the glassmaking supply chain are well-established. Transporting glass containers (jars and bottles) from the manufacturer’s warehouse to the customers’ filling lines, and then on to the end consumer via retailers and the licensed trade, is a critical part of their journey. The containers must be loaded securely onto pallets for safe and efficient transportation: flexible plastic packaging protects the glass containers, ensuring they arrive at their final destination in as perfect condition as they left the
warehouse. Depending on the content of the plastic packaging, once used, it can be recycled back into new plastic packaging. By using a product that not only contains recycled material, but is, itself, 100% recyclable, a circular economy model can be achieved, eliminating waste and lowering carbon emissions:
� Glass bottles on pallets wrapped in flexible plastic packaging.
each tonne of plastic that is recycled back into the manufacturing process saves 1.5 tonnes of carbon1.
Recycling plastic packaging back into the manufacturing process Marpak Extrusions is a UK-based manufacturer of flexible plastic packaging, supplying the major UK glass manufacturers. Recognising the need for glass manufacturers to be able to reduce plastic waste and use flexible plastic packaging with recycled content, Jamie Gibson and Matt White set up sister company Talos Recycling, which collects their customers’ plastic packaging waste and turns it into pellets. These pellets are used to create new plastic packaging, with a minimum of 30% recycled content, using Talos Recycling’s mechanical recycler at its factory in Leeds, UK. Continued>>
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� The recycling process - used film being recycled back into pellets.
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