Tomra examines prospects for 100 percent recycled-content packaging

Germany-based Tomra Sorting Recycling has published a downloadable document designed to examine the role recycling can play in sustainable packaging, including the technical feasibility and progress made toward products made with 100 percent recycled plastics. The company says the document also “highlights the opportunities of using high-quality recycled plastics for manufacturers of plastic products and packaging.”

The seven-page document, available online here, is downloadable free-of-charge.  

According to Tomra, the document also “points out consumers’ concerns [for] brands to demonstrate corporate social responsibility and build customer loyalty, to the benefit of their business results.”

The publication, titled “The Viability of Using 100% Recycled Plastics,” also describes what Tomra calls “significant progress in plastics recycling technologies, even for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) products, using 100 percent recycled plastics.” The company says this is “not only technically possible but also economically worthwhile.”

The company predicts that “new environmental targets and regulations across the world are putting the pressure on nations to improve their recycling rates. This will encourage investment and innovation in recycling, but more can be done now with the technologies that already exist.”

The document also describes the role of Tomra equipment and systems such as its Sharp Eye Laser Object Detection (LOD), its AutoSort and its Flying Beam sorter in boosting the recyclability of PET bottles and food trays.

“Recycling is part of the solution to the world’s worsening resource crisis,” states Tom Eng, senior vice president and head of Tomra Sorting Recycling. “Tomra’s e-book highlights the environmental and economic importance of sorting technologies for the significant role they can play in improving recycling rates. To complement this, product designers and manufacturers are now beginning to think more carefully about their products’ end-of-life recyclability. Consumers now think about, and our natural environment urgently needs, this. It is together that we can really make a difference.”     

Tomra Sorting Recycling designs and manufactures sensor-based sorting technologies, with more than 5,500 systems installed in nearly 80 countries worldwide. It is part of Norway-based Tomra Systems ASA.