The commercial success of plastics in the packaging sector is due to their excellent versatility, as a result of the combination of their different properties: flexibility, resistance, lightness, transparency, waterproofing, and so forth. This versatility has lead plastics to become indispensable materials for the manufacturing of all kinds of packaging, both rigid and flexible, for different commercial and industrial applications, including packaging for food.
The advantages of plastics for their application in packaging are not limited to their versatility and excellent technical performance, but also they can contribute to improve the sustainability of packaging. Plastic materials allow to reduce the weight of packaging, which results in a reduction of the environmental and economic costs from transport. Light packaging also enable to reduce the amount of waste generated, thus avoiding the environmental impacts of the corresponding waste recovery and elimination treatments. Likewise, plastic packaging for food have barrier properties that allow to protect and preserve food longer, so they also contribute to reduce the food and packaging wastes.
AIMPLAS has been providing sustainable solutions to the plastic packaging sector over more than 25 years, by means of ecodesign, plastic waste recovery, and development and application of bioplastics.
Ecodesign
Ecodesign is a process integrated in the design and development of products that has as main objective reducing the environmental impact of products during their whole life cycle, from the extraction and processing of raw materials to the end of their useful life. Besides reducing the environmental impact of products, ecodesign can offer other competitive advantages to companies, such as: increase of product quality, cost reduction, improvement of corporate image, access to new markets, promotion of eco-innovation, and preparation for future environmental regulations.
AIMPLAS has carried out the European project ECOFLEXOBAG, which brings an innovative methodology for the systematic application of ecodesign in companies manufacturing commercial plastic bags.
Recycling
Packaging constitute the main source of plastic waste generation in Europe, although it is also true that most of recycled plastics come from packaging waste, since they have a high recovery potential to obtain new materials and energy. Even though the trend during the last decade shows a significant reduction on the amount of plastic packaging that are sent to landfills, it is needed to keep joining forces in order to increase much more the recovery rates and be able to reach the zero waste objective in Europe. In this case, the efforts must be focused on improving the quality of the recycled plastics and finding new applications for these materials, such as their use for food packaging.
AIMPLAS has carried out some European projects related to the recycling of plastic packaging and the use of recycled plastics in food packaging, such as the projects LIFE EXTRUCLEAN and BANUS.
Bioplastics
Bioplastics can be classified in plastics from renewable sources and biodegradable plastics, although there are also some bioplastics that have both characteristics. Plastics from renewable sources offer different environmental benefits, since they allow to reduce the dependence on fossil resources and greenhouse gas emissions. In general, bioplastics can be recovered in the same way than conventional plastics, whether by means of recycling or energy recovery. In the case of biodegradable plastics, the recovery possibilities also extends to organic recycling or composting. The current market volume of bioplastics is still low compared to conventional plastics, but it is expected that these materials have a growing presence in the market. The main applications of these materials are currently framed on the packaging sector.
AIMPLAS also participates actively in projects on the development and application of bioplastics, such as the case of the European project BIO4MAP, which consists on the development of multilayer plastic packaging for food that are transparent, biodegradable and have high barrier properties.
