Pigment Change Could Help Boost Plastic Recycling
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 16:42:28
A small but significant change to the pigment used to colour plastic packaging is set to make it possible to recycle a larger proportion of the material that is currently collected across the UK, according to the Drum.
The development made by Unilever means that an estimated 2500 tonnes of additional packaging can be properly sorted, whereas prior to this breakthrough it would need to be disposed of alongside general waste.
In the past, black plastic packaging was dyed with a pigment that could not be detected by the systems which are widely used to sort waste. The replacement pigment is not encumbered in the same way and so should be simple to sift out from other items once it has been collected from street-level receptacles and household bins.
Unilever has worked extensively with a number of the largest recycling firms in the country in order to make sure that this pigment is indeed up to the task. Following on from this, a number of products will now be shifted over to take advantage of the pigment in the packaging they use.
In particular, it will be relevant for shampoo and shower gel brands that Unilever is responsible for, including Lynx and TRESemme. The manufacturer will go further still to boost its eco credentials by increasing the amount of recycled plastic which is used to make the bottles for its new products.
Company spokesperson Sebastian Munden said that within the next half-decade the plan is to make every single piece of packaging used on Unilever products either recyclable, compostable or reusable. This will go a long way towards making its operations more sustainable and also meeting the growing expectations that consumers have with regards to the environmental friendliness of the products they buy.
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