78 kilograms - that's how much packaging waste was generated per capita in Germany in the corona year 2020. The trend continues to point upward - and that is not good news for the environment. Both production and subsequent disposal place an enormous burden on the environment and climate. In order to reduce the volume of waste, the focus is now on recycling packaging. In addition to recycling, composting also plays an important role.

Both approaches have advantages, but also very clear limitations. We give you an overview of the methods and show the differences.

Recycling - first traces lead to antiquity

We stand for sustainable packaging solutions that can be recycled wherever possible. But recycling is not a new trend that has only emerged in the last 20 or 30 years. Rather, the first traces of recycling can be found as far back as the Egyptians in ancient times.

Thus, on the Egyptian island of Elephantine, archaeologists found evidence of melted glass and metal that had been reworked. There were half heads and toes of sculptures among the finds, which the experts identified as remains.

The remaining components of these sculptures were recycled and made into new goods.

Nevertheless, the possibilities of recycling were hardly considered in this country for a very long time. Although scrap metal collectors roamed the streets early after the Second World War, a recycling economy for most raw materials was lacking.

With the advent of the environmental movement in the late 1960s and the 1970s, an awareness of the finite nature of our resources emerged.

As a result, waste separation in households was born. By separating paper, glass and household waste, great recycling successes could be achieved, especially with paper and glass. A great symbol of this time can still be found today: the installation of glass and paper containers.

Today, especially plastics such as plastic pose a major challenge in recycling. This also applies to packaging. This raises the question: Can we already produce plastic packaging today that can be completely recycled? The answer: Yes! We also offer our flexible bags in a variant made from 100 percent recyclable material.

How does recycling actually work?

Recycling basically refers to the reprocessing and reuse of raw materials. The ideal recycling cycle would therefore look like this:

1. A product like a yogurt in a cup is sold in recyclable packaging.
2. Consumers dispose of the packaging properly after use.
3. The yogurt cup is cleaned in the course of recycling, lightly reprocessed and is available again as a new product for the trade.

This ideal form of circular economy rarely exists in practice. It is used, for example, with returnable bottles. The above example also does not work in practice. However, if disposed of correctly, other products can be made from the raw materials. Reuse as food packaging has not been permitted up to now for safety reasons.

However, something is happening here: Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 is to enable individual approvals for over 200 mechanical PET recycling processes. Appropriate quality control will also ensure that only safe recycled plastics can be used as food packaging.

Types recycling

The above examples with the yogurt cup as well as the reusable bottles show that there are different types of recycling. We show you the differences:

1. Material recycling

   In mechanical recycling, waste is processed in such a way that the material is largely retained. The returnable beverage bottles mentioned above are a good example of this. Mechanical recycling also frequently takes place in the paper industry.

2. Raw material recycling

   In feedstock recycling, waste is broken down into its basic molecular components. In the case of plastics, thermochemical processes are often used for this purpose.

3. Energy recycling

   Energy recycling involves burning the waste to generate energy. This way is considered a stopgap solution, which unfortunately still has to be used frequently today.

When recycling, always make sure to separate the individual components as needed. Some packaging (e.g. yogurt cups) contain a printed paper band in addition to the plastic (cup) and aluminum (lid). You can dispose of this in the waste paper and thus contribute to successful recycling.

Example of raw material recycling: yogurt cups

The yogurt cup mentioned above is recycled via feedstock recycling. The process looks like this:

Step 1: Pick up and transport

Yogurt cups are disposed of via the dual system in the yellow garbage can or yellow bag. After collection, disposal companies transport all recyclable waste to a sorting facility.

Step 2: Separation according to specific characteristics

The sorting plant first tears open the bags and loosens up the waste as a whole. This is followed by sorting according to the following criteria:

• Size

• material (aluminum from yogurt cup lids is sorted out and recycled separately).

Step 3: Separation of the respective types of plastic

Using a near-infrared scanner, the sorting system detects different types of plastic and separates them further.

Step 4: Varietal pressing

The various types of plastic are each pressed into single-variety bales and delivered to recyclers.

Step 5: Use of raw materials for the production of new products

Recyclers use the supplied plastics as raw materials for new products.

Composting: How does the alternative work?

In addition to recycling, the use of compostable packaging materials is also gaining strong popularity. The idea behind it sounds tempting: the packaging is simply added to the home compost heap or a composting plant, breaking down into basic components such as water, methane, CO2 and biomass.

For packaging materials to be compostable, they must have an appropriate molecular structure. This includes, for example, these materials:

1. Polyactide or polylactic acid (PLA):

   This plastic consists of lactic acid bacteria that can be biodegraded in composting plants.

2. polyhydroxyalkanoates or polyhydroxy fatty acids (PHA):

   The biopolyesters "used" here also occur in nature and are biodegradable.

3. Polycaprolactone (PCL):

   This plastic is based on petroleum, but is biodegradable.

Biodegradable, compostable and biobased - what are the differences?

The terms biobased, biodegradable and compostable are designations for materials. They are repeatedly used synonymously in connection with the word "bioplastics" and can cause confusion. For this reason, we show you the different meanings in each case here:

bio-based	Biodegradable	compostable
A material consists to a certain extent or even completely of renewable raw materials. This means that fewer or no fossil raw materials are used. Good examples are PLA and PHA or also bio-PE.	The material can be broken down by microorganisms into basic building blocks such as water, CO2, methane and biomass. No further specifications are made for the designation "biodegradable".	Compostable materials must meet certain requirements in order to be designated as such. The EN 13432 standard specifies that the material must have decomposed into compost in a composting plant after 90 days at the latest.

Recycle vs. compost: Which alternative is better?

However, this also raises the question: should packaging be recyclable or compostable? In our direct comparison, we show you the advantages and disadvantages in more detail.

1. Loss of resources

   The resources of our earth are limited. For this reason, packaging should consume as little of it irretrievably as possible. Recycling is ahead of the game here: modern processes allow raw materials and sometimes even materials to be preserved to a high degree. The high recycling rates set by politicians underline the importance of this: for example, 63 percent of all plastic packaging is to be recycled from 2022.

   During composting, the material dissolves into water, CO2 and biomass. Any other raw materials are thus lost. However, composting could gain in importance if the raw materials are also completely renewable. In this case, there would be no loss, but a kind of "bio-cycle".

   Unfortunately, a plastic with a positive life cycle assessment is not yet available at present. However, we are convinced that this could well be realistic in the future.

2. Practicability

   There are weaknesses in the practicality of the two methods:

   a) Recycling: Many gears must mesh together

   Recycling only works if all those involved perform their assigned tasks. The process begins with waste separation: If recyclable packaging material ends up in the residual waste, it is simply incinerated and, in the best case, still used for energy.

   But the sorting plants also have to work accurately in order to identify as many plastics as possible by type. This is the only way to ensure that the recyclates can actually be reused later.

   b) Composting: A real question of time

   The idea of composting is that the materials decompose after a certain period of time. However, often even the time periods in composting facilities are not sufficient to achieve complete composting. If the process remains unfinished, residues of plastic could end up in the environment with the compost. This is often the case with bags made of biodegradable material used to collect organic waste. These end up with the organic materials in the organic waste garbage can and later in the compost.

   In addition, common sorting facilities for organic waste, paper waste and even the dual system (yellow bag) sort out corresponding compostable packaging. As a result, they end up being incinerated like residual waste.

Recycling currently has the edge

Based on the above criteria, recycling is currently considered the better method for recovering packaging. The processes are relatively mature and resource losses are limited. Compostable plastics already exist, but they are often difficult to decompose. In addition, they are not widely used, which means that there are hardly any sensible disposal methods.

But there are still problems with recycling, too:

• Today, mainly raw material recycling is used. Extraction of the basic building blocks results in energy consumption that should not be underestimated.
• Recycling rates for plastics are in the 50-60 percent range. So there is still room for improvement here.

Conclusion: Recycling and composting - even more important in the future

Sustainability and recyclability of raw materials are one of the great tasks of our time. In view of finite resources, innovative solutions are required here. However, we at Palamo see a development that is definitely pointing in the right direction. The circular economy and recycling are working better and better, and recycling rates continue to rise steadily, even for plastics.

But things are also happening with compostable plastics: There are already promising materials that are increasingly being used. So even if development work is still needed here, we look forward to further innovations. You can find out about these, too, in our blog.

 

Cover image: adobe.stock.com © Hafiez Razali #241859247