Global adhesive leader participates in push for food-grade recycled polypropylene
Bostik, adhesive solutions by Arkema, is the 50th participant to join Nextek Ltd’s NEXTLOOPP, an industry-wide project based in the United Kingdom aimed at creating food-grade and INRT-grade* recycled polypropylene (rPP) from post-consumer waste.
To date, virgin PP is often used in food-grade packaging creation, as the packaging needs to be pure to pass regulations. However, virgin PP contributes to an increased carbon footprint and reduced circularity. Using rPP is preferred, though it historically has lacked needed purity levels due to contaminants. Therefore, NEXTLOOPP participants, which include companies from all verticals within the flexible packaging industry, are using cutting-edge decontamination and sorting technology to re-evaluate PP packaging design components, such as the adhesives, and close the packaging loop.
“Bostik is proud to be part of NEXTLOOPP and support its overall objective to decrease virgin plastic consumption and demonstrate circular recycling for PP food trays,” said Eric Parois, Bostik’s Global Market Director for Label and Narrow Web Technologies. “The project’s objective complements what we are working on as a company for PET and HDPE circular recycling, too, so it’s especially an important cause. We plan to work with NEXTLOOPP to determine how our laminating adhesives, seal and reseal PP tray lidding adhesives and PP tray wash-off label adhesives can bring forward 100% recycling solutions.”
Parois also shared that Bostik joined NEXTLOOPP due to the project’s emphasis on industry collaboration. “We appreciate the opportunity to work with individuals throughout the value chain and consider the different ideas that stem from our varied areas of expertise,” he said. “This further aligns with Bostik’s efforts to develop packaging concepts, demonstrate their recyclability levels and then bring them to brand owners.”
Additionally, Bostik appreciates that the project understands the critical role adhesives play in determining recycling stream effectiveness. “At NEXTLOOPP, we want to ensure every aspect of packaging design is as sustainable as possible. Adhesives are often unable to be fully removed from the packaging, which could cause stream contamination. In our case, we would like to see complete adhesive, label and ink removal to avoid any negative impact on rPP’s purity levels that render it unable to be used in food-grade packaging. Given Bostik’s expertise, we are excited to work with them to solve this challenge,” said Edward Kosior, founder and CEO of Nextek Ltd.
In particular, Bostik already has been successful in developing Flexcryl™ ClearCycle 1000, the market’s first, all-temperature, wash-off label adhesive for PET packaging, including PET trays. The company looks forward to continuing to build upon that success together with NEXTLOOPP as the project expands into the Americas.
To learn more about Bostik’s participation in NEXTLOOPP, contact Eric Parois directly at eric.parois@bostik.com.
*INRT-grade PP refers to a polymer designed specifically for packaging that requires no odour or migration challenges.
Flexcryl™ is a trademark of an Arkema Group Company.
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