Light packaging – the simple alternative.

Light packaging is sales packaging made of aluminium, tinplate, plastic and composite materials. Separated according to type, these different fractions can be sent to be recycled. A small amount of residue is left over which is used to generate energy at waste incineration plants or at waste-to-energy plants.

 

 

 

Aluminium

Aluminium is a light metal that is used, for example, to make yoghurt pot lids. It is a "recycling-friendly" material: there is no limit to the number of times it can be recycled with there being practically no loss in quality.

Aluminium is often found together with other kinds of packaging materials. It must, therefore, first be separated from these in a sorting plant before being pressed into bales. Having been cut up into small pieces at a processing plant and then undergone a thermal pre-treatment stage, the melted aluminium is poured into casts before being processed into new packaging or other objects. This is considerably better for the environment than producing aluminium from bauxite.

 

 

 

Tinplate

Tinplate is the classic material used to make packaging for long-term use and is mostly found in the form of cans and tins for food or drinks. Each year, around 530,000 tonnes of tinplate is used in Germany to make tins, lids or bottle caps.

Nowadays, approx. 80 percent of all tinplate packaging is recycled. Once it has been collected, this light packaging material is separated using magnets, pressed and then passed on to the steel industry. There it is melted down and processed into new products. New, high quality steel products can be made from this recycled packaging. The packing material, tinplate, can be recycled again and again without there being any loss in quality.

 

 

 

Plastics

Plastics recycling is possible! More and more areas of use are being found for recycled plastic products. For the most part, plastics are separated into five different categories: PE (polyethylene), e.g. packaging films, PS (polystyrene), e.g. for plastic dairy pots. Plastic bottles have their own special kind of material and so are separated from the rest during the sorting process. They are primarily made of high density polyethylene (HD-PE) or polypropylene (PP).

Packaging made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is becoming more and more popular and is being used more and more often as a packaging material – especially for drinks. PET is a light but tough material. A recyclate is made from the used PET bottles that can be used to produce new drinks bottles. Clear PET bottles can be recycled one-to-one (bottle-to-bottle recycling). For the first time, therefore, the product life cycle has also been closed for a plastic product. Mixed plastics consist of different kinds of plastics and at the moment it is only possible to separate them using very complex procedures. For this reason, they are returned to their original properties, oil and gas, via raw material recycling. Furthermore, they can be used by the steel industry to generate energy. The second way of reusing plastics is materials recycling. Here, the plastics are sorted according to type, cut up, washed and then separated according to density and dried. Once they have been melted down, they are turned into granulates and then used to make new plastic products using various kinds of processes.

 

 

 

Composites/Composite materials

Liquid foods – such as drinks – are often filled in composite packaging. Such packaging consists of different layers: mostly card and plastic (PE) but sometimes also aluminium. The recycled composites are used, for example, to produce toilet paper or corrugated cardboard. The aluminium found in the packaging is used for industrial purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aluminium is perfect for recycling.

 

 

 

Tinplate recycling rates lie at 80%.

 

 

 

 

Recycling plastics means large quantities of crude oil are saved every year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Composite packaging – every layer a different material.