01/11/24
Drive for further use of recycled polyolefins: Jayplas
London, 1 November (Argus) — UK recycler Jayplas completed commissioning its ,
in North Thoresby, Lincolnshire. Argus spoke to Jason Davies, PET division
director, and Vanessa Morgan, commercial manager, about the progress of the
project, the demand drivers for the new plant and to discuss the challenges and
opportunities in the UK and wider European recycling market. Tell us about the
new HDPE/PP recycling plant in North Thoresby. The plant has everything from
sorting all the way through to pelletising, with a capacity of around 25,000
t/yr. We are using natural HDPE post-consumer plastic bottle bales, containing
HDPE milk bottles and other food grade HDPE packaging products, which are from
UK kerbside collections. Firstly, sorting to remove any contamination, to
achieve a quality of infeed material that will reach food grade specification.
The material is then size reduced, hot washed and dried, then sent through
colour sorters and polymer sorters. The rHDPE flake is then pelletised, which
includes an innovative technology from Erema, removing volatiles. The last step
is pellet sorting, which will remove any pellets that do not conform to our
specifications. We have invested heavily in the technology and process, and we
believe it is going to help us deliver a consistent high-quality product. How
has demand been since the start-up, and which downstream sectors have shown the
most interest? There is a lot of interest across the board. We have had good
conversations with manufacturers and brands, from the dairy industries through
to packaging for healthcare products, and food packaging. There is a lot of
interest in rHDPE, and there is also an increasing interest and demand for rPP,
multiple food packaging companies are screaming out for food grade recycled PP
pellets. Currently there isn't any volume from the mechanical recycling process
of post-consumer source PP pellet that is suitable for food packaging. The
majority of them would need European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) approval, when
we get EFSA over the line, I have no doubt that this will be one of many lines
we will need to install to produce a PCR PP food standard pellet. We are
focusing on supporting the increased use of PCR pellet in packaging, producing a
high-quality consistent range of recyclate, and supplying to manufacturers
across the board. We have bottle manufacturers in the UK that have been looking
for a UK supply source of rHDPE to use back into packaging — having a UK
supplier also reduces their carbon footprint. It is quite encouraging, and we
look forward to seeing the increase across all packaging where possible to
include PCR pellets and see a percentage increase in the use as we move forward
with new innovation in packaging design. Given that rHDPE and rPP grade suitable
for high-end consumer packaging are currently more expensive than virgin polymer
equivalents, and there are no mandates to use recycled content, what do you see
driving that demand? There is the perception that it is consumer-driven demand,
but that is a little bit questionable. If you offered the consumer 100pc
recycled packaging but at a higher price, I am not sure they would all be happy
about it or if given a choice of a packing with less recycled content, that was
cheaper, in the current financial situations people find themselves in, they
would go for the cheaper product. What we have heard from a few of the bigger
firms is that net zero is a driver from the commercial side — recycled content
is significant help to them on the carbon reduction. Most of the companies are
doing quite well on Scope 1 and Scope 2 targets, but when it comes to Scope 3,
they are reliant on their suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint. Many
customers, especially larger ones, request us to commit to certain
certifications, which we can only get if our carbon footprint is also reducing.
You have got to look at all the benefits, not just the fact that you are using a
plastic repeatedly, and our product should help companies to use more recycled
content. In the UK dairy industry, most bottles are currently 25-30pc rHDPE
content, and achieving more has been technically challenging. But some of the
big organisations want to achieve 40-50pc, and we believe with the technology we
have and the trials we have run, we can help them achieve that. How
price-sensitive are the companies that you are looking to work with, even where
they are willing to pay a premium compared with virgin polymer? I would love to
say that companies are not as sensitive to price where they feel the product is
excellent quality, but in reality, it is still commercially driven. They are
willing to pay a premium for the recycled content, but that premium needs to be
as small as it possibly can be. Taking the dairy industry as an example —
margins are small, farmers are squeezed, the packaging has to be squeezed,
everything is squeezed. So, there is reluctance to pay a huge premium over
virgin polymer. You said you are applying for EFSA approval for food-contact
applications, among other certifications — how easy is that process and what
could be done to improve it? Currently we have US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) approval for our rHDPE, and we are submitting for testing to achieve EFSA
approval. On rPP we do not have either, but we are going through the process to
get both. The UK and European markets still require an EFSA certification for
food contact applications. But there are other market segments that would accept
an FDA certification, such as household goods and most cosmetics and personal
care products. The process is incredibly challenging. The whole supply chain
needs to be considered in the process, you need to consider, from how your input
material is collected and the contamination potentials throughout that process.
I think the minimum we are looking at is six months from when we started the
process, and that is obviously not a guarantee. The new plant comes on line at a
challenging time for the wider European recycling industry. What can be done to
improve the outlook for the industry? The biggest risk we see is material from
further afield given the European market superseding the use of UK recyclate.
There are always questions about the UK quality because plastic is collected
comingled with materials. And I think a lot of people have been told that the
quality is not good enough and gone elsewhere to look for supposedly better
quality material. Building the infrastructure needed in the UK to help UK
recyclers to compete will require legislation, for example stopping imports from
counting towards the 30pc recycled content threshold for the Plastic Packaging
Tax (PPT) or finding another way to prioritise UK supply. Allowing
post-industrial recyclates (PIR) to count towards the PPT threshold is obviously
also a hindrance to the post-consumer recycling (PCR) industry. There are
certain products, particularly food contact, where you cannot get food-approved
PCR, which pushes people towards PIR, but maybe if you rule that out it would
drive quicker research and development. There have been some quite high-level
articles coming out recently saying the UK recycling industry will die without
support, and that support starts at legislation of how we organise the simpler
way to collect these materials, and incentivising people to invest. A sentiment
that was shared by participants at the latest Recoup conference. Since the Q&A
was conducted the UK government announced a reclassification for
pre-consumer/post-industrial waste in the annual Budget speech. Pre-consumer
waste will no longer be classified as recycled plastic for the purpose of
Plastic Packaging Tax. It is important to note that there is a caveat of: "We
therefore intend to align the removal of this provision with the timeframe for
the adoption of a mass balance approach for chemically recycled plastic, wh ich
will be set out in the future. Send comments and request more information at
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