Australia – As plastic waste continues to damage the environment, global packaging company Amcor has decided to release soft plastic food wrapper made with recycled content, to be the first of its kind in Australia.
The initiative aims to keep waste out of landfills and meet consumer demands for more sustainable packaging. Amcor has collaborated with several companies such as Nestlé and Viva Energy Australia and also with similar environment advocate organizations like CurbCycle and REDcycle to leverage each of their expertise to create the prototype wrapper which is for Nestle’s KitKat. The project will be collecting and processing soft plastic waste, and turn it back into oil using advanced recycling technology.
According to the packaging company, the prototype wrapper demonstrates the opportunity to close-the-loop on recycling soft plastics.
Simon Roy, the vice president, and general manager of Amcor Flexibles in Australia and New Zealand, said that this is an exciting time for Amcor, as this project is fully aligned with the commitment to ensure all packagings be designed to be recyclable or reusable by 2025.
“Soft plastics create a strong consumer-friendly packaging solution with great barrier properties and are lightweight and cost-efficient. This collaboration shows how soft plastics can be part of the circular economy when stakeholders across the entire value chain work together and is a fantastic outcome for the environment and our communities,” said Roy.
Meanwhile, Sandra Martinez, CEO of Nestlé Australia, commented, “Between us, we have shown there’s a pathway to solve the soft plastics problem. Manufacturers like Nestlé will have a key role in driving demand for food-grade recycled soft plastic packaging and creating market conditions that will ensure all stakeholders throughout the value chain view soft plastics as a resource and not waste.”
Last year, Nestlé’s KitKat and RED Group have similarly teamed up to launch the recycling program ‘REDcycle’, in an aim to collect soft plastics, including KitKat wrappers, to be turned into new materials such as benches and fences. The campaign also saw KitKat transforming its logo, shaping its chocolate wafers to take the form of the recycle symbol.
