In this article we’re going to look into some terms coming our way, for food and packaging manufacturing. As we head into the war on plastic, the plastic circular economy is term that’s going to be new to us. We need to learn about this, but before we do, let’s look at a linear process that we already know…

The linear process…

This is where, during the production of plastic, materials go into the process, they are manufactured into plastic, then into packaging. The manufacturing process can create waste and also, once the packaging is used, this also creates waste. So, it looks something like this:

Plastic circular economy…

So, we can see that the linear process creates quite a lot of waste, that isn’t used. This is where the theory of a plastic circular economy comes in, for plastic. Here, we ensure that the waste routes, as much as is practically possible, are used and put back into the process. Hence, creating a circular process and minimising the amount of waste. So, instead (in the ideal world) it looks like this:

Of course, the ideal world depicted above, may be some way off yet – but this is the challenge we face and what many companies are currently busy working their way toward.

Recyclability…

Not all plastic is the same and so, it’s important that it’s recycled into the right waste streams for further processing. There are icons on plastics which can help you to determine what the material is, these are shown below…

polyethylene terephthalate

high-density polyethylene

polyvinyl chloride

low density polyethylene

polypropylene

polystyrene

Other types of plastic

Closed loop…

This is another term that means, where plastic or waste is recycled into the same material. For example; a closed loop of HDPE film, would mean that the film is recycled into more HDPE film.