Circular plastic: Danone-AQUA and Re>Pal to convert label waste into pallets
13 Sep 2019 --- Danone-AQUA, a B Corp company and subsidiary of Danone, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Re>Pal Indonesia, a subsidiary of Range International, to convert its Oriented Polypropylene (OPP) plastic label waste into pallets. Under the MOU, Danone-AQUA will be supplying its AQUA labels from a bottle separation facility in Pasuruan, Indonesia, which is operated by its partner.
Danone-AQUA is expected to supply label waste to Re>Pal who will then use up to a maximum of 25 percent of that waste in their pallets, while working to ensure the reliability and quality of the finished product. Danone-AQUA will further examine the feasibility of using these Re>Pal pallets across its water business in Indonesia. Danone-AQUA has expressed ambitions to collect more plastic than it produces by 2025, as part of its #BijakBerplastik pledge that advocates a circular economy.
The initiative ties into Indonesia’s aim to reduce 70 percent of plastic waste output by 2025. In addition, the pledge states that Danone-AQUA aims to make all of its packaging 100 percent reusable, compostable and recyclable by 2025 via collection, education and innovations in partnership with multiple partners.
“The plastic waste problem is not something we can tackle alone. This is why we are developing innovative partnerships with multiple stakeholders across the value chain – such as Re>Pal – to cobuild the circular economy of packaging in line with Danone’s ‘One Planet. One Health’ vision,” says Corine Tap, President Director at Danone-AQUA.
“In the context of this collaboration, we will look at other areas where Re>Pal’s technology can help us recycle packaging into pallets that we can then purchase across our business units,” says Stephen Bowhill, Re>Pal Chief Executive Officer.
“This model is something we are looking to expand with other multinationals for their harder-to-recycle waste, where they take the pallets from us too. I also look forward to working closely with Danone-AQUA in assessing relationships with other divisions for waste pallet types or new products,” he adds.
Recycling innovations
Efforts to scale-up recycling efficiencies are apparent across industry. Earlier this month, Dow partnered with Netherlands-based Feunix Ecogy Group to produce 100 percent circular plastic through chemical recycling. Dow will use Feunix Ecogy Group’s pyrolysis oil feedstock, which is made from plastic waste, to produce new polymers at Dow’s production facilities in Terneuzen, the Netherlands. This agreement marks an important step forward in increasing feedstock recycling – the process of breaking down mixed waste plastics into their original form to manufacture new virgin polymers.
In July, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with Colombian social enterprise Conceptos Plasticos, broke ground on a “first-of-its-kind” factory that will convert plastic waste collected in and around Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, into modular plastic bricks for sustainable building material. The easily-assembled, durable and low-cost bricks will be used in building much needed classrooms in the West African country.
Last August, Coca-Cola bottled water brand DASANI introduced the HybridBottle. The HybridBottle is Coca-Cola’s first US pack to be made with a mix of 50 percent plant-based renewable material – known as PlantBottle – and recycled PET (rPET). DASANI will also be launching aluminum cans and bottles, adding “How2Recycle” labels to all products and adding a further 100 PureFill units across the US.
By Benjamin Ferrer
