The future of packaging is only realistic as a part of circular economy, where packaging solutions use less resources and can be reused and/or recyclable. In Europe, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) introduced late 2022, already requires that all packaging will need to be recyclable by 2030.
Due to the performance requirements of flexible packaging, optimized combinations of materials have been used over the last decades to maximize the fit for different applications while reducing the amount of resources used and therefore the cost. The need to ensure mechanical recyclability of those structures hampers the use of optimized multimaterial structures and therefore significant efforts are being devoted to moving those packaging to monomaterial solutions.
Since years, we, at Dow, focus our efforts in design for recyclability to enable all Dow products be part of recyclable packaging solutions as part of our strategy. In this presentation we will be presenting our focus on redesigning standup pouches from PET//PE to PE//PE laminates, the essential role adhesives play on those and the recyclability of adhesives within the PE recycling stream.
Co-author(s): Franca Arrighi