In a context of national and international regulations that seek to promote the circular economy and limit the use of fossil-based plastics, the creation of sustainable alternatives in the textile sector, such as the use of compostable plastics such as PLA, represents a unique opportunity to solve the recycling problem that polystyrene (PS) anti-tampers represent in the textile industry.
Legislative context for plastics
Due to the regulations established at European and national level to restrict the use of plastics in single-use products, many companies are developing internal directives focused on the substitution of this type of material.
In this regard, in the Action Plan for a circular economy in Europe published in 2020, the European Union established that by 2030 all packaging on the EU market must be reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way, including compostable (organically recyclable) among the latter. Similarly, the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy and the draft European Packaging Waste Regulation also set the target that by 2030 all packaging should be recyclable.
At Spanish level, recyclability is specified as mandatory in the Royal Decree on Packaging and Packaging Waste by 2030, in line with European targets. It is therefore clear that packaging that is not recyclable or compostable will be restricted in the market from the next decade onwards.
Due to their size, plastic anti-tampers made of different plastic materials are not recyclable. In these products, the most commonly substituted materials are polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE in food) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Because of their designation as plastics, they lead many of these companies to seek their elimination.
In view of the generalisation of the term “plastic”, which encompasses different types of materials without differentiating their origin or end of life, it should be pointed out that the term only refers to the ability of a material to be moulded at will under certain conditions of pressure and temperature.
Therefore, the sustainability regulations are not applicable to all materials covered by the term “plastic” as their reduction and elimination target refers to petroleum-based thermoplastic or thermoset polymers that cannot be recycled. These targets are more specifically set out in Articles 55 and 56 of RD 7/2022. Specifically, this document seeks to reduce the pollution caused by non-recyclable plastics of fossil origin and, taking into account their end of life, proposes as a solution another type of material as a substitute, compostable plastics, which can be recycled organically, mechanically and chemically.
The definition of a material as compostable refers to the fact that, due to its biodegradable nature, it decomposes naturally under non-excludable conditions within a specified and short period of time. In the case of the products developed by ADBioplastics, this occurs with temperatures above 65 degrees, more than 40-60% humidity and surrounded by organic material and microorganisms. However, this does not imply that outside these conditions this decomposition does not take place, but that it takes longer.
Sustainable solution to replace PS
At ADBioplastics we have developed materials that help companies to comply with regulations while also addressing factors of economic sustainability and industrial processability. Specifically, we have developed a wide range of materials that can be used directly in industrial anti-tampers manufacturing processes only with a reduction of the machine’s working temperature.
The aim of this solution is to assist companies in complying with evolving internal and external regulations without losing productivity. We have developed these materials in response to perceived demand and because PS fleets cannot be considered recyclable packaging today for two reasons: their material and their size.
In terms of material, PS is not sorted individually in the packaging sorting plants (it is not a mainstream material as other polymers such as PET or PE are). It is therefore included in the mixed plastics stream and sent to recyclers, which mainly recover PP. Therefore, PS could not be considered as widely recyclable.
Regarding size, packaging elements smaller than 5 cm are lost in the first stages of sorting of packaging and in particular in the trommel. This is due to the existence of openings of this size, the purpose of which is to remove unwanted substances or elements such as organic matter, with the side effect being the loss of small containers.
The impossibility of classifying these PS packaging as recyclable creates the opportunity for a change of material. Recyclability is defined in the Waste and Contaminated Land Act for a Circular Economy as the transformation of materials for their original purpose or for other uses, including organic recycling. Therefore, organic recycling, including compostability, is configured as a strategy to achieve compliance with the recyclability target.
Under this premise, the use of compostable plastics, such as those developed by ADBioplastics, represents a viable solution to guarantee compliance with the recyclability requirement.
The compostable anti-tamper is now a plausible reality and has been mass-produced with our materials in several companies around the world. For this purpose, we have a standard material that we can offer with immediate availability. Its advantages include the fact that, due to its size, it could never contaminate the recycling circuit, and when it is lost, due to its biodegradability, it will never generate stable and problematic waste in the environment.
The use of compostable materials in injection moulding products where they achieve adequate performance derived from their mechanical properties allows for other environmental benefits. These include the reduction of the company’s carbon footprint, whether or not recycled materials are used, and, with regard to communication, the positioning of the brand as “ecofriendly”, increasing the visibility of the sustainability strategy.