To reduce the use of plastic, one solution is to combine paper, to give structure to the packaging, and plastic films, to ensure better preservation of products, food and non-food.
These composite packages fall under recycling category C/PAP81 and their level of recyclability may vary.
recycled or natural papers
plastic reduction
only pulp from responsibly managed crops
In particular, according to current regulations, only packaging with at least 60% cellulosic component (excluding cellophane) may be delivered to the paper collection. When the materials are not separable and the prevalence of paper is less than 60 per cent, the packaging must be disposed of in the general waste stream.
Sbucciapack® is the only system that allows all paper + plastic laminated packaging to be recycled.
It is a lamination technology that uses only water-based glues, making it possible to separate materials. In this way, the discerning consumer can easily separate paper from plastic and dispose of them correctly in separate waste collection, enabling the total recycling of both materials.
Packaging obtained with Sbucciapack® technology falls into recycling category C/PAP81 and preferably uses Polypropylene and/or Polyethylene or Polyester, which are, by their nature, quality plastic films that are more easily recycled.
This is why Sbucciapack® is a small revolution in the world of laminates: in the case of composite packaging, but especially when it is not possible to make packaging with at least 60% paper, it allows paper and plastic to be separated, making them both recyclable in separate waste collection and preventing them from becoming undifferentiated waste.
For C/PAP81 packaging, our company Lineapack primarily offers Aticelca 501 level A certified materials, which is achieved with a 90% cellulosic prevalence, or level B, with an 80% cellulosic prevalence. Depending on the percentage of cellulosic prevalence, different taxation applies.
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fully separable paper and plastic packaging
Sbucciapack® is a poly-coupled packaging made of paper on the outside and plastic film on the inside, classified C/PAP81, for wrapping food products, both dry and fresh and oily, on automatic packaging lines.
It is not the usual poly-bag, because the two materials, firmly joined together with biodegradable water-based glues, can be separated very easily at the end of product use and can be disposed of separately in separate waste collection.
This is why Sbucciapack® is an innovative packaging that has been granted a patent: because it is a poly-bag that never goes to the recycling bin, nor is it partially recycled, but is 100% recyclable – the paper layer ends up in the paper collection and the plastic layer in the plastic collection.
Recyclability of packaging according to Aticelca
The Association of Italian Paper Technicians, Aticelca, has developed a system for assessing the recyclability of predominantly cellulosic packaging in order to facilitate effective packaging design for subsequent recycling at the paper mill and to enable clear communication to the consumer of the level of recyclability assigned to each package.
This system, called Aticelca 501, is based on the evaluation of the most significant parameters influencing the paper recycling process.
In essence, laboratory tests simulate the conditions under which paper is recycled in paper mills, taking into account parameters that may prevent or reduce the efficiency of the recycling process, including the ease of separation of the components (paper, plastic film, metal particles, resins, glues and inks), the cleanliness of the components and the physical properties of the components.
Aticelca Certification is the reference classification for the calculation of the CONAI Environmental Contribution and, therefore, has particular relevance in industrial production.
The Aticelca 501 levels
According to the Aticelca 501 classification, there are four levels of recyclability:
Level A/A+: identifies pure cellulose packaging that is effectively and efficiently recyclable using widely available recycled paper production technologies.
Level A: identifies cellulose-dominant packaging that can be effectively recycled by most paper mills with the appropriate technology to recycle quality waste.
Level B: identifies a predominantly cellulosic packaging that is recyclable with paper, but requires an adaptation of the standard recycling process (e.g. lengthening of pulping time, addition of chemical reagents or more complex impurity removal steps) and results in a maximum waste of 20% at the end of the process.
Level C: identifies predominantly cellulosic packaging that is recyclable by specialised pulp mills only after being suitably sorted and, in addition, generates a maximum waste quantity of 40%.
Level D: identifies packaging that is not recyclable with paper and should be disposed of in unsorted waste collection.
#TABLE 1
Paper and pulp: two different routes to recycling
According to the Aticelca classification, pure pulp paper packaging, once delivered to separate collection, becomes quality waste to produce new paper. From a recycling perspective, this type of packaging makes the greatest contribution to the circular economy.
On the other hand, paper/plastic or paper/aluminium/plastic laminated packaging joined by adhesive glues can make recycling more complex or even impracticable; their recyclability rate is lowered because paper mills are faced with more complex recycling processes and, above all, the difficult problem of how and where to dispose of the increased waste produced.
When the plastic waste exceeds 40%, then, the packaging is no longer recyclable with paper and must be disposed of in the undifferentiated residue. In this case, the contribution to the circular economy becomes zero.
#TABLE 2
The Sbucciapack® revolution: total recyclability
According to the Aticelca classification, a paper/plastic laminate achieves “B” or “C” recyclability levels or the non-recyclability level “D”, depending on the type and quantity of plastic film.
The choice of type and quantity of plastic film derives from evaluations linked to the characteristics of the product to be stored, the type of image to be communicated and other requirements of the manufacturer.
The Sbucciapack® polybag exceeds all levels and achieves the maximum in terms of recyclability, because the materials of which it is composed can be separated with a simple manual tearing to be thrown separately in the separate waste collection: paper with paper, plastic with plastic.
It represents the ideal solution particularly when it is not technically possible or advisable to design packaging with a plastic component waste of less than 40%; in these cases, in fact, it becomes possible to separate two materials that otherwise, being joined together, would end up in the dry residue.
The exclusive plus
There are other packaging solutions on the market that allow for the separation of laminated materials, but only Lineapack’s Sbucciapack® is designed to be used on any industrial automatic packaging system.
