Follow
Follow
LinkedIn Facebook X Youtube e-mail
LinkedIn Facebook X Youtube e-mail

Recycle rather than compost folding cartons

Because the compostability of cardboard packaging is increasingly being advertised, the FFI is publishing a fact sheet that provides arguments in favour of recycling and against composting.

As the compostability of cardboard packaging is increasingly being advertised, the FFI - Fachverband Faltschachtel-Industrie e.V. is now clarifying its point of view: in a fact sheet that provides arguments in favour of recycling and against composting.

Customers from the branded goods industry and retailers are increasingly approaching folding carton manufacturers because they want to advertise and highlight the compostability or biodegradability of their fibre-based packaging on the packaging or in their product advertising for marketing reasons.

Attributes such as „compostability“ or „biodegradability“ are intended to convey to the consumer a special „naturalness“ of the packaging material that does not harm nature at the end of its useful life.

Where to put used folding cartons...

Fact sheet to clarify

The FFI is of the opinion, however, that the material recycling of used cardboard folding cartons via the waste paper cycle is always preferable to the composting of folding cartons, as the fibre material is retained via the material recycling of the fibres via the waste paper, is reused several times in the cycle and the CO2 present in the wood or waste paper fibres remains bound via the multiple cycles. In contrast, the fibre material is lost from the waste paper cycle during composting and the CO2 bound up to that point is released, which ultimately has a negative impact on the greenhouse effect.

Display

Nevertheless, the composting of folding cartons as biological recycling offers an alternative material recycling path.

Paper recycling plant (Image: Smurfit Kappa/Mike Ellis)
...The FFI says: Better recycling (Image: Smurfit Kappa/Mike Ellis)

The FFI has therefore produced the fact sheet „Biodegradability and compostability of folding cartons“ as an information and service.

On twelve pages, it provides a compact overview of the legal framework, types of composting and analytical regulations. The fact sheet also provides information on the influence of material composition and various environmental labels on the subject. It is intended to provide manufacturers and users of folding cartons with background information on „compostability“ and „biodegradability“ and explain existing norms and standards that can be used to check these properties.

The FFI Fact Sheet „Biodegradability and compostability of folding cartons“ can be downloaded from the FFI office be requested


Source: FFI e.V. 

More news - Recycling