Unilever's Cremissimo ice cream packaging has now been awarded the „Made for Recycling“ seal of approval by Interseroh.
The ice cream packaging consists of Made from 100 per cent polyolefins and are without recycling-unfriendly barriers which are usually used to protect the product from external influences. However, even without the use of these barriers, they guarantee the Product protection and can be reused for storing other foods.
„In addition to reducing new plastic in the production of packaging, our primary goal is to increase its recyclability and - where possible - to work with monomaterials,“ says Susanne Lutkat, Category Business Team Leader Dessert & Tea, Unilever.
How important this Recycling of reusable materials The importance of climate protection is demonstrated by the study „Resources saved by recycling“ of the Fraunhofer Institute for Prudence. The Alba Group, to which Interseroh also belongs, has thus achieved a significant increase in sales in 2018 alone. Recycling of 5.6 million tonnes of recyclable materials 4.4 million tonnes of climate-damaging greenhouse gases were saved. This corresponds to one per cent of the German CO2-savings compared to 1990 or the climate protection effect of a mixed forest covering more than 441,000 hectares.
„Even simple changes have a significant positive effect on the recyclability of packaging,“ says Markus Müller-Drexel, Managing Director of Interseroh Dienstleistungs GmbH. „Our ‘Made for Recycling“ service offers companies concrete starting points for reconciling the increasing requirements for product protection and recycling management."
The „Made for Recycling“ assessment method“
In order to assess the recyclability of packaging, Interseroh, together with the environmental protection specialist bifa Environmental Institute one three-stage points system developed. In the first stage, it is determined whether the consumer is able to easily Assign the correct recording system can. The second stage then examines how the Packaging during sorting behaviour. Can the currently available sorting technologies sort the packaging into the correct material fraction - or do certain materials prevent a clear categorisation? In the third stage, we analyse whether the packaging Suitable for material recycling or whether, for example, labels, closures or barriers make recycling more difficult.
The more points the packaging on a scale from 0 to 20 the easier and better it can be recycled. In addition, the „Made for Recycling“ service meets the requirements of the Minimum standards for assessing the recyclability of packaging of the Central Agency Packaging Register Foundation (ZSVR). The Cremissimo packaging received a total of 19 points.
Source: Unilever
