Werner & Mertz boasts a world first. Since 1 May 2019, a shower gel bottle made of 100 per cent recycled HDPE from the Yellow Bag has been available for the first time.
With the Shower gel The product in question is „Frosch Senses“ from Werner & Mertz. The new packaging from Post-consumer recyclate was developed in a joint project with Der Grüne Punkt and the EremaGroup. To date, no packaging for the cosmetics sector has been made entirely from consumer waste, emphasises the detergent and personal care product manufacturer.
Of course, the new packaging is a safe product in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, the company assures. This has been confirmed by a human toxicological report from ATC GmbH. One of the tasks in the development project for the Shower gel bottle was to solve the hygiene problems that arise when using used plastic.
Unpleasant odours had to be removed from the recyclate
„We have used a special treatment technique for cleaning and are even gradually working our way towards food suitability.“
Dr Markus Helftewes, Managing Director Der Grüne Punkt
For the switch to 100 per cent Recyclate from the Yellow Bag the material not only had to be technically suitable, but also odourless, as the odour factor plays a particularly important role for consumers when it comes to shower gels. To achieve this, the granulate from the Yellow Bag source must be practically free of impurities and odours. Contamination be odourless. All odour-causing volatile substances contained in the used plastic were removed during the recycling process.
ReFresher module has been adapted for plastic waste
For the further processing of the appropriately prepared flakes into Granules technology from the Austrian recycling machine manufacturer Erema is used. Its Intarema RegrindPro extruder system with the so-called ReFresher module was specially designed for the particular challenges of processing plastic waste from the Yellow Bag.
This process combination also eliminates odours through a thermal-physical process. The inherent energy of the odours generated by the Extrusion process preheated pellets, which makes the process particularly energy-efficient.
„With our recyclate bottles for the cosmetics sector, we are making an important contribution to fulfilling the German Recycling rates“ says Immo Sander, Head of Packaging Development at Werner & Mertz.
