From the trend of environmental awareness This has caused many companies to increase the demand for using recycled plastic pellets that have been post-consumer (Post Consumer Recycled) or in short, PCR pellets, which are destined to be used in more product packaging. For example, Nestle, which Set a goal to increase the use of PCR in Nestle's packaging to the level of 30%, or L'Oréal which aims to use PCR at the level of 50%. In addition, laws in many countries have begun to enforce the use of PCR ingredients. in various packaging, such as in the state of California United States, etc.

The increasing demand for PCR plastic pellets creates a shortage that has a major impact on making the goal of reducing plastic use by 2025 of world-class brand companies increasingly difficult. Which is now entering the year 2023, but the latest developments have been revealed. It is likely that the target will not be achieved by 2025.

It seems that the approach to dealing with this matter is not quite up to the mark. Because the number of PCR pellet usage rates with new pellets between 2020 - 2021 increased by only 2.5%.

The main reasons recycled pellets are insufficient to meet demand are as follows…

• From time immemorial Packaging design is popularly designed using Virgin Mentality principles.
  Refers to a design based on the principle that the plastic pellets used are virgin pellets (newly produced pellets It has not yet undergone any processing or recycling.) The reason is that it is easy to use and standardized, making production cost low and usable for a wide variety of products. And most importantly, there is sufficient supply at all times. However as demand for recycled PCR pellets increases, packaging manufacturers need to find recycled pellets with properties as similar to virgin pellets as possible. If some properties, such as color, are different from virgin pellets, packaging manufacturers must Adjust the machinery to be able to use those PCR pellets. For this reason, This makes products from PCR have higher costs or have different characteristics than virgin products.
  Currently, recycled PCR pellets that are suitable for reuse are not much different in cost. There are only PET plastic bottles and HDPE bottles, but up until now we have only encountered clothes, shoes, or shampoo bottles made from recycled PET (rPET) water bottles, but we have never seen clothes made from used clothes or bottles. rPET shampoo is made from used shampoo bottles But now almost all of them are made from PET water bottles. This process involves pulling food-grade plastic out of the system to use in the production of various products. Almost all of them are nonfood groups but on the contrary. We cannot use those clothes or non-food products to produce food-grade plastic.

• The problem of rising energy costs This increases the cost of recycling further.
  The war between Russia and Ukraine affects energy prices in Europe and other countries. Very much around the world, The recycling process requires energy to run furnaces and machinery. So it was fully affected. For example, European recycling companies have seen energy costs rise to 70% of their total costs. This has caused many companies to shut down because they could no longer bear the rising costs. Therefore, it has a continuous effect on many world-class product brand companies. Those who still rely on recycled plastic (PCR) from these recycling companies. And from the situation of increasing costs of products containing PCR ingredients, As a result, those global brand companies have been unable to continue using products containing PCR ingredients in the recent past.

• Government support is still not enough.
  According to reports from many sources such as Greenpeace, the Ellen McArthur Foundation, most companies still do not provide enough voluntary cooperation. As a result, the use of the proportion of recycled products (PCR) is significantly lower than the announced target. In addition, the government sector from many countries More and more countries have enacted regulations on the use of PCR, such as AB793 in California or the European Union's Plastic and Plastic Waste Directive. This makes the demand for PCR even greater. which in fact The government should have more regulations on this matter, such as supporting recycling structures, and technology, or even issuing measures to create more closed loops within the same product category, such as water bottles having to be taken back to make recycled water bottles, etc.
  So what should the future be like?

The guideline should be Various product designs It should be from a Waste Mentality perspective, that is, designing recycling using materials that are readily available and renewable in the same product group. Or designing to create a completely closed loop. For example, a shampoo bottle that was collected Should be separated and brought back to make shampoo bottles again. You must also consider the color design of the shampoo bottle, which should focus on using dark colors, grey, dark colors, or completely black. Because bringing different colored bottles Let's recycle together The final color will be dark gray or black.

In addition to the above guidelines Consumers must also join in helping reduce the use of Single Used Packaging. These guidelines are considered a great adjustment by consumers. It is considered to be the same level of difficulty as when we changed the way of traveling from horse-drawn carriages to cars...

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Translated and compiled from https://www.greenbiz.com/article/there-isnt-enough-recycled-plastic-companies-meet-commitments-what-now