Koehler Group announces that Koehler NexPlus® Advanced, Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure and Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure MOB flexible packaging paper have recently been certified by the environmental services provider Interseroh and awarded the ‘Made for Recycling’ seal. Among other things, the after-life aspects of collection, sorting and recovery were analysed. With this seal, the environmental services provider certifies that the paper has a very good recycling capability.
As a recycling specialist, Interseroh is involved in all stages of the packaging cycle, from licensing and collection through to sorting and the processing of plastics. Packaging must be designed with recycling in mind in order to meet constantly increasing, legally mandated recycling quotas and to ensure that waste can be turned into valuable recyclates. Interseroh helps companies design packaging with optimum recycling characteristics.
Sustainable packaging solutions from Koehler as a replacement for plastic
With Koehler NexPlus®, the Koehler Group is meeting the rapidly growing demand for sustainable packaging solutions and this extends beyond just the food industry. Koehler NexPlus® paper has a barrier coating with various capabilities and characteristics. In particular, these include barriers to odours, greases, oils, water vapour, or gases, which combine with the paper’s inherent capabilities, such as high strength properties and a natural feel, to create a strong overall concept. The paper really delivers in terms of the primary purposes of packaging, namely to protect the contents and their surroundings as well as provide excellent processing properties. The advantage of Koehler’s NexPlus® barrier paper is that it is manufactured from sustainable raw materials. After use, it is classified as wastepaper and is thus a sought-after recycled raw material.
Registration as paper reduces disposal fees for product packaging
Brand-name companies can register their Koehler NexPlus® product packaging with disposal companies as paper. Since this paper can be readily recycled, distributors are charged significantly less in licence fees compared to classic composite solutions. With its ‘Made for Recycling’ seal, Interseroh certifies that the Koehler NexPlus® Advanced paper, Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure paper and Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure MOB paper that it examined, disposed of and collected as wastepaper, have a very good recycling
capability.
Koehler’s Flexible Packaging Paper director Eckhard Kallies stresses: “Interseroh’s certification of our Koehler NexPlus® paper provides confirmation of our development work. Our customers can register their product packaging made of our NexPlus packaging such as paper, which gives them a cost advantage in comparison to classic duplex solutions, for instance. The best marks from Interseroh clearly indicate that
the customer can treat our packaging paper as such and correctly include it in the wastepaper cycle.”
When our Koehler NexPlus® paper is recycled, the recovered material can add value to recycled paper. Recycling conventional plastic duplex packaging materials requires an extreme amount of processing. The costs are correspondingly high and the economic feasibility is currently low. The result is significantly higher license fees.
Based on a scientific evaluation method
When Interseroh examined the recycling capability of Koehler NexPlus® Advanced, Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure and Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure MOB paper for the ‘Made for Recycling’ seal, it analysed whether the paper can be processed as a used or usable product made of paper, cardboard or paperboard in a corresponding wastepaper processing system. It must be possible to produce a qualitatively acceptable new paper containing the generated wastepaper material in a manufacturing process that is
both smooth and efficient. The evaluation takes place on three levels. First, assignment to the collection system is evaluated. Can the user intuitively assign the packaging material to the correct collection system, for example, wastepaper? Then the sortability of the packaging after it has been collected as lightweight packaging in bins or sacks is evaluated. Can the sorting system correctly sort the mixed types of packaging delivered? Lastly, the ability of the packaging material to be recovered is evaluated.
Each country has its own system for evaluating the recycling capability of packaging. Germany places strict requirements on recycling capability. With the Interseroh seal, brand-name companies, in particular, will find it significantly easier to use Koehler NexPlus® packaging material.