Three German organisations have worked together to develop a new points-based method that measures the recycling capability of packaging. Environmental service provider Interseroh (Cologne; www.interseroh.com) and the environmental institute bifa (Augsburg; www.bifa.de), in collaboration of the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV, Freising; www.ivv.fraunhofer.de) have launched the system to help companies from retail and industry find out how well their packaging can be recycled.

“We now enable manufacturers and dealers to optimise their sales packaging in a targeted manner using a scientifically reliable assessment pattern,” said Markus Müller-Drexel, Interseroh’s managing director. “This is also important with a view to the packaging law coming into effect in 2019. Afterwards, manufacturers are to receive financial incentives to use recycling-capable packaging for the first time.”

The system has three stages. The first stage determines whether the consumer can assign the packaging to the correct collection system without any problems. The second stage examines how the packaging performs when sorted. For example, can current sorting technologies put the packaging into the right material fraction, or do certain materials prevent a clear assignment? The third and final stage analyses the packaging to see whether it is suitable for recycling or whether, for example, labels, colours or caps make this difficult. The more points the packaging achieves on a scale of 0 to 20, the more easily and better it can be recycled.

“Using our assessment method, weak points of packaging and potential for improvement can be identified very clearly,” said Siegfried Kreibe, bifa’s deputy managing director. The methodology is offered as part of Interseroh’s “Made for Recycling” service, whereby the company collaborates with customers to understand the lifecycle of their packaging and develop practicable and better recycling alternatives.