Recyclability by Design of Flexible Packaging Rafael Ferrandiz Martinez

DIVISION OF PACKAGING LOGISTICS | DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN SCIENCES FACULTY OF ENGINEERING LTH | LUND UNIVERSITY 2016

MASTER THESIS

1 Recyclability by Design of Flexible Packaging

Rafael Ferrandiz Martinez

2 Recyclability by Design of Flexible Packaging

Copyright © 2018 Rafael Ferrandiz Martinez

Published by

Division of Packaging Logistics Department of Design Sciences Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University P.O. 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Subject: Design (MTTM01) Division: Packaging Logistics Supervisor: Katrin Molina-Besch Co-supervisor: Benoit Piette (Danone Nutricia Research) Examiner: Annika Olsson

This Master´s thesis has been done within the Erasmus Mundus Master Course FIPDes:

Food Innovation and Product Design. www.fipdes.eu

ISBN 978-91-7753-751-9

3 Abstract

This research has established a different approach towards a better design in packaging development for the Early Life Nutrition portfolio of Danone Nutricia Research. During this study, the value chain of plastic flexible packaging has been analysed by looking into the different technologies used at the sorting centres as well as technologies used to recycle multilayer films (e.g. delamination processes). During this study, the categories that included flexible packaging have been analysed by component and the structures used worldwide were used as a guide to better understand the different strategies that this division is using by country/ region. Thanks to the data collected from different supply points, it was possible prioritize between the different categories bringing light to the next research steps that the company might consider. In collaboration with many professionals within Danone Nutricia Research and other division, this research served to kick-off an internal project that will bring the recyclability of flexible packaging to 100% after its implementation and launch. However, the possibilities proposed during this research should be tested and analyse in depth to ensure that the performance its optimal and the quality of the products is not affected by the implementation of a new foil (e.g. ). Collaborating with a supplier to develop the optimal recyclable films should be considered since both parties could be beneficiary of this partnership in the future. The machinability aspects regarding packaging development should be further studied to optimize the outcome of this research.

Keywords: flexible packaging, recyclability, shelf-life, barrier film, structures

4 Executive Summary

Introduction Flexible packaging has been increasingly growing in the market and besides its benefits, its recyclability needs to be addressed. Understanding the key issues of sorting and this packaging category is crucial and its design could lead to a better effective recyclability. The Early Life Nutrition portfolio is presence worldwide and different flexible packaging should be re-design to achieve its 100% recyclability. Purpose & Goal Purpose: To understand the recyclability issues of flexible packaging as part of the post-consumer waste streams Goal: To propose Nutricia Research new films materials that could be implemented in their portfolio with a higher recyclability rates than the current.

Methodology

Methodology

Secondar Primary y Research Research

Literature Data Interview Research Bases s

Via Internal External Individual Group Online

SAP - E- Conference Conference 1:1 1:1 Artemis Workbook Call Call

5 Overview The portfolio of ELN (Early Life Nutrition) flexible packaging was analysed to have a worldwide overview of the different film strategies by region. These structures were analysed with the information gathered from the different interviews with specialists and the bibliographic research. The scope of the projects was narrowed using a forecast sale, giving this study a business approach and being able to prioritize between the multiple categories. The data from the different packaging structures was extracted from an internal data base. This first analysis brought together specifications from over 9 different factories and 40 packaging lines worldwide. The different issues identified along the recycling stream were used to provide new materials for the flexible packaging. This new material will ease the recyclability due to their structures and the ways the current technologies and recycling facilities sort and recycle the packaging.

Results & Discussion

1. Interviews The different interviews carried out helped this research to have a better outcome due to the advice and guidance of the different professionals that took part of this study. Thanks to this method, it was possible to have a better understanding of the company, portfolio, specifications, strategies and goals of the company. Different topics were tackle such as , oxo-degradable, end of life, supplier strategy, etc. This knowledge brought the study to a more reliable outcome due to the expertise of the different professionals involved. Nevertheless, there are still many questions that need to be answer, which were proposed as part of further research for its future investigation.

2. New Materials and technologies The outcome of this part of the research was new barrier films and technologies available in the market. This helped to have a better perspective of the trends in this field, possibilities of improvement recyclability as well as new possibilities of recycling flexible packaging.

6 - These materials intend to preserve the food against oxidation and degradation by removing or trapping the oxygen. This type of films are part the of known as and help to conserve properties such as: aroma, color and preserve the product from microbes. - Nanocomposites This trend of new materials uses Nano size compounds within a certain structure providing the foils with unique properties. Nanocomposites can be applied in various ways: dispersion in solution, melt blending and in situ polymerization. This type of blends could be implemented to increase the shelf life of a better product such as the film NanoBioTer®. - Transparent Oxide- films Transparent barrier films are nowadays available in the market and their use in multilayer food packaging and healthcare have been increasing over the last years. Different techniques can be applied to deposit those : thermal evaporation, chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition. o SiOx: Silicone oxide (SiOx) can be applied by plasma enhance chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or through physical vapor decomposition of SiOx (Bieder et al. 2005). o AlOx: Aluminium oxide coatings represents another barrier option for flexible packaging. Its application into a polymer can be done by atomic layer deposition, also known as ALD, and similarly to the silicone oxide, through plasma enhance chemical vapor deposition. - Delaminating treatments. This process of multilayer packaging delamination can be done by different processes such as mechanical recycling, solving or chemically (or a combination of the previous mentioned). The difference between the solving process and the chemical process is that the first one doesn’t break the bonds while the latter aims to cut the polymers into simpler structures. During this part of the research companies like APK have been identified as a possible solution to tackle the lack of recyclability of multilayer packaging. - Deinking. Different processes are being developed to be able to remove the ink from the packaging by using different technologies. Like the other process steps, deinking treatments are done in different steps. For instance, a Spanish company, Cadel Deinking is using a patented technology that starts grinding the plastics, then applies a water-treatment, rinsed and afterwards the plastics are dried and melted and extruded. The final product are pellets. 7 - Pyrolysis. During this process, the plastic waste is converted in three phases: gas, mix liquid hydrocarbon and a solid residue. This happens in absence of air (i.e. no hydrogen nor oxygen). Usually high molecular fractions are recovered and later refined. - Hydrocracking. During this process the plastic waste is exposed to a hydrogen atmosphere at pressures over 100 bars. This will breakdown the plastic into fragments of hydrocarbons. - Gasification. This process will partially oxidize the plastic waste by controlling the oxygen presence. Gasification aims to oxidize hydrocarbons in a controlled atmosphere.

3. Recyclability Issues Identify

- Multi-material vs mono-material. Not all materials existing nowadays can be sorted and recycled being the main accepted resins: PET, PE and PP for rigid packaging and PE for flexible packaging. Therefore, moving to a simpler structure, PE if possible, seems the right way to be accepted by the current flexible pack streams. - Bio-based vs biodegradable. When considering bio-based and biodegradable polymers in the design, it is important to consider that biodegradable packaging is not currently accepted by mechanical recycling. Therefore, if the aim of this research and goal of the company is to create a more circular economy, this kind of polymers should not be considered when designing a flexible packaging since besides its other benefits, they won’t become a new resource after its recycling. On the other hand, bio- based materials such as Bio-PE and Bio-PET could be a better option. - Multilayer vs multi-material. The design of the packaging could be done by including barrier materials that are compatible with the main polymer of the structure. For instance, by including multiple layers from the same material with different orientations. This is the of Borstar®-based Full PE Laminate, a combination of bimodal technology and machine direction oriented (MDO) processing technology. - Inks and additives. When it comes to inks and additives there are some restrictions as well. For instance, to have a compatible (i.e. recyclable) film, its should be at least lower than 50% of its surface, otherwise it will be considered as a low compatible product and will end up most likely in energy recovery. On the other hand, the incorporation of additives must be limited and adjusted since it could affect the way the materials are optically recognize as well as its density.

8 4. Possibilities of improvement

There are different possibilities available in the market with biodegradable materials but according to the technologies available nowadays in most of the countries that have a proper collection, sorting and recycling systems, only bio-based plastics (i.e. those which chemical composition is the same as fossil based polymer) will lead to an improvement on recyclability. This means that the production will improve the way the produce their plastics, meaning that instead of produce PE from fossil-fuel they will produce it from glucose. This substrate can be obtained from several types of biomass and transformed afterwards in bioethanol and later bioethylene (Chen & Patel, 2012).

On the other hand, if we not consider the sourcing, but the films structure, the first proposal is to develop together with a supplier a film based on PE layers and EVOH as a high barrier if necessary. Having this kind of flexible films, it is possible to assure that they will be recycle ready since there are already recycling streams for PE and if the barrier is not enough to protect the product, the development could include a layer of EVOH which will be accepted as well within a certain range. After considering the current packaging solution proposed by different suppliers the main players that are offering foils that matched the outcome of this research are: Dow and Mondi

Conclusion & Future Research

Thanks to the analysis and overview of the different flexible films specifications currently in used by Early Life Nutrition Division, it was noticeable that due to the complexity of the portfolio and the different matrix that those flexible films are being used for (i.e. fruit puree, milk cereals, milk powders), and specific research on each category should be implemented. As a strategy, the company could tackle together both -in-Box formats (cereal and milk powder), the printable formats such as and stand-alone pouch as another branch and later the pouches, which might be more complex. The pouches usually receive a pasteurization treatment or a retort treatment and therefore it would be necessary to adjust the materials and the spout in this category due to the elevated temperature to avoid any kind of material migration and optimize the performance of the foil. Furthermore, the new materials need to be adjusted according to the multiple packaging lines used within Early Life Nutrition factories, being necessary working together with the suppliers to develop the right material with the right machinability requirements to have at least the same outcome and capacity as the current packaging solutions.

9 Acknowledgments

This thesis is the end of a two years journey through food innovation and there are many people to thank along the way. There is no doubt that the MSc. FIPDes has changed me and semester after semester made me a better professional.

This research would not be possible with the support that I received from my supervisors. Benoit Piette for his guidance during the journey, helping me to understand the business approach to the topic and the different steps in product development as well as providing expertise in recyclability. Katrin Molina for her patience and support, and for making me focus and understand the academic side of this study. Her enthusiasm and feedback made this research have a much better outcome, and I really thank Katrin for her effort and for making herself available to review my work, providing concise and structure feedback which was very much appreciate it.

I would like to thank colleagues and friends Luis Block, Ana Monge, Jay Patel and Sara Torrent for their support during the research and to be there for me.

My most heartfelt gratitude to Adele Yan-Lun for being there for me and her feedback during my research.

Special thanks to Erik Andersson and Daniel Hellström, for their help and guidance in Lund University and their support during this two years.

My very profound gratitude goes to my father, Rafael Ferrandiz Gomez, my mother, Carmen Martinez Escalona, my sister, Sandra Ferrandiz Martinez, and my brother in law, Jose Antonio Villena Izquierdo and my grandmother Petra Escalona Conesa who have been supporting me from the distance during this two years and being there for me along the journey.

Finally, my deepest gratitude to everyone who made this thesis possible.

Utrecht, June 2018 Rafael Ferrandiz Martinez

10 Table of Contents

Abstract ...... 4 Executive Summary ...... 5 Acknowledgments ...... 10 List of acronyms and definitions ...... 13 1 Background of the study ...... 15 1.1 Study Goals & Scope ...... 16 Benefits of the study & Objectives ...... 18 1.2 Business Approach ...... 19 Danone Goals ...... 19 Circular Economy ...... 21 Recyclability by Design ...... 24 2 Methodology ...... 26 2.1 Study Approach ...... 26 2.2 Analytical Framework ...... 28 Data Collection ...... 30 Secondary Research ...... 31 Primary Research ...... 32 2.3 Company Description ...... 35 Nutricia Research, Early Life Nutrition ...... 35 ELN Portfolio ...... 36 Flexible packaging present in ELN Portfolio ...... 37 3 Theoretical Framework ...... 39 3.1 Plastic Packaging ...... 39 Plastic Packaging Value Chain ...... 40 Food Packaging ...... 41 Market of Flexible Films ...... 43 3.2 Definition of Flexible Packaging ...... 44 Types of Flexible Plastic Packaging ...... 45 Impact on Shelf Life in Milk Powders ...... 47 3.3 Barrier Materials Identified in Flexible Packaging ...... 47 3.4 European Targets ...... 53 3.5 Collection & Sorting & Recycling ...... 54 4 Results ...... 62 4.1 Interview Results ...... 62 4.2 New Materials & Technologies...... 65 Technology and Material scouting ...... 66 11 4.3 Results on Specifications Study & Flexible Foil Structures ...... 73 Overall results of Specifications Analysis ...... 74 Sachets ...... 76 Bag in Box Category ...... 77 Pouch ...... 80 Stand-alone pouch...... 81 4.4 Recyclability Issues Identified ...... 83 4.5 Sales Forecast Analysis ...... 87 4.6 Possibilities of improvement and Recommendations ...... 90 Proposed structures ...... 90 5 Conclusions and Further Research ...... 94 List of Figures ...... 97 List of Tables ...... 99 References ...... 100 Appendix A ...... 105 Appendix B ...... 106 Appendix C ...... 107 Appendix D ...... 108 Appendix E ...... 110 Appendix F ...... 111 Appendix G ...... 112

12 List of acronyms and definitions

AlOx: coating is the application of a thin and highly transparent coating of aluminium oxide on packaging films that gives the materials extremely high moisture and gas barrier properties that rival those of aluminium foils and metalized Films Bias: is defined as prejudice in favour or against one thing, person or belief when compare with another. Coefficient of Friction: is a value that shows the relationship between the force of friction between two objects and the normal reaction between the objects that are involved.] Coextrusion: is the extrusion of multiple layer simultaneously DB: Danone Baby. Effective Recyclability: this recyclability considers the final recyclability of the products at their end of life, considering the recycling rates of each region/country. ELN: early life nutrition. End-of-life: is a term used with respect to a product supplied to customers, indicating that the product is in the end of its useful life. Extrusion: a certain material is pushed through a die of a desired cross section. Flex cracking: deterioration of the material when flex stress or bending stress is applied. Follow up meeting: referred to scheduled meetings after a project has started. Grammage: is the areal density of a material, that is, its mass per unit of area. g/m2 Kerbside collection: referred to a service provided to households to collect urban and suburban areas household waste. : is a technique of manufacturing a material in multiple layers so that the composite material properties improve. A laminate can be assembled by heat, pressure, welding or . Multilayer Packaging: any material used or to be used for packaging and having at least one layer of plastic as the main ingredients in combination with one or more

13 layers of materials such as , paper board, polymeric materials, metalized layers or , either in the form of a laminate or co-extruded structure OTR: Oxygen transmission rate is the measurement of the amount of oxygen gas that passes through a substance over a given period. Pasteurization: is a process that kills microbes (mainly bacteria) in food and drink, such as milk, juice, canned food, and others. PE: is a common plastic, also known as Polyethylene. PET: is the most common thermoplastic polymer, known as Polyethylene Terephthalate pH : is a numeric scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Post-consumer waste: is a waste type produced by the end consumer of a material stream; that is, where the waste-producing use did not involve the production of another product. PP: is a thermoplastic polymer, also known as . PMTC: Packaging Material Technology Center. Recyclability by Design: packaging designed to be accepted in the current recycling streams. : is a type of food packaging made from a laminate of flexible plastic and metal foils. It allows the sterile packaging of a wide variety of food and drink handled by , and is used as an alternative to traditional industrial methods RH : is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Specific Elongation at Break: also known as fracture strain, is the ratio between changed length and initial length after breakage of the test specimen Tensile Strength: is a measurement of the force required to pull something such as rope, wire, or a structural beam to the point where it breaks.

Water Activity (aw): is the partial vapor pressure of water in a substance divided by the standard state partial vapor pressure of water. WVTR: water vapor transmission rate, is a measure of the passage of water vapor through a substance.

14 1 Background of the study

This section shows an overview of the evolution of the packaging industry and the problematic behind a worldwide plastic production increase. Moreover, a description of the research and as well as the scope will be described.

During the last 50 years, plastic has become a main material taking over other materials and being part of the day a day in the modern society. Its use, has been twenty-fold during the last century and it is expected to double again during the following 20 years (EllenMcArthurFoundation (2016)). Nowadays everyone, and mostly every activity involves the use of plastic, being increasingly important to understand the issues nature of its presence in society. The different drawbacks that this material brings to society and environment need analyzed to be able to react and build a strategy towards a better future. Nowadays, there are a considerable number of plastics available and due to their lightness, versatility and price different markets have been adapting their products and incorporating plastics as part of their designs. In most of the cases, this change has been translated into costs saving (e.g. Higher percent of plastics in cars brought a reduction of fuel consumption) (European Strategy for Plastic in a Circular Economy (2015)). On the other hand, in food packaging, plastic helps to ensure food safety as well as reduce the carbon footprint that results from transporting heavier materials. Therefore, plastic packaging enabled not only to deliver direct economic benefits but increase productivity (e.g. reduce food waste) among others. Nevertheless, according to the UE Commission the quantities of plastic that are being globally produced reached 322 million tons in 2015 and most of the countries have failed adapting to this situation resulting in an unsustainable situation that urgently needs to be addressed. The lack of control of the waste streams brings globally 5-13 million of tons of plastic in the oceans every year, causing a growing public concern and an uncountable damage to the environment. Only in Europe, 25.8 million tons of plastic waste are generated every year from which only 30% is recovered for its recycling. In addition, out of this 30%, landfilling and incineration rates are still high (31% and 39% respectively) (Jambeck et al (2015)). Aiming for circular economy and rethinking the ways the waste streams are established could bring benefit for everybody.

15 This research targets Flexible Packaging as a multilayer packaging that is not being currently recycled in the current recycling streams. A better understanding of the current waste streams and technologies will be implemented into a better packaging design aiming for a circular economy where flexible packaging can be recycled (CEFLEX (2018)).

Figure 1 Circular Economy. CEFLEX 2018

1.1 Study Goals & Scope

This research intends to build a strategy following Nutricia Research ELN’s (Early Life Nutrition) sustainability goals which aims to improve the recyclability rates within their portfolio and more specifically the flexible packaging that its being currently used. This study has gathered information from to prioritize and be effective when providing different possible new foil structures that will improve the recyclability rates of the current portfolio. In this direction, ELN’s portfolio will be analysed to frame what are the different flexible foils that are currently in the market and what are the issues derived from post-consumer waste streams due to its recyclability at end of life. This approach is in line with Danone goals, who has established its recyclability by design rate at 100% by 2025, meaning that all ELN’s portfolio would be at least designed for its recyclability considering the technology in place in some strategic countries and hoping that further countries will follow and recycle the packaging resulting from post-consumer waste. Therefore, the purpose of this project will be to first identify the issues derived from sorting and recycling flexible packaging and afterwards propose new flexible foils that would improve the current recyclability status and provide the same high barrier properties.

16

As mention before, this research was carried out within a specific scope, considering only the post-consumer waste, being a more realistic approach and closer to the problematic of flexible packaging than focusing on industrial waste streams. In this direction, it will be considered from a design perspective what are the challenges of this kind of packaging, how is this material sorted and possibilities of improvement. Neither the ways the collection nor the of the recyclates are included on the scope of this study. Steps considered:

Recyclates to be converted

Sorting Production

Placing into Collection market

Consumption

Figure 2 Steps Considered from Waste Value Chain

Regarding the delimitation of this research, landfill and energy recovery won’t be considered as a recycling since the aim of this research is to move into a more circular economy and adapting the design of the multilayer films for that purpose. Landfill is a well-known issue in many countries, and diverting this waste stream into a more sustainable solution is key. This real concern that, in the context of Europe, is being addressed by the Directive 2008/98/EC on landfill of waste. This Directive aims to improve the way resources are being used and wasted by reducing the environmental impact of . The three most critical issues derived from landfilled are leakages, toxins and greenhouse gas emission (European Environmental Agency (2009)). In addition, energy recovery is a waste treatment that generates energy out the waste streams which can be translated into electricity, heat or fuel depending on the technologies and equipment used for this purpose. Nevertheless, according to the EIT Climate-KIC (European Institute of Innovation 17 and Technology), it should be considered one of the last options due to their associated emissions. Energy recovery centers are regularly inspected and regulations have been established such as the Directive 2000/76/EC on the incineration of waste as a way of limiting the emissions. Organizations such as Voila claim this as an “environmentally safe and sustainable option” and they provide their daily emissions to the atmosphere from their activities as proof of their commitment. Moreover, it will be considered that something is recyclable if any country has the capability and sufficient technology to collect, sort and recycle a certain foil or packaging. Countries like Germany, would be used as an example due to their expertise in this field and their current efficient recycling streams which could be an example for other countries to follow. In terms of portfolio scope, the flexible packaging proposed for new packaging development will be for those categories with a higher grammage (i.e. , banderoles, wraparounds won’t be considered for its improvements) and the others will just be described since part of the research was to analyze the portfolio and see define which kind of flexible packaging was present within Early Life Nutrition. In conclusion, the goals of this study will contemplate a new scenario where plastics never become a waste by re-entering the economy. In this direction, Danone is a member of the Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation which aims to build a circular economy as will be described on the following chapter. Moreover, different strategies towards the implementation of new foils will be presented as an approach since it won’t be possible nor realistic to change all packaging lines for all flexible formats at once for machinability and capacity reasons.

Benefits of the study & Objectives

The result from this study will provide new possible structures that could be investigate towards a better recyclability after having a better understanding of how flexible packaging is sorted and recycled as well as how a business such as Danone Nutricia Research could create a positive impact in society by designing their packaging in a way that could be later, sorted and recycled by the current streams and technologies available in the market.

This research has been designed to have the following outcome: - Identify the key issues of recyclability of flexible packaging. It will be necessary to understand the value chain of the flexible packaging and to frame how this packaging category is being collected, sorted and recycled.

- Identify the key characteristics that need to be consider at an early packaging development stage. Once the flexible value chain is understood, 18 the various aspects that are necessary to be consider when designing a flexible packaging will be described.

- Provide an overview of the flexible materials currently used within Nutricia Research and their possibilities of improvement. To be able to propose a new foil structure, it will be necessary to understand the current packaging of the company and their films per format.

- Analyze recycling technologies. Various recycling technologies would be scouted to have a better understanding of the difficulties that companies encounter when flexible packaging is being processed for its recyclability. Therefore, diverse ways of processing flexible packaging for its recycling will be described.

1.2 Business Approach

During this chapter, the commitments and goals towards a more sustainable business and circular economy from Danone’s side will be explained to understand this research collaboration and wiliness to improve their recyclability rates.

Danone Goals

This research collaboration is framed under the sustainability goals of Danone Group and specifically the Early Life Nutrition branch. Danone has been analyzing their value chain and establishing strategies for its improvement as well as sustainable practices for a better future. They aim to reduce their fossil resources and increase their bio-sources as well as their recycling materials (which is within the aim of this study). As addressed by the European Union, the level of landfill should considerable be decreased to avoid leakages into the ocean, microplastics and other derived issues of concern and only consider energy recover as a last option.

19

Figure 3 Danone's Value Chain. ELN Pack Nature 2015 In this direction, the percentage of packaging coming from recycled materials (see Figure 3) went from 27% to 30% in 2016 and due to company strategies, it will keep growing over the next years. According to their Integrated Report Summary of (2016), Danone intends to build a circular economy of packaging by sourcing sustainable materials and creating a second-life for all plastics, meaning that their packaging will be recycled and used again for the same purpose. Within their ambitious targets, having 100% of recyclable packaging by 2025 is one of their strategies (See Figure 4), which is why several projects and actions have been implemented over the last decade. The concept behind this will be explained further in this study (see Chapter 1.2.3 Recyclability by design), being the main idea to improve their packaging design into materials that are possible to be recycled after their use turning waste into a resource.

20 2. Zero plastics to landfill for 4. Use our sustainable resources industrial 3. Innovate to waste ease life of 1. Optimize consumers and weight and move engage them to 5. Create towards 100% sort & recycle a second circular by design life for all plastics

Figure 4 Danone Global Goals & Commitments

Therefore, it is key to improve the recyclability of flexible packaging. The main challenge is to find a foil that would performed the same way as the current packaging solution but would have a higher recyclability rate at the end of life.

Circular Economy

Due to the amount of plastic waste produce every day, a novel approach in this field is necessary to bring change a prosperity in the future years. For that reason, a circular economy approach could be beneficial for the plastic industry, bringing collaboration and benefits along the value chain as well as create value in what now is being considered waste. Incremental improvements in a system where plastic packaging is produced, used and discard is necessary. The current systems are insufficient to control the waste streams that are being generated daily.

21 In this direction, it is important that the end-of-life of the different waste streams are understood and create links between all parties involved, starting from the design and production of packaging, and going downstream until its being recycled. Over the years, many innovations have been improving different issues but in a very fragmented manner creating issues in other levels. As an example, different plastic packaging materials have been developed over the years, but recyclers are not able to sort all of them, and as a result, the amount of plastic packaging that goes to incineration keeps increasing along with their CO2 emissions. According to Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation, it is necessary to improve the after-use collection, storage and reprocessing as well as to build an after-use plastic economy which will reduce the plastic leakage.

Figure 5 Global Flow of Plastic Packaging Materials 2013. Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation

As stated in Figure 5, only 14% of the plastic packaging is collected for recycling, but those numbers don’t belong to a closed loop where new recyclates are produced and brought back into the system. Out of those collected materials, only 2% take the close-loop recycling streams, which means that there is a lot of work to do if the aim is to achieve the European Recycling Goals of 2030. Therefore, the aim should be to work together to build a better waste streams and materials and achieve higher sorting rates and as a result a better quality of the recyclets. This could help as well to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, leakages and nature degradation as well as reduce the amount of microplastics result of plastic polymer degradation.

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Figure 6 Ambitions of the New Plastic Economy. Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation This innovative approach proposed (see Figure 6) aims to build a more sustainable value chain where plastic packaging is being produced, used and recycled. Moreover, not only those polymers (virgin feedstock) are produce from renewable sources, but their recyclets have a market being reprocessed and send back into the system to be used as packaging again. As stated in the previous Figure 5, this closed loop doesn’t contemplate the idea of downcycling being reuse and recycle the main purposes. To achieve this challenging goal, more than 75 different companies, flexible packaging producers, recyclers and other parties have gathered together in a project called CEFLEX which objective is to “have flexible packaging acknowledged as a responsible and relevant choice y key stakeholder”. Therefore, the projects intend to involve all the stakeholders from the supply chain with a holistic approach. The idea behind this is to collect all the packaging, prevent leakage to the environment and create value on a packaging that is nowadays being burned for energy recovery. This will have led later to investments in sorting a recycling infrastructure for a category that nowadays is having trouble at the recycling step (Flexpack-Europe (2018)).

23 Recyclability by Design

The concept of ‘Recyclability by design’ is the business designation and approach that Nutricia Research ELN has towards the recyclability of their packaging, being the aim of this study providing guidance and possibilities of improvements that could align with the company strategy and their recyclability of plastic packaging policy. Danone’s vision of packaging frames their actions from upstream (i.e. protecting resources) to end of life (i.e. improving post-consumer waste recycling), meaning that is built on a circular approach that involves consumers. Recyclability by design aims to have recyclable ready packaging by incremental improvements of the current packaging solutions in market and the new packaging developments that might be implemented in the future. Therefore, the packaging should be design no only following the product requirements, convenience, and other aspects mention in Chapter 3.4.2. Food Packaging, but consider its end of life and the possibilities of this packaging to be recycled after product consumption. In this direction, the company established its waste hierarchy following the European Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC (See Figure 7):

•Lowering the Reduce amount of waste produce

•Using materials Reuse repeatedly

•Using materials to make new Recycle products

•Recovering energy Recovery from waste

•Safe disposal of Landfill waste to landfill

Figure 7 From most to least favored option. Danone Packaging Policy 2016 This European Directive includes the extended producer responsibility and lays down some waste management principles and guidelines. The focus of this research will follow this approach and challenge the current packaging materials in use 24 within the flexible packaging portfolio, aiming a better recyclability of their packaging and therefore a higher recyclability by design rate. It is important to remark that this concept of recyclability aim to design packaging recyclability considering the technology available in some strategic countries and hoping that further countries will develop better waste streams to be able to recycle the packaging resulting from post-consumer waste. As an example of this approach of circular economy and recyclability by design, Danone have already in the market different packaging solutions. Over the last years, the company has been innovating and challenging its packaging by introducing new materials aiming for sustainability. For instance, Evian has nowadays 25% rPET (recycled PET) plastic and aiming for 100% in 2025. Another example is Danone in Germany, were PLA and bio-HDPE cups for the brands Activia and Actimel were introduced in the market. Moreover, Volvic innovated with a 20% plant-based plastic in 2010 and aims to achieve 25% by 2020. From the flexible packaging categories, it is possible to find already in the market some examples of improvements such as the ones implemented by Bledina (See Figure 8):

Figure 8 New Bledina Transparent Pouches This flexible package is the new generation of pouches which have eliminated their layer of aluminum from their specifications maintaining the same quality and performance as previous formats (See Chapter 4.3.4 Pouch).

25 2 Methodology

During this chapter, the different methods carried out for data collection as well as the approach of the student to the topic has been highlighted to give an overview of the origin of the data and the different interactions needed to develop this research.

2.1 Study Approach

The aim of this research was to identify the issues of flexible packaging derived from its sorting and recycling and propose different possibilities of improvements from a design perspective that could ease the sorting and improve the recyclability. After having a better understanding of the post-consumer waste stream (sorting/ recycling), new films materials will be proposed for further investigation. For that purpose, the study needed to be structured to keep perspective and achieve a better outcome, moving from databases and a holistic view, to details and improvements. Due to the extended amounts of information available on some fields and the lack in others, a specific plan was needed to facilitate the information flow and analysis. “In a research and development environment where technologies are becoming more and more sophisticated and complex, the technology scouting has become increasingly important and plays a very important role that could bring value to the company”. (Rohrbeck (2006)). In this direction, the technology scouting process could be defined in four distinct phases (The Technology Radar (2006)): identification, selection, assessment and dissemination. During the first phase, different technologies developments and in this case new materials which may be relevant for the research are outlined. During the technology and material scouting, the different technologies and materials that are being developed for flexible packaging either to aim its recyclability or to increase the high barrier were identified and they are part of the results in Chapter 4.2. The idea behind material scouting was to identify materials that are currently used or that will be implemented and therefore affect negatively the recyclability of the packaging as well as other that might be a future replacement of the current high barriers (e.g. Silicone Oxide and Aluminum). On the other hand, the technology 26 scouting aimed to understand the technologies that are trying to solve the issue of recycling flexible packaging such as delamination. It was necessary to scout different technologies that could be implemented to facilitate the recyclability of multilayer packaging and their limitations. The feasibility of this materials and technologies will be discuss during the Chapter 6 since due to the limited time it wasn’t possible to go further in the packaging development. According to Chesbrough (2003), author who coin the term “open innovation”, academia and business can benefit from this practice and in his bibliography, affirms that companies are being highly benefited from this innovation process that have no boundaries. In contrary, closed innovation has lost popularity as is believed less efficient. The main principles from closed and open innovation are described in Appendix A, adapted from Chesbrough (2003). The idea behind this approach was to work with cross functional teams not only based in Nutricia Research in Utrecht but in other division and external packaging materials specialized in packaging. Thanks to this approach, different information regarding flexible recycling issues, main parameters to consider while developing a flexible packaging and better understanding of the recycling streams was gathered. This information was summarized and confirm with bibliography in Chapter 4.3. In this direction, the approach to the topic will be from an open innovation perspective and unlike the traditional Innovation Funnel, the Innovation Reactor will be the model followed where different converging and diverging steps will take place aiming a better outcome for this study. Unlike the traditional method, the first converging phase of the Innovation Reactor has a focused and structured process (Jarrehult (2011)). The structured of this kind of innovation approach is explain on the following Figure 9:

Figure 9 Innovation Reactor, Jarrehult 2011

27 This approach to innovation have four different steps with two diverging steps and distinct phases where additional information can be included or discarded. Phase I & II. Input & Insights: The first step is the input phase where only the most relevant inputs enter this system. This is a very beneficial approach due to the quantity of data available and complexity of summarizing and narrowing down the different inputs on a late stage. During this step the information that was going to take into consideration was established as well as discuss with the R&D Packaging Department from Nutricia Research to have a better perspective of other innovation projects that could benefit the outcome of this study. Phase III. Ideation: During this phase, different ideas were developed consider the information gathered and other were discarded due to time limitation. It was important to frame this study within the timeframe since this specific area of research counts with a variety of material & technologies innovation that are long term and their development could take years. Phase IV Implementation: The latest phase of this study was intended to build a strategy a start a collaboration with suppliers to build together a collaboration in which the proposed improvements will be implemented. Due to timeline of the research, this collaboration will be shown as further research in Chapter 6 and the part where a strategy is proposed with be explain with the results in Chapter 5. When referring to open innovation, this research has been gathering information in a collaborative way understanding that not all the specialists of this topic are based in Nutricia Research, and therefore a bigger network of professionals was needed to understand different topics. For instance, a specialized center PMTC (Plastic Material Technology Center) was collaborating and providing input and feedback to this research. Other information was gathered as well from machinery manufactures such as Eggersmann (Recycling Technologies). Later, this study, different companies were contacted as well to better understand the current possibilities in terms of flexible foils and their performance. Moreover, a visit to the Plastic Recycling Show Europe provided guidance and insights about the field in which this research is framed as well as contacts with companies working on multilayer packaging delamination such as APK with the development of Newcycling® (See Chapter 4.2.1 Technologies Identified)

2.2 Analytical Framework

As explained in the previous chapter, the information that was going to be taken into consideration for this research was in line with the goals and aim of this study. Therefore, it was important from the beginning to have clear which data will be gathered and which sources were necessary. The first steps and key questions are described in the following Figure 10:

28

2.Select data 1.Selection of 3.Establish the collection the needs network methdos

5.Establish 4.Identify Data 6.Obtain Data Approach Sources

1. Which information is needed?

2. How can be collected? 3. Who has the information? 4. Where is available? 7.Analyze Data 5. How to obtain it? 6. Which information is valuable? 7. What does the data say?

Figure 10 Author’s own figure, data collection approach

The approach to those steps of organization is listed below: - Selection of the needs: o Define Recyclability by Design Concept o What’s already done? Previous research, company trends, o Define Nutricia Research portfolio and o What are the Product Requirements? o What are the Packaging Specifications? o What is Danone aiming for? o How consumer behavior can affect this topic? o It is possible to build a strategy with a sales background? o Is the ELN portfolio standardized worldwide? o Danone opinion on plastics: biodegradable, bio based, oxo- biodegradable…

- Establish network o Who can provide information? o Where can I find information? o Build a list of key contacts internal and external o Build a list of strategic suppliers

29 - Establish approach o Enroll necessary trainings (e.g. software) o Obtain access to data bases (e.g. technical sheets) o Obtain access to previous research

Once the information of new structures and materials available is gathered, they will have to meet the product requirements (e.g. high barrier) and the consumer targeted (e.g. infants) to be accepted and therefore recommended as an outcome of this study. In this direction, the materials preferred will be already in the market for its development and not only on laboratory or pilot plant scale since Danone’s commitments are to be 100% recyclable ready by 2025 (Danone Packaging Policy (2016)). The company aims to have their packaging designed and adapted to be recyclable with existing collection and recycling streams.

Data Collection

The overall data collection strategy is summarized in the Figure 11. A combination of sources starting with the secondary research was used, which is a very common research method which intends to gather information that already exists which is quick and low costs and will help focus the following primary research (Mcquarrie E.F. (2011)).

Literature Via Online Research Secondary SAP - Artemis Research Internal Data Bases E-Workbook External Methodology 1:1 Individual Conference Call Primary Interviews Research 1:1 Group Conference Call

Figure 11 Author's Methodology Scheme Overview

30 Secondary Research

The secondary research was based on two different angles: literature research and data bases. To have a better understanding of the topic of this research, literature research was carried out by reading scientific , specialized magazines and studies on this field of work. All this knowledge led to an overview of the key issues and the complexity of the topic, as well as the positive impact that could be derived from this research. The main search engine used was Google, where different scientific papers were found and analyze, as well as the database from Lund University with the same purpose. Other databases, such us Eurostat or internal data bases such as Artemis, an SAP software was used during this stage. It is important to remark that this secondary research had a great outcome since it was crucial to gathered information from all the packaging categories for further analysis as well as understanding the crucial issues of recycling flexible packaging. The data base from Eurostat was used to obtain data about recycling rates and generated in Europe. This help to understand how much packaging waste is being produce, collected and recycled in Europe which could be nowadays establish as a base line or best-case scenario. This data base was use as a consulting tool and not to analyze raw data. On the other hand, the internal data base, Artemis, was used to extract all the different packaging specifications to make an analysis on the different packaging structures used worldwide for the flexible foil within Early Life Nutrition. By extraction this kind of information, it was possible to have an overview of the varied materials and the complexity of changing a certain packaging category. Furthermore, the barrier properties obtained from this data base were set up as the baseline for future packaging development, being able to discard those films that wouldn’t provide a similar high barrier. Later, to have a clearer outcome of this study and build a strategy based on the volumes of sale. A sales forecast from 2018 was used to extract information about the sales of certain categories worldwide, weighting their importance by region and packaging solution and therefore being able to establish an order of importance based on the quantities that would be sold, which can be translated into quantities of waste. Due to confidentiality, this information won’t be shared during this study. The data analyze gave a better understanding of the volumes that are being produced and the magnitude that a positive change could have for the company if a certain category will adopt a more recyclable structure. Moreover, this data helped to identify which packaging categories will have a bigger impact due to sales volumes and therefore to prioritize from a business perspective the different packaging development necessary to implement the change in the future. The data was extracted and analyze by using pivot tables in Excel to be able to work with vast amounts of data (e.g. sales from 43 different countries). Out of the more than 4500 kinds of recipes and formats, the sales from Sachets, Bag in Box Cereal, Bag in Box Milk, Pouches and Stand-Alone Pouch were extracted and analyzed. These results were crossed with the data extracted by supply point (i.e. the 31 packaging specifications used in each factory). Both sets of information helped to build a strategy and to select the category that could lead the implementation of the proposed new foil. The idea behind this was to generate the best positive impact by linking the research to sales and therefore waste volumes that are being produce because of post-consumer waste streams. During the chapter 4.3 Study on specifications, the main structures that were found of each category are described and analyzed. Due to confidentiality, the exact specifications of the foils were found in the bibliography to be able to carry out this research and can provide an answer to the main questions of this study. Nevertheless, this information was the baseline used to propose new foils and possibilities of improvement. Other parameters to keep into consideration are also described during that chapter.

Primary Research

According to Driscoll (2011) “the ultimate goal in conducting primary research is to learn about something new that can be confirmed by others and to eliminate biases in the process”. During this part of the research, different interviews with different professionals from inside and outside the company were carried out as well as group interviews. The methods used was by phone, videoconference and face to face. Other activities such as consumer behavior and onsite visits were planned object of primary research, but due to the timeline of this research they’ll be proposed at Chapter 6. Conclusion and Further Research as next steps. The interview method was chosen due to the complexity of the topic and the availability of specialists at the company. The lack of professional experience on the packaging field was tackled by interviewing specialists from different departments: consumer behavior, shelf life, packaging development, packaging technologist, etc. The experience and knowledge of the interviewers gave this study a more feasible outcome due to the combination of their expertise in the packaging field and understanding of the business and the bibliographic research and analysis made during this research. Moreover, the interviews and known to be a way of collecting data that can be used on different situation and that is able to gather information from variety of topics (Dornyei (2007)). In this direction, the so called “open-ended” were used as a tool to gather information, which are also known as well as unstructured. According to Gubrium & Holstein (2002), this kind of interviews have a higher level of flexibility and both interviewer and interviewed have more freedom to organize the content of the interview and the questions that will be asked during the interview. On the other hand, the group interviews where semi-structured, and only a checklist was used to keep track of the topics that were discussed and the questions that needed an answer. This style of interviews is recommended by Berg (2007).

32 2.2.3.1 Internal Interviews

All the interviews mention in Table 1 and Table 2 were preceded by an introduction team meeting where the project and aim of this research was explain in detail with presence of all Packaging Team members from Early Life Nutrition. Moreover, Benoit Piette, co-supervisor of this research had structured follow up meetings where information was shared and guidance was provided. Table 1 Interviews in house Respondent Location Date (2018) Position / Topic 1.Pablo Martinez Nutricia 22nd January Packaging Technologist Research 2.Group Meeting: Nutricia 24th of January Bioplastics Research Benoit Piette Cedric Dever Luis Block 3.Group Meeting Nutricia 24th of January Recyclability of Flexibles Research & Benoit Piette Videoconference Guillaume Gamon 4.Andre Schoot Nutricia 29th January Packaging Technology Manager Uiterkamp Research 5.Peter Jobse Nutricia 31th January Packaging Technologist Research 6.Wido Van Drecht Nutricia 1st of February Packaging Technology Manager Research 7.Luis Vazquez Nutricia 2nd of February Packaging Project Leader Research 8.Gabriela Asencio Nutricia 13th February Factory Pack Technologist Research 9.Marco Engels Nutricia 14th February Senior Packaging Engineer Research 10.Monica Nutricia 6th of February Packaging Factory Technologist Castaneda Research 11.Robin Vermeulen Nutricia 12th of March Packaging Engineer Research 12.Felix Smets Nutricia 21th of March Packaging Factory Technologist Research 13.Barry Wobbes Nutricia 22th of March Patent Attorney Research

33 14.Mark Dix Nutricia 26th of March Shelf Life Technician (milks) Research 15.Steve Carabin Nutricia 26th of March Shelf Life Technician (powders) Research 16.Luis Block Nutricia 27th of March Category Manager Research 17.Group Meeting Nutricia 26th of April Flexibles Supplier Research

2.2.3.2 External Interviews The external interviews took place either via conference call or phone, being conducted with professional specialized on a certain issue within the Global Danone Group. For that purpose, several interviews took place along this study with the Packaging Material Technologic Center, and, Guillaume Gamon, expert on Flexibles and Flexible Packaging Manager of R&D. The other interviewers below mentioned in Table 2 were key contacts for the aim of this research, and provided their knowledge and expertise along the study.

Table 2 Interviews with External Partners Respondent Location Date (2018) Position / Topic 18. Guillaume Gamon Conf. Call 24th January Plastic Material Techno Center 19. Thomas Etien Conf. Call 26th January End of Life - Flexible Packaging 20. Cedric Dever Conf. Call 2nd of March Plastic Material Techno Center 21. Artem Naydenov Conf. Call 9thof March Senior Buyer Flexible Packaging 22. Marion le Gall Conf. Call 16th of March Packaging Engineer Bledina 23. Guillaume Gamon Conf. Call 20th March Plastic Material Techno Center 24. Nathalie Boireau Conf. Call 22th March Sensory & Behavior Science Leader ELN 25. Serge Martell Conf. Call 22th March Senior Process Engineer *The list of both internal and external interviews was the first contact between us, being necessary to further discuss in a later stage. The considered external interviews, belong to a specialized center from Danone in France as well as other divisions within Danone Group but they don’t belong to the R&I Nutricia Research division as the other interviews above mention. The resources are different (e.g. laboratory, available data) are therefore it was crucial to count with their support for this research, since the study was done globally and cross-division. The company is structured in a way that some division work from a more holistic perspective and other more downstream, being necessary to

34 understand all steps along the chain for projects like the recyclability of flexible packaging. In addition, the individual interviews were carried out looking for expertise in different fields. For instance, some of them were with the shelf life department, from which it was important to understand how the tests were made and try to obtain insight about product requirements for product development. Other professionals, such as Luis Vazquez were consulted as well regarding high barrier materials and previous research to have a better approach to the topic and therefore a better outcome. The reason why group interviews were also established is due to the effectiveness, since there are distinct kinds of backgrounds and expertise within the team. In a group meeting, different thoughts can be shared and analyzed from different perspectives without avoiding several one on one meetings or multiple meetings which can lead sometimes to miscommunication. The key questions of each interview are shown in Appendix B and the main points that were obtains as an outcome are shown in Chapter 4.1. Interview Results.

2.3 Company Description

Nutricia Research, Early Life Nutrition

The study has been done in collaboration with the division of Danone, Nutricia Research, more specifically with the Early Life Nutrition (ELN) branch. This part of the business dedicates to provide optimal nutrition and support positively influence during the first 1000 days of growth of a newborn. Within ELN, there are different kind of products that are being sold worldwide making this research a very challenging experience due to the complexity and variety of materials and packaging solutions offered by the company. Moreover, their worldwide presence has been considered due to the different region climate conditions that might affect the performance of the packaging. Therefore, the region will be later on differentiate on Asia, Africa, Latam and Europe. The different supply points that Nutricia Research Early Life Nutrition Counts with are spread around the globe. The factories considered for this research due to data availability shown in Table 3:

35 Table 3 ELN Factories FULDA (DE) VILLEFRANCHE (FR) PT NIS (ID) SARIHUSADA (ID) KUALA LUMPUR (MY) OPOLE (PL) ISTRIA (RU) BANGKOK (TH) AINTREE (NZ)

DE=Germany, FR=France, ID=Indonesia, MY= Malaysia, PL= Poland, RU= Russia, TH=Thailand, NZ= New Zealand

ELN Portfolio

Several categories and products are part of the Early Life Nutrition (ELN) portfolio, being necessary to focus the research on certain categories for this study considering volumes and weights of the components of each individual packaging solution. Since this research was mapping the different flexible packaging within the company on an early stage, other categories were considered to better understand the use of flexible packaging in Danone and the positive impact of their improvement. Those categories are listed in Table 4:

Table 4 ELN & Danone Foods Portfolio 1.Canning 8.Eazypack

2.Bag in Box 9.Jewelbox (Flexible)

3. 10.Stand Alone pouch (Flexible) (Flexible)

4.Pouch 11.Bottle (Flexible)

5.Bowl 12.

36 6.Cup 13.Plastic Plate

7.Stick 14.Brick (Flexible)

Therefore, it is to be consider that the flexible packaging used within all the previous mentioned categories have product of different nature such as fruit puree, milk powder, liquid milk and milk cereal which might affect the design due to the barrier requirements and food processing as explained in Chapter 3.4.2 Food packaging. The main materials used for the various categories could be simplified in plastic, , paper/cardboard and aluminum. Further in this study the distinct categories in which flexible packaging is used will be described in more detailed by components and materials.

Flexible packaging present in ELN Portfolio

One of the first steps of this research was to have a better understanding of the portfolio and be familiar with the flexible materials that was incorporated in the design of the different packaging categories. After analyzing the portfolio and separating by components the distinct categories, a summary of the different flexible packaging components used within Nutricia ELN was established:

Table 5 Different Flexible Plastics Identified in ELN Shrink film Sleeve Banderole Multilayer Pouch Stand-alone pouch Sachet Stick (Only primary and packaging was considered in further analysis)

The different flexible plastics mention in Table 7 are used in variety of packaging solutions within the company and in multiple brands (see Table 8). As it will be further discussed, this leave possibilities for harmonization while developing improvements within the portfolio which could be beneficial for Danone (Thonemann et al. (2003)). Nevertheless, regional climate influences as well as cultural differences might affect the way the packaging is perceived and therefore it

37 should be considering when designing new packaging solutions for different countries (Silayoi & Speece (2004)).

Table 6 Distinct brands within Early Life Nutrition Bledina Milupa Malyutka Bebelac Bebiko Bebilon Karicare Nutrilon SGM Dumex Aptamil

This worldwide production is translated into a very challenging production pace that involves over 35 packaging lines to produce the current volumes of the Early Life Nutrition. This will be considered when building a strategy further in this study due to the need of incremental improvements while maintaining production.

38 3 Theoretical Framework

3.1 Plastic Packaging

Plastic packaging is the segment in packaging that have been growing the fastest over the last decades, taking over the market share of all other packaging materials available: took over , plastic bag took over , plastic took over fiberboard , etc. (Wiley et al. (2010)). As this industry has been evolving, it has developed more specific applications and different technologies such as lamination, coextrusion and barrier coatings have been improving the properties and functionality of the plastic packaging. Other more complex materials than include plastic have also grown into the market (e.g. coated cardboards) which improved performance rely on the plastic layer. In Europe, plastic uses could be classified in 4 distinct categories: Electronics, Automotive, Building & Construction and Packaging. Plastic Packaging all alone accounts for 39.9% of the total, being as well the category that has more single uses purposes for the material (e.g. plastic , plastic bottles, etc.) (Eurobarometer, (2018)). To avoid that high percentage of waste and being able to recover it after its use, design is key. It is important, when analyzing plastic packaging the overall picture and not segment the information. A lifecycle analysis could provide a much better understanding of the overall performance of a certain packaging if needed.

39 Plastic Packaging Value Chain

Refining Crude oil is distilled to obtain naphta (main feedstock for plastic production)

Polymerisation Plastic producers form polymer chains in a chemical process.

Compounding Process-ready pellets are prepared by mixing or bleding polymers

Packaging Manufacturing Packaging items are design and manufactured

Brand Owner Packaging is used to pack products and goods

Retailer The packages are brought to market

User Good are used and packages discarded

Collection Waste management collects post-consumer waste

Sorting Waste is sorted at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and baled for recycling

Reycling & Reprocessing Materials are cleaned, shredded, etc and eventually converted ito process-ready pellets

Figure 12 Adapted from Plastics Europe, 2016

40 Food Packaging

As explained in previous chapters, plastic packages have exponentially become part of daily basis activities, until that point that it is fair to say that almost everybody deals daily with packaged food. This is, among other reasons, due to the increase of population and the need of providing goods around the world. Nowadays, the model where people are sustained by local products and seasonal foods is no longer in place for a substantial portion of the population, although it is a trend that its growing back over the last decade (Euromonitor International (2014)). The capacity of traditional producers was unable to keep up with the demand of an increasing population and this led to a new system where the efficient transportation and communication made possible to have access to food from other regions. Moreover, the requirements that those different foods needed, made food packaging evolve to be able to protect and transport the products. A summary of the barrier requirements for different foods are shown in the following adapted graph (Schmid (2012)): (See Figure 13)

Figure 13 Schmid et al., 2012

The barrier requirements are in terms of OTR (Oxygen transmission rate) and WVTR (Water vapor transmission rate). These two criteria are very important at the define phase of a packaging solution and therefore they are widely used to compare the various products either from content perspective (product requirements) or from the packaging perspective. This permeability process is explained in the following Figure 14 extracted from McKeen (2017):

41

Figure 14 Permeant Flow through a polymer membrane. Extracted from McKeen 2017 Following the McKeen’s figure, the permeation is described through the following steps: 1. The permeant flows upstream from the atmosphere to the polymer’s surface. 2. Adsorption of the permeant at the polymer’s surface/ atmosphere interphase. 3. The permeant diffuses from the through the polymer which will define the permeation rate of the polymer. 4. The permeant goes through a desorption phase downstream of the polymer 5. The permeant leaves the polymer and diffuses at the downstream atmosphere.

Beside the barrier properties of the packaging used for foods, it is crucial to remark the importance as a platform where many other interaction and functions take place. Therefore, the main functions of Food Packaging are: Logistics, Marketing, Packaging, Environment, Production and IT Systems. The importance of packaging goes further than mainly protection and transport, and this evolution made the packaging a complex part of the overall product in which many several aspects converge to deliver a final packaging solution. According to Robertson (1990) the main packaging functions are containment, protection, convenience, communication, apportionment and unitization.

42 Market of Flexible Films

Flexible Packaging is leading nowadays the retail packaging volumes globally with perspectives of growth during the next years (Euromonitor International (2017)). This packaging category has many different benefits from which consumers and producers can benefit. As a result, its use has become increasingly popular over the last decades, which has lately become an issue from recyclability perspective (topic that will be discuss during this research on further chapters). Over the years, the flexible packaging industry has become essential for developing countries in which the resources or infrastructure for glass, metal or industry is lacking. As the economies and countries grow the improvements on the flexible packaging can stimulate every sector in the market and the food sector. (Wiley et al. (2010)). This has turned into an issue as well due to the lack of collection and sorting waste streams which is usually done by individuals by hand. According to Flexible Packaging Supply Demand Study Europe-2021, 2017, the European countries that had the fastest growth in flexible packaging are Italy, Poland and Turkey. Moreover, there is a trend of the market on building different strategies focussing on attaining sustainability, starting from lowering the generation of plastic waste which has increase the demand for flexible packaging in the market (this category produces 45-55% less packaging waste in comparison to rigid packaging solutions) Technavio (2018). The market of biopolymers has been growing as well, due to sustainability strategies: these plastics are made from renewable materials such as biomass and can contribute to lower the overall footprint. This made producers of flexible packaging start considering them as part of their product development. The FPA, Flexible Packaging Association, has very good insights about the market trends, manufactures, guides, and other interesting documents that are worth considering when developing flexible packaging films. According to them, flexible packaging has been leading innovation and nowadays is customizing their packaging development to meet the product specifications (e.g. refrigerated food packaging). The main three advantages of Flexible Films are (R. Hd Beswick and D. J. Dunn, (2002)): - The unfilled packs can be stored in high volumes due to their low storage space needed. - Forming flexible packaging is fast and easy. - Filled packs tend to have less overall volume/weight ratio than other rigid alternatives. The Flexible Packaging will be defined and discuss deeper on further chapters.

43 3.2 Definition of Flexible Packaging

In the field of plastic packaging, the flexible packaging is those normally made from flexible materials which don’t have a fixed shape or dimension since they conform to the product that it is holding (e.g. plastic bag) and which can be stretchable and puncture resistant (R. Hd Beswick and D. J. Dunn, (2002)). Within this range of packaging there are a variety of materials and configurations that will provide specific characteristics. Usually these films are used as barriers for liquid, dirt, gases and others. Different convenience features made this category a very convenient packaging solution (See Table 5):

Table 7 Flexible Packaging Convenience Features Easy peel Easy tear Clarity Printing Metallic Re-closable

According to the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), the latest innovation on flexible packaging can be classified in different fields according to their impact in the market:

- Material Toughness Advances The development of new materials has improved the puncture resistance of the polymers being able to better protect the product. These improvements made possible to reduce the quantity of material (up to 50%), obtaining the same toughness.

- Coextrusion Technology Advances This technology allows to combine the properties of varied materials into one single film. This technology has aloud to reduce the weight of some packages as well up to 30%.

- Barrier Enhancement Thanks to advances in this field, up to 50% less material is required in films that provide the same barrier properties.

- Process Optimization The evolution and improvements in technology and machinery as well as resins has enable process optimization, making possible to reduce the thickness of some films such as shrink film.

44 - Equipment Technology Collaborations between equipment manufactures and flexible suppliers has enable many improvements on flexible packaging light weighting.

- Multiple Sustainability Advances In comparison to other packaging solutions, flexible packaging provides different sustainability advantages such us carbon footprint reduction, reduce of energy used and less waste when disposed.

Types of Flexible Plastic Packaging

This category of packaging has a very diverse range of pack solutions, led by LDPE (low-density polyethylene). These films can be made from a single polymer or multiple polymers providing a combination of properties (e.g. multilayer pouches).

Table 8 Types of Flexible Plastic Packaging (adapted from R. Hd Beswick and D. J. Dunn, 2002)

Types Bag Film Flat Pouches Foams Retort pouches Sachets Shrink-wrap Stand-up pouches Tubes Twist Wrap

The most common flexible packaging categories (See Table 6) can be classified on mono-materials and multi-materials. When referring to multi-material, flexible packaging is considered as a multilayer packaging with multiple materials which are the core of this study and usually the ones used as packaging due to their barrier properties in most of the industries.

3.2.1.1 Mono-material

This kind of packaging materials are more basic in terms of barrier properties and structures, and most of the times are used for their convenience rather than for their barrier properties (e.g. plastic bags) having normally a sole use before disposing them. This practice has been possible due to their low grammage and therefore low price and availability. Only in Europe, 100 billion bags are used every year (EU

45 Environment (2017)) and due to the problematic of plastic waste, different countries have been developing new laws against its abusive use. For instance, plastic bags were banned in France and Italy, and only compostable and biodegradable bags are offered in the supermarkets. In the Netherlands on other EU countries, bags are charged as attempt to minimize their use. In Europe different laws tried to address this problem such as the Directive 94/62/EC regarding light weighting and plastic bags consumption. Examples of mono-material flexible packaging are shopping bags, shrink wraps, cling films, etc. Those are usually films that are used for the convenience rather than for their barrier properties.

3.2.1.2 Multi-material

Multilayer flexible packaging manufacture is known as converting and its surface can incorporate printing such as artwork, barcodes, etc. The way that this kind of materials are produce can vary as well, being the most common processes coating, laminating and coextrusion (Wiley et al. ,2010). It is important to remark that, coatings are usually not mentioned on the bibliography when talking about permeation since most of the articles are focused on barrier films, but there are indeed functional coatings that can act as barrier films and that can protect the product as well (McKeen (2017)). The foils are usually sold directly on rolls or reels which are later attached into a packing machine that will form the foil into a pouch or bag . In addition, the flexible packaging foils can vary in terms of opacity and they can range from completely opaque to transparent (being opaque the most protective against light). Multilayer packaging materials which are polymer-based are used broadly to combine their respective different barrier properties and performances. Usually, most of the factors that affect stored foods are moisture, light and oxygen, being aluminum and metallized foils selected over decades as a high barrier to preserve the food (Lamberti & Escher (2007)). Their specific characteristics and functionality made them a perfect fit for several food products since their shelf life and protection can be improve combining different laminates. For example, pouches are normally composed of three layers: PET, Aluminium and PP or PE. The first layer will provide strength, the second the high barrier and the third and inner layer is usually used as a layer to heat seal the package. As a drawback, laminates that incorporate aluminium foil are susceptible of flex cracking which can damage the barrier performance of this specific layer (McGinnis (2017)). Moreover, these flexible packages are decreasing the footprint of classic packaging solutions due to their lightness and low grammage of the different layers thus having same or increased performance. However, due to their poor recyclability, most of the flexible packaging solutions are usually incinerated or landfilled which are counteracting all the efforts towards a circular economy. 46 Impact on Shelf Life in Milk Powders

Shelf life can be defined as the length of time that a product from its production, maintains its quality in terms of nutritional values, microbial status, textures, appearance and flavor. Therefore, the packaging used to content that product, will play an essential role keeping the product from spoilage since it serves as an interface between the environment and the product. The design of a packaging solution, might affect the way consumers perceived the product and be decisive when purchasing a product (Da Cruz et al. (2007)). Traditionally, milk powders have been packed either in metal cans or multilayer pouches and the way those are design it’s being dependent of the kind of milk powder that was needed to contain (Robertson (2006)). Shelf life can be impacted by many different variables and therefore it is crucial to have a wide understanding of variety of considerations such as trends, conditions, prerequisites, etc. (Sonneveld (2000)) when developing a new packaging design. Moreover, the packaging solution provided will depend on the milk powder, the surface area/volume ratio, the transportation conditions, market environment (e.g. Relative Humidity) and the desired shelf life. According to Brown and Williams (2003) the effectiveness of a certain packaging solution can be determined either during a shelf life tests or from a break-point testing which will increase the relative humidity during the tests and measure the performance. The uses of flexible packaging in milk powders should be tested from three main parameters to ensure product quality: moisture transfer, oxidation and light.

3.3 Barrier Materials Identified in Flexible Packaging

Many of the barrier materials used in packaging have either a good oxygen barrier or a good water barrier (See Table 9). For that reason, many of these materials are combined and layered together to obtain a better overall performance in terms of permeability. The most common flexible packaging films with their respective barrier properties (OTR and WVTR) are defined on the following Table 10 (Lange & Wiser (2003)):

47 Polymer Oxygen Permeability at Water vapor permeability 23C 50%RH cm3 mm / at 23C 85%RH (m2 day/atm)] [gmm/(m3day)] Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) 1–5 0.5–2 Polypropylene (PP) 50-100 0.2-0.4 Polyethylene (PE) 50-200 0.5-2 Polystyrene (PS) 100-150 1-4 Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) 2-8 1-1 Poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) 0.5 0.7 Polyamide (PA) 01-1 (dry) 0.5-10 Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAL) 0.02 (dry) 30 Ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) 0.001-0.01 (dry) 1-3 Poly(vinylidene chloride) (PVDC) 0.01-0.3 0.1

Table 9 Permeability of polymers commonly used in packaging. Adapted from Massey, 2002

Polymer Oxygen Permeability Water vapor permeability at 23C 50%RH cm3 at 23C 85%RH mm / (m2 day/atm)] [gmm/(m3day)]

PET 12/ Alu*9/ PE50 0 0 PET 12/ met**/ PE50 1-2 0.1-0.5 PET 12/ EVOH5/ PE50 1 2-4 PET 12/ PVDC4/ PE50 5 2 PET 12/ PVAL 3/ PE50 2 4-6 PET 12/ PE 50 15-20 4-6 *Aluminium ** Vacuum-deposited aluminium layer

Table 10 Barrier properties of common flexible packaging films. Adapted from Lange and Wyser 2003 Other alternative to increase the barrier properties of the packaging foils is to mix a high barrier material into another common film, which will difficult the diffusion of a certain compound and therefore increase the performance of the foil. Moreover, it is important to remark that besides the performance of the different foils, there are other factors such as consumers trends that might affect the way a certain flexible packaging is design which bring more challenges for packaging

48 developers. According to the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA (2016)), the key features that consumers appreciate and expect from flexible packaging are: - Ability to reseal - Easy to open - Ability to see the product inside - Ability to extend product life - Attractive shape or appearance - Recyclable

The most common materials within the portfolio identified as barrier materials in flexible packaging are described in the following chapters. An extended list of the common polymers used for flexible packaging applications is to be found in the Appendix D.

3.3.1.1 Polyolefins

This family of polymers are made from hydrocarbon monomers with a double bond carbon-carbon which are later polymerized forming the polyolefins. Olefins, also known as alkanes are chemical compounds made of at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond, being the simplest ones the ethylene and propylene (See Figure 16) which after polymerization are named polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE).

Figure 15 Ethylene and Propylene structure. Extracted from Alexandridis et al. 1995

Polyethylene As briefly described earlier, there are different polyethylene types that can be classified in by their density: ULDPE, VLDPE, LLDPE, LDPE, MDPE, HDPE (Ultra low, very low, linear low, low, medium and high-density polyethylene respectively). The differences between them are in the branches of their structures in terms of number and length which affects density and melting points (Ebnesajjad (2013)). 49

Figure 16 Polyethylene types. Adapted from Ebnesajjad 2013 The most common used in food industry are ULDPE (e.g. cheese packaging), LDPE (e.g. baked goods), HDPE (e.g. dairy products).

Polypropylene Regarding this olefin, there are three main types: homo-polymers, copolymers and impact copolymers. The different of the way they are produce affect as well its properties. Homo-polymers are made in a single reactor with propylene and a catalyst, while the random copolymers are made as a well in a single reactor with ethylene (lower than 5%). The impact copolymers are made in a more complex manner using two different reactors. The main polymer used in food are the homo-polymers and random copolymers.

Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) This type of olefins is made by a reaction of norbornene and ethylene at a certain ratio. The fact that this is an amorphous polyolefin, makes it transparent. The main performance descriptors are: - Low WVTR - Very low water absorption - Low density - High strength and rigidity.

50 The main application of this polymers: used as a core layer in rigid and flexible packaging for food and other goods.

3.3.1.2 EVOH

The Ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) is a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl alcohol. This kind of polymer can be produced with various levels of ethylene content which will affect the level of crystallinity. According to Ebnesajjad (2013), the main benefits of this film are: - Printability - Antistatic - Transparency - Resistance to Oil and Organic Solvents - Permeability - Weather Resistance EVOH resins have great gas barrier properties maintaining their performance under a wide range of humidity. Their oxygen barrier will be dependent on the quantities of ethylene content within the polymer. This kind of polymers can be used as well as aroma barrier. The EVOH has been used in flexible packaging in variety of packaging formats such as bag-in-box due its great potential as a high barrier. The issue with this kind of barriers is their drop-in performance as a gas barrier in the presence of humidity (reason why it is usually layered with other materials such as polyolefins).

3.3.1.3 PET

PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, which is the most common thermoplastic thermo-plastic. This polymer is also commonly known as , which can be both amorphous or semi crystalline (i.e. transparent or white). Both types of PET have different properties: the semi crystalline version has good strength, stiffness ductility and hardness while the amorphous has better ductility but less hardness or stiffness. This polymer is commonly used for pouches, bag-in-box, baked goods, among others, being key in the flexible packaging market (Hoppe (2009)).

51 3.3.1.4 PVDC resin

The acronym PVDC stands for polyvinylidene chloride, which is a copolymer of vinylidene chloride with vinyl chloride or other monomers. It structured is described in Figure 18:

Figure 17 PVDC Structure homo- polymer. Eurasian Chemical, 2018

Regarding flexible packaging, the most common use is as a coextruded film as a barrier layer for gas transmission prevention.

3.3.1.5 Polyamide

This kind of polymer is also known as , which are crystalline structures produce by the condensation of a diacid and a diamine. There a many different type of polyamides depending on the monomers used to synthetize them. Within flexible packaging, the most common polyamides are: - Nylon 66/610 is commonly used for foodstuff and medical packaging. - Nylon 6/12 within multilayer structures for food packaging and boil in bag - Nylon 66 used in pouches - Nylon 6/69 used in flexible packaging for foodstuff. There are several advantages that polyamides offer as a polymer. For instance, they are more resistant to alkaline hydrolysis than other materials such as Polyester. On the other hand, they also have better solvent resistance than PET to many organic liquids (Polymerdatabase, 2015). The main aromatic polyamide manufacturers are: - DuPont: Elvamide®, Zytel®, Minlon® - BASF: Nypel®, Ultramid® - Evonik: Vestamid®

52 3.3.1.6 Aluminum foil

Aluminum is the most common metallic compound found in packaging. As remark of its performance, provide 1/3 of the strength of steel. Traditionally, in flexible packaging, aluminum has been the barrier layer used in a form of a sheet of a few micrometers thick which has evolved later by using a different technology where a coating is added by a technique called vacuum deposited and which have a thickness on the range of nanometers. Both layers are used as barriers being the aluminum a so called total barrier and the metallized a high barrier having the benefit of being at a lower cost. This foil is known as well for being light, nontoxic and a very good barrier. Moreover, aluminum does not rust and has excellent recyclability. As will be explain later or, the problematic resides on it use as a part of a multilayer packaging (Lamberti et al. (2007)).

3.4 European Plastic Recycling Targets

Nowadays, due to China’s ban on recycling imports, many countries realize the capacity problems when it comes to recycling. Therefore, this ban could be seen as a positive action towards a better recycling streams and material-technology development. However, according to Griek (2018) from the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), “China’s ban exposed poor US recycling practices” being nowadays a trend what they call “wish-cyclers”, consumers who want to recycle but pollute the streams due to their lack of knowledge in materials recyclability.

The European Commission has targeted plastic consumption as a concern, pointing the leakage of plastic into the ocean as a clear signal of the poor waste management of the current collection streams. Therefore, the are calling to the states to aim for a better approach were plastic takes part of a circular economy where the production, use and dispose can be part of a close loop were materials are recycled and new plastics are produced. Rethinking and challenging the current collection, sorting and recycling systems should be a start that could bring benefits for both society and environment. This new way of thinking should involve a greater cooperation between all the parties involved in wasted management, from the producers to consumers and recyclers. From the European Union, different targets have been established regarding the desired recyclability rates of plastics. For instance, the Commission established that 53 all plastic packaging should be recyclable by 2030 (Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy (2018)). This will lead to a new plastic economy where new markets of recyclates will grow over the next decade towards a more sustainable production, use and recycling of the plastic packaging as it is known today. In this direction, innovation will be boost and new materials and technologies will be developed consequently.

As observed in Figure 19, the kilogram per habitant in EU has been increasing over the last decade (Eurostat (2018)). The quantities of recovered and recycled have been gradually increasing but so it has the waste generated, meaning that the overall hasn’t improved and there is still a lot of work to do to achieve the EU plastic recycling goals.

Figure 18 Development of all packaging waste generated, recovered and recycled, EU, 2006-2015 Source: Eurostat, 2016 The benefits of recycling plastics instead of producing virgin plastic in terms of CO2 emission per ton are in Appendix E, but to achieve a more sustainable plastic economy, the quantities collected and recycled must improve even if the plastic is still coming for non-renewable sources.

3.5 Collection & Sorting & Recycling

To understand the problematic regarding recyclability of flexible packaging stated in this study, it is necessary to understand the way materials are collected, sorted &

54 recycled. These three steps are crucial and they will affect the overall recycling rates not only of the flexible packaging but of the whole post-consumer waste stream. The different collection systems are usually affected by regional and economic parameters and even within one country, different collection schemes might be in place depending on the region. (Deloitte Plastic Recycling Impact Assessment, (2016)). Taking this into account and knowing that different countries have different collection systems for recyclable materials, kerbside collection and other industrial waste streams, the study will focus on the technologies available for the sorting and recycling of post-consumer waste, leaving the possibilities of improvement of the collection process as part of the further research, Chapter 6. Due to the scope of the research, only the different technologies currently used to sort the materials will be described since the idea is to have an overall understanding to analyze what are the issues of flexible packaging at the sorting plant and pin point which parameters are being used by the current technologies to separate the materials. Moreover, it is important to understand that they are variety of waste streams depending on how materials are collected, for example, it is possible to have a recycling sorting center only for plastics collected together or a material facility recovery which intends to separate the valuable materials from the organic fraction. It is remarkable how complex the waste streams can be and the importance of a good collection stream in which consumers have a key role. Currently, the plastics polymers found in household waste are LLDPE, LDPE, HDPE, PET, PP, PS and PVC (Villanueva & Eder (2014)) from which polyolefins represent close to 60% of the total plastic waste. Those plastics can be identified by their RIC or Resin Identification Code which is a way for recyclers and consumers what kind of polymers it is (See Figure 20):

Figure 19 Resin Identification Codes for plastics. * V Stands for PVC

Therefore, the complexity of recycling comes from the nature of the materials available at the post-consumer waste stream and the variety of recycling schemes. For instance, in some countries in Europe such as Germany or The Netherlands three different systems can be found:

55 - Kerbside collection (presorted at the household) - Drop-off collection (presorted by consumers, i.e. refund systems). - Post-separation of kerbside collection

During the sorting, two different approaches are established: positive sorting and negative sorting. The first aims to sort a certain fraction from the load, the latter, identifies those materials that are not desired on the stream. A combination of both are put in place, although positive sorting is usually more cost effective (McKinnon et al. (2017)). The main technologies used currently to sort packaging are described below:

1. Waste Screening: a. Trommel: a rotating cylinder structure with holes of a certain diameter (by design), allows the bigger portion to go through and a smaller fraction to fall into another stream. Some trommels can have different sections with different hole sizes. b. Disk: the concept is the same as the trommel but the material will flow through a bed with discs and smaller materials will fall between the gaps. c. Oscillating Screen: this machine oscillates and vibrates, materials of a certain size will flow from side to side, other will fall in the holes. This be a combination of the two previous systems.

2. Ballistic Separation: a. This consist of an inclined bed with perforations that vibrates to separate materials. Light fractions will travel upstream, and heavier fractions downstream (bottom).

3. Air Separation: a. Rotary Air: this can be described as a trommel with an air current which separates the light fraction. b. Zigzag: the waste is dropped into an air current that flows upwards in zigzag. The heavier fraction will fall to the bottom and the light will flow up into a container. c. Cross current air: the waste goes into a conveyor which drops the waste through an air system. The air will blow horizontally the lighter fraction and the other will fall into a container. d. Suction Hood: this will suction the lighter fraction from the conveyor belt.

56 4. Density Separation a. This technique involves a float-sink tank or hydro cyclones to separate plastic packages by density. However, this separation is difficult in practice due to alterations or modifications of the polymers, blends, multilayer packaging etc. Moreover, the most common polyolefins used in packaging have very similar densities, making their sorting very challenging (See Table 11): Table 11 Plastic Densities. Adapted from Scheirs, 1998.

Plastic Type Density [g/cm3} PP 0,9 LDPE 0,91-0,94 HDPE 0,94-0,97 ABS 1,03-1,07 Polystyrene 1,04-1,07 PA 1,14 PET 1,38 PVC 1,39 PVDC 1,65-1,72 PTFE 1,70

5. Film Grabber

a. This technology will make the waste flow into a rotating with spikes that will capture the films and letting the rest pass.

6. Magnetic Separation

57 a. An industrial magnet will be place either in the conveyor or on top of it, which will either hold the ferrous metal fraction or lift it, separating those from the rest (see Figure 21):

Figure 20 Magnetic Separation. JM Industrial Magents, 2018

7. Eddy Current a. Eddy current will push non-ferrous metals with magnets into another container or conveyor, and the non-metallic waste will drop. (See Figure 22)

Figure 21 Eddy Current separator. Magna Power, 2018 8. Manual Sorting a. This sorting is not automated and basically is made by employees who stay by the conveyor and practice either positive or negative sorting.

58 9. Sensor Technologies Usually these technologies are combine with air nozzles that will positively separate the materials once detected by the sensors below mentioned (See Figure 23): a. NIR. Near infrared technologies are used to sort different plastics (PET, HDPE, PVC, PP, and PS) b. VIS. Visual Spectrometry is used to differentiate materials based on their color. c. XRF. X-Ray fluorescence is used to identify different metals and alloys (e.g. steel from cooper). d. XRT. X-Ray transmission will identify varied materials based on atomic density (e.g. halogens and organic components) e. EMS. This electromagnet sensor will use the conductivity to identify metals.

Figure 22 NIR Sensor attached to a conveyor belt

*Adapted from ISWA (International Solid Waste Association).

The following steps after the sorting will involve a baler that will compact the materials to bring them into another facility where depending on the level of sorting accomplished will go to a converter where plastics will be transformed into pellets, or to another facility where materials will be further separated. The efficiency of the previous technologies and the purity of the materials sorted will determine their value and therefore it’s level of recyclability. If materials are not being properly sorted they will end up in energy recovery on a best-case scenario, and if their purity is good enough for recyclers, they will enter the process and brought back into the system.

59 The complexity of a material recovery facility along with the different technologies is shown in Figure 24. This scheme is facility in Germany extracted from Kaiser et al. (2017), which set up intends to separate post-consumer packaging (plastic, metals and composite packaging). According to this source, the flexible packaging is separated by wind-sifting and ends up at the mixed section:

Figure 23 Scheme of a sorting plant in Germany. Extracted from Kaiser et at. 2017

As observed in this scheme, the standard polymers are separated by NIR (Near Infrared) in PET, PS, PP, PE but the flexible materials are only being separated from 60 the other streams as best scenario. The multilayer structure makes them a pollutant in other streams and therefore the strategy at these facilities is usually to separate them for energy recovery as best-case scenario, and in some other cases to recycle the aluminum after burning the plastic content (pyrolysis). The section ‘film’ is designed to separate films bigger than A4, and therefore, only a small amount of flexible multilayer packaging is expected to be on that stream. The recycling rates achieved at the sorting facilities are therefore a combination of actions from collection until reprocessing that can be affected by multiple factors. In countries like Germany, new laws and regulations are being developed aiming minimizing the amount of packaging waste. For instance, the new VerpackG (German Packaging Law) will come into effect on January 2019. This law will require that manufacturers register at the Zentrale Stelle (a national authority) before their products are placed into their market. Moreover, they will have to submit after this registration data about their packaging such as materials, volumes and the packaging scheme contracted (Extended Producer Responsibility). This way, Germany intends to reduce the leakage of packaging and increment their recycling rates by controlling the quantities of packaging handle in their market and being able to react to market fluctuations (Verpackungsgesetz (2018)).

61 4 Results

This chapter summarizes the different data analysis and technology & materials scouting, necessary to provide guidance and propose improvements that the company might implement or further investigate in the future towards a better recyclability by design.

4.1 Interview Results

During the interviews with different Danone professionals and external sources from Nutricia Research were interview giving to this study a more technical a depth analysis of the issue. The individual interviews were more focus into finding information regarding different topics whereas the group interviews had the intention of discussing certain topics that could led this research. The key topics of the individual interviews were: - Brands, Factories, Products. Interview: 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 24 - Packaging Laboratory Capabilities. Interview: 1, 3, 12, 18, - Flexible Categories. Interview: 2, 3, 18, 19, 21, 21, 23, 24 - Flexible Packing Lines. Interview: 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 21 - Strategic Suppliers. Interview: 2, 3, 17, 18, 20, 21 - Machinability Issues. Interview: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 19, 21 - Previous research. Interview: 4, 5, 6, 9, - Recyclability by design. Interview: 4, 12, 18, 22 - Link to other projects. Interview: 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 22 - Current recyclability status. Interview: 3, 18, 22 - Prioritization of the portfolio towards recyclability. Interview: 3, 4, 12, 18 - No-go materials. Interview: 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 18, 19, 21, 22 - Regional differences in flexible packaging. Interview: 3, 5, 7, 18, 21, 23 - Link between shelf life and packaging in ELN. Interview: 3, 12, 14, 15 - Possibilities of Intellectual Properties: Interview: 13 - Advanced Medical Nutrition (AMN). Interview: 16 - Consumer Behavior Towards Recyclability: Interview: 22

62 The key topics of the group interviews were: - ELN and Danone recyclable ready approach. Interview: 3 - Strategy towards a better recyclability. Interview: 2, 3 - Key suppliers working on sustainability. Interview: 3 - Bioplastics strategy in Danone. Interview: 2, 3 - Circular Economy in Danone. Interview: 2, 3 - Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation partnership. Interview: 3 - Collaboration with CEFLEX. Interview: 3 - Downcycling vs Recycling. Interview: 2, 3 Table 12 Interview Outcomes 1 Internal Respondent Outcome 1.Pablo Martinez - There are different set ups to measure flexible packaging (e.g. tear strength, permeation, etc). 2. Group Meeting - Oxo-degradable plastics are banned. - Biodegradables are not really supported nowadays Benoit Piette - Bio-based plastics are an option to investigate Cedric Dever - Danone promotes circular economy and its looking to improve their packaging portfolio Luis Block 3.Group Meeting - There is a study on end of life done previously that can support your research. Benoit Piette - PMTC is collaborating with ELN to assess the Guillaume Gamon recyclability of flexible packaging - Danone is part of Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation - Danone will join CEFLEX project - It’s necessary to understand our portfolio before briefing suppliers - Flexible Packaging is nowadays not being recycled - Artemis has all the specifications of the company - Artem Naydenov, key contact as flexible buyer - Thomas Ethien, key contact for end of life - Serge Martell, key contact for Engineering and Machinability 4.Andre Schoot Uiterkamp - ELN Packaging Lines overview - Link flexible recyclability project with rigid packaging - Key contact for Flexible Lids 5.Peter Jobse - Help on a better design and machinability 6.Wido Van Drecht - Link to other projects and support on company structure and supply points 7.Luis Vazquez - Key contact as high barrier expert. - Guidance to approach a worldwide portfolio - Guidance for strategy building 8.Gabriela Asencio - Support for Packaging lines and key foil specifications.

63 9.Marco Engels - Support for packaging design and machinability prerequisites 10.Monica Castaneda - Packaging Lines in Germany - Bag in Box foils and outer box 11.Robin Vermeulen - Support for packaging design and machinability prerequisites. 12.Felix Smets - Support for packaging design and machinability prerequisites. 13.Barry Wobbes - Support to understand possibilities of patent when developing a new packaging structure 14.Mark Dix - Shelf life company approach in correlation with flexible packaging (milk) 15.Steve Carabin - Shelf life company approach in correlation with flexible packaging (milk powder) 16.Luis Block - Link to Advanced Medical Nutrition projects towards a better recyclability by design. Guidance and support

Table 13 Interview Outcomes 2 External Respondent Outcome 17.Guillaume Gamon - Key contact for flexible packaging recyclability throughout the project. - Recyclability issues of Flexible Packaging - Overview of technologies available - Current investigations on Flexible Packaging - Key suppliers working on - Pros and cons of different polymers - Problems at sorting centers of flexibles 18.Thomas Etien - End of life contact to understand how ELN flexible packaging was being collected, sorted and recycled in different countries 19.Cedric Dever - Bio-based products in Danone, future projects and links with consumer behavior 20.Artem Naydenov - Guidance on flexible packaging requirements, key suppliers of flexible foils, help defining the flexible structures and overview on materials used previously used and their issues. 21.Marion le Gall - Key contact for flexible packaging from Foods Division 22.Nathalie Boireau - How consumers see “greener packaging”, consumer behavior in the field of recyclability, wiliness of consumer to recycled, how can we communicate its recyclability improvements.

64 23.Serge Martell - Machinability parameters per packing line, understanding of industrial capacity, speed, temperatures and other engineering aspects of flexible packaging production.

4.2 New Materials & Technologies

During this research, a scouting of new barrier films and technologies available in the market was carried out to have a better perspective of the trends in this field, possibilities of improvement as well as innovative ways of recycling flexible packaging. Some interviewers shown their interested on bringing new materials more recyclable to the portfolio, if the barrier requirements would at least be at the same level at current solutions. Since recyclability by design intended to present new materials it was necessary to understand the most common films to provide later on more innovative solutions with similar performance. This study started on the most common current barrier materials used for flexible packaging together with their performances (i.e. OTR, WVTR, etc.), and afterwards on the new innovative films and technologies. The last information gathered was regarding the recyclability at a recycling plant or material recovery center, clarifying the limitations of machinery and other issues while trying to sort and recycle flexible packaging. The last part of this scouting gathered different suppliers that are currently offering in the market ‘recyclable’ multilayer materials. The suppliers were contacted for further information and specifications to ensure that the product they are currently providing could be implemented according to the product requirements from Early Life Nutrition. These will be described during chapter 4.5. Possibilities of improvement. In addition, different consortiums were found to be working on end-of-life and processes to recycle flexible packaging. For instance, projects like CEFLEX in Europe or Recycling Partnership in the United States are working to improve the collection of flexible packaging. Moreover, other companies such as Concord Blue Energy are working on technologies to convert waste into energy. As a remark, different companies were found to be developing 100% recyclable pouches, mostly made of two layers of PE such as the one proposed by Nova Chemicals Corp.

65 Technology and Material scouting

As explained during the study approach a technology and material scouting was done to identify different technologies and materials that are being developed for flexible packaging either to in increase its recyclability or to improve the high barrier to have a better overview of which are the trends in this field. The new materials that aim a high barrier and therefore a higher shelf life could also affect the recyclability of the future packaging and therefore it was necessary to identify those developments. On the other hand, the technologies available to recycle flexible packaging and multilayers were part of this research due to the necessity of understanding the developments that are nowadays trying to recycle multilayers and obtain value out of a waste stream by using modern technologies.

4.2.1.1 Material technology Trends Identified Improving the current materials in the market, and especially in the field of high barrier films has been a challenge. Different approaches have been tested at laboratory scale trying to find new materials with improved properties of all kinds. In this direction, surface modification, crystallization, blending, use of nanoparticles among others have been developed. Nowadays, with the technologies and materials available at the market, it is difficult to achieve the necessary requirements by using only one material (Fereydoon et al. (2013)). The flexible market has grown in relation with this due to the multilayer foils and their ability to adjust their performance based on the product requirements. During this chapter, different new material will be described as part of the new material scouting having a better understanding of the variety of material combinations available at the market, the difficulty to provide the right oxygen and moisture barrier and on top of that being able to recycle them.

4.2.1.1.1 Oxygen Scavenger

This material innovation aims to better preserve the food against oxidation and degradation which will most likely improve the shelf life and safety of a product. The oxygen scavengers are part of the so known active packaging, and these materials can remove or trap the oxygen which helps the product to conserve important properties such as: - Aroma - Color - Preserve from microbes Kuhn et al. 1970, introduced the use of palladium catalyst in the inner side of a can lid to catalyze the oxidation reaction of the hydrogen gas mixed with the nitrogen flush inside the can of milk powder. This approach was later used on flexible foil.

66 For instance, Mitsubishi introduced oxidable compounds in sachets in 1977 (Smith et al. (1995)). During this study, different scavenger foils have been identified such as Cryovac® which adding more complexity to the composition of the post-waste stream of flexible packaging.

4.2.1.1.2 Nanocomposites in flexible packaging

Another current trend is the use of nanocomposites. Their interest on food packaging is due to the unique properties that the foil can achieve when incorporating at least one Nano size compound within the structure. The concept is like the oxygen scavenger, since it’s a blend of materials but in this case, using a nanocomposite with a high surface-to-volume ratio generating interesting barrier properties (Lange, (2003)). The ways the nanocomposites can be applied are various, being dispersion in solution or melt blending and in situ polymerization, the most common ones. Moreover, Nano clays are being proposed for multilayer packaging to improve the barrier properties and improve their performance in terms of shelf life (Wiley et al. (2010)). Companies like Nano biomatter S.L. have been developing nanocomposites that can be used for food contact materials such as NanoBioTer®. This kind of nanocomposites can be dispersed in EVOH for example, increasing its performance as a high barrier material.

4.2.1.1.3 Transparent Oxide-coated film

Transparent barriers are being more visible these days in the shelves due to their use on multilayer food packaging and healthcare. Nowadays there are two main oxides used for flexible packaging: Silicone Oxide and Aluminum Oxide. These two coatings are a trend in the market that companies are adopting for their packaging solutions due to the ability of consumer to see through before they purchase. To deposit these coatings onto polymer films, different techniques can be applied, such as thermal evaporation, chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition (Struller et al. (2014)). Moreover, the advantage of this coatings is that they can provide a very good barrier with only nanometers as opposed to other polymers where the range is at micrometer range. The market of these kind of flexible packaging is led by Japanese producers such as Mitsubishi with Techbarrier® although other producers such as Amcor have films such as Ceramis® in the market.

67

Figure 24 Barrier comparison of different laminates, Amcor 2010

SiOx Silicone oxide (SiOx) can be applied by plasma enhance chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or through physical vapor decomposition of SiOx (Bieder et al. (2005)). This kind of films can be coated into flexible packaging films have the advantage of their transparency and retortability providing a very competitive barrier when compared with other barriers (see Figure 25). AlOx On the other hand, another inorganic transparent barrier like aluminum oxide coatings represents another option as a barrier on flexible packaging. Its application into a polymer can be done by atomic layer deposition, also known as ALD, and similarly to the silicone oxide, through plasma enhance chemical vapor deposition.

4.2.1.1.4 Conclusions & Remarks

The different foils above mention are usually causing troubles at the recycling and sorting plant since they affect the density of the polymer, optical sorting and most importantly the could pollute the streams of the main polymer existing in the packaging. For those reasons, different projects such as CEFLEX 2018, have been assessing these issues and set some limitations. For instance, high barriers such as EVOH should be between 10-5% of the total package in order to be consider recyclable by a polyolefin stream. Otherwise, the package would end up in energy recovery. In this direction, is it possible that barriers such as SiOx and AlOx would follow the same pattern and although their presence would affect the recyclability they could be considered for its recyclability whiting certain ranges.

68 As a conclusion, both transparent coatings seemed to be a good fit as a substitute of aluminum or metallized structures although their recyclability would need to be studied since the aim of the research is not only maintain the same the same barrier properties, but to have an overall design of the flexible packaging recyclable.

Moreover, the price of this kind of foils are known to be more expensive than the traditional layers (i.e. Aluminum foil) but these prices are usually calculated using the aluminum as a composite and not as a laminate. This approach could mislead the pricing since aluminum should be protected in both sides whereas SiOx and AlOx might only need a sealant. Therefore, it could be that the total price of incorporating aluminum to a multilayer is higher than incorporating SiOx and AlOx (Rollprint Packaging Products (2018)).

4.2.1.2 Technologies Identified During this chapter, different technologies that aim to increase recyclability of flexible packaging will be described.

4.2.1.2.1 Delaminating Treatments

This process of multilayer packaging delamination can be done by different processes such as mechanical recycling, solving or chemically (or a combination of the previous mentioned). The difference between the solving process and the chemical process is that the first one doesn’t break the bonds while the latter aims to cut the polymers into simpler structures. The idea behind this kind of technologies is to be able to separate the varied materials present on a multilayer pack. Some other technologies are applied to target a certain polymer or material and recovery it while the rest is being incinerated. During this part of the research companies like APK have been identified as a possible solution to tackle the lack of recyclability of multilayer packaging. This German company uses a chemical-physical solving process that enables the separation of the different polymer types in multi-layer plastics (e.g. multilayer packaging). The results are sorted granulates with a very high purity (like virgin materials) (APK (2018)). Currently they succeeded with bilayer foils without ink although they affirm that it could be tested with other kind of foils and their first commercial plant will start end of 2018. Another company, Saperatec GmbH, developed a low-energy mechanical recycling process for multilayer flexible packaging. This process includes a shredding step followed a micro emulsion with surfactant which will separate the layers. According

69 to this company, this delamination process works with formats with plastic, paper and aluminum (e.g. PE/Aluminum, PP/ Aluminum, PE/PET). In addition, a patented process Creasolv® is working as well on recycling waste plastics and their technology also targets a certain plastic using a solvent. The main steps of this process are: dissolution of the plastic, separation of contaminants, precipitation of the target plastic. This development is being supported by Unilever.

4.2.1.2.2 Deinking

Beside the nature of the polymer, most of the flexible packaging in the market have a layer of ink within their layers which difficulties the recyclability of the foil later. For that purpose, different processes are being developed to be able to remove the ink from the packaging by using different technologies. According to Gecol et al. (2001), “There is a substantial economic and environmental incentive to remove the ink from heavily printed plastic film so that it can be reused to produce clear films”. This is because the plastic that is recycled without ink removal can’t be used later to produce clear films which value is higher in the market. The residual ink usually increases the density of the polymer and affects other properties such as the stiffness. Like the other process steps, deinking treatments are done in different steps. For instance, a Spanish company, Cadel Deinking is using a patented technology that starts grinding the plastics, then applies a water-treatment, rinsed and afterwards the plastics are dried and melted and extruded. The final product are pellets (see Figure 26):

70 Figure 25 Deinking process. Extracted from Cadel Deinking

In addition, this company is looking as well into delamination since this could be combined with their deinking technology. In this direction, they affirm that they can separate multilayers while removing the ink layer between them (LDPE/ Ink/ PET).

4.2.1.2.3 Pyrolysis

During this process, the plastic waste is converted in three phases: gas, mix liquid hydrocarbon and a solid residue. This happens in absence of air (i.e. no hydrogen nor oxygen). Usually high molecular fractions are recovered and later refined. As mention before, some companies incorporate a pyrolysis step on their recycling process to extract the aluminum from the multilayer packaging. Companies like Enval, are providing this kind of technology. They offer a complete recycling of multilayer packaging such as pouches, tubes and other barrier laminates. Their process uses an anaerobic microwave-induced pyrolysis over the shredded flexible packaging which recovers 100% of the aluminum. The plastic fraction will be converted into fuel to run the process. According to Kaminsky (1993), the process of pyrolysis has a yield of maximum of 60% of monomers production from polyolefins (i.e. ethene and propene).

4.2.1.2.4 Hydrocracking

Hydrocracking is a process where plastic waste is exposed to a hydrogen atmosphere at pressures over 100 bars. This will breakdown the plastic into fragments of hydrocarbons. (Scheirs (1998)). The technology involves a series of reaction such

71 as hydrogenation-dehydrogenation and cracking and it is a common process nowadays in refineries.

4.2.1.2.5 Gasification

This process will partially oxidize the plastic waste by controlling the oxygen presence. Gasification aims to oxidize hydrocarbons in a controlled atmosphere. The product obtained is a gas mixture known as syngas, which is a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen which could substitute natural gas (Scheirs (1998))

4.2.1.2.6 Conclusions Remarks

The recycling of plastic in general, is an environmentally friendly process compared to other practices such as landfill or incineration (Deloitte (2015)). However, the recycling process should be efficient enough be competitive and bring more benefits than the other technologies. After scouting different recycling technologies for flexible packaging, it was noticeable that different issues were derived from this attempt of recycling. For instance, some process of recycling was producing considerable amounts of waste after the processing, others we’ll only recover partially some targeted materials. On the other hand, the companies were pointing the fact that one of the difficulties of their recycling process to obtain flexible packaging due to their low sorting rates. Therefore, this will be considered when proposing new packaging designs. In addition, some of the technologies that aim to recycle flexible packaging they were using pre-consumer waste such as industrials scrubs, meaning that if they will use post-consumer waste, their recycling rates will most likely be lower than the current ones. To assess the overall recycling performance a of a certain technology, the following key aspect should be considered (Extracted from Ec.europa.eu (2018)): - The portion of plastic that is rejected before the process - The possibilities for virgin material substitution - The consumption of energy of the entire process - Distances between collection, sorting and recycling - Comparison with alternative waste treatments (e.g. incineration).

For instance, the comparison of recycling and incineration could be done by considering the CO2 emission. For instance, the estimation of incineration emissions is 2500 Kg of CO2 per tonne while the recycling of PE could be translated in -1500 Kg of CO2 per recycled tonne of plastic (L.K. Brogaard (2013)). To have a proper comparison of the technologies, further research would be necessary, since these technologies are not described as part of the whole process. Nevertheless, the 72 fact that simpler structure design of the films could ease the recyclability and purity of the outcome is something applicable to all the technologies above mention. The most promising technology in this case would be the delaminating process by APK since this would ease to recycle multilayer flexible packaging.

4.3 Results on Specifications Study & Flexible Foil Structures

Most of the food products available at the market are affected by the same phenomenon, leading to deterioration and spoilage of the content. The key issues are normally moisture absorption, flavor loss, oxidation and material migrations. Due to the good overall performance of flexible multilayer films, those are being increasingly taking over other packaging solutions of the portfolio. To have a holistic view of all the packaging categories that include flexible foils within their specifications and can provide guidance for its improvement, a study on the different structures used within Nutricia Research ELN was carried out. For that purpose, an internal data base was used to gather together information from their worldwide specifications data base. After the interviews to different members of R&I Packaging in Nutricia Research, an overview of all the different specifications available within the ELN portfolio was a positive tool to build a strategy towards a better recyclability since this data collection would show the different strategies that each supply point has towards a same packaging category. These analyses could bring light as well to possibilities of harmonization different interviewers shown interesting on having such an overview available for further analysis of the portfolio. This will help later to understand the current packaging solutions currently in use, their trade-off towards recyclability as a high barrier flexible foils and more over the possibilities of harmonization within the different specification of a certain packaging category. In this direction, the first analysis by components was done regardless the material, with the purpose not only of understating the overall recyclability issues of each category but frame where are flexible packaging foils being used. In this direction, the categories that where considered in a later stage of this research were those with a higher grammage of flexible foils. The other categories (See Chapter 3.2) were not analyzed in depth but proposed as a future development for its improvement. Therefore, those categories that have a low grammage of flexible packaging foils such as banderoles or lids on yogurt cups are not part the study on their specifications. As an overall remark, these packaging categories present printed foils except for the bag-in-box category which printing and artwork is carried by the box. Although the presence of ink is something taken for granted, it should be considered when develop a packaging and evaluate from a recyclability perspective whether a stand-

73 alone pouch will have a better recyclability than a bag in box. This topic will be further explained in Chapter 4.3.

Overall results of Specifications Analysis

The analysis of the different specifications was done during the first stage of this research using the data base Artemis and contacting different factories in charge of the production of ELN’s flexible packaging categories to have a more depth knowledge about how the packaging was being produce and how the materials will arrive into the factory. The different specifications from each supplier and material were analyzed by a complex excel sheet with pivot tables to facilitate the processing of the data (See Appendix F). Due to the confidentiality agreements between the company and the suppliers the data of those sheets had to be modify. However, this doesn’t affect the outcome of this research since the purpose was to identify the different flexible packaging structures currently in use in each factory and by each category. During this study the different variables considered were: - Selling country - Supply Point - Description of the foil (e.g. Reel) - Supplier - Division - Status of the Specification (e.g. Approved, in progress, Rejected, etc.) - Printing Technique - Risk Assessment Category - Food Material Contact - Packaging Type (e.g. Pouch, Sachet, etc. - Product (e.g. Fruit puree, Milk powder, Milk Cereal) - Shelf Life - Brand - Size - Structure - Total Thickness - OTR - WVTR - Tensile Strength - Specific Elongation at Break - Coefficient of Friction - Heat Seal Strength

74 This study brought light to the complexity of Danone’s production of categories with flexible packaging (see Figure 27):

5 Categories Multiple recipes per Over 100 type and Specs category

ELN Flex Packaging 3 types of 9 product Factories

600 Million Units > 40 lines Forecasted in 2018

Figure 26 Packaged Products with Flexible Films in ELN

Thanks to this study, it was possible to have a good overview of which flexible packaging is currently in use since ELN’s has been using different packaging solution over the last years. The approach to this data base was: 1. Separate those specifications that were not currently active. 2. Select the materials from ELN’s division. 3. Select the flexible foils from ELN’s division. 4. Extract the different packaging specifications from each supplier and category by supply point (i.e. the variables listed above). 5. Separate the specifications by category and region. 6. Contact the factories to ensure that the database was up to date. 7. Analyze each category and their flexible films. These results helped to have an accurate mapping of the distinct categories and flexible foils within ELN portfolio being able to discard those materials no longer in use (e.g. PVDC) and having a better understand of issues at the supply point when implementing metallized instead of aluminum foil, etc. The analysis brought light as well as how many different variations of foils are being used nowadays which could be considered from a harmonization of the packaging point of view, meaning

75 that the new flexible packaging design towards a better recyclability could be as well implemented to simplify the numerous specifications, which could bring benefit to the company.

Sachets

This single-serve packaging solution is a result of consumer needs and preferences who have been changing over time. These sachets are very convenient product ‘on the go’ and their presence in market has considerably increase over the last decade. At Danone, this packaging solution is intended for milk powder and milk cereals, and the main structures used are (See Table 17):

Table 14 Sachet, Milk Cereal

Category Component Material

Multilayer Material: Sachet Aluminium Sachets PE, Paper Product: Milk Cereals Box Recycled or Virgin Cardboard

This category of packaging is usually compound as well by multilayer structures from which at Danone the most common ones currently in use are:

PP/ Metallized PP/ PE Paper/ Aluminum/ PE

These foils act as high barrier materials as well, being again either a metallized or an aluminum layer the main barrier within their specifications. It is important to consider that due the surface/ volume ratio is higher than bigger packages (e.g. BIB format) their shelf life is expected to be lower. In other words, using the same 76 specifications it is possible to accomplish a shelf life of 12 months for a certain package but when reducing the format size, it won’t be possible to ensure 12 months of shelf life. As a first conclusion, sticks are using different multilayer foils, once which involves polyolefins with metallization and another complex multi material foil with aluminum. The barrier performance provides a shelf life for minimum 6 to 9 months.

Bag in Box Category

This specific packaging category is a pack solution that generally involves a bag or a pouch inside a folding . The outer box is meant to provide protection during transport as well as provide surface for all kind of information, artwork and for marketing purposes. During this study, the outer carboard box won’t be described in detail due to the scope of the research, but it is recyclable by design according to the existing streams of post-consumer paper and cardboard (See Chapter 3.8 Collection & Sorting & Recycling). Moreover, depending on the supply point, the precedence of this cardboard box can be either from recyclable materials or from virgin fibers. The other main component of this packaging category, and focus of this study, is the bag or pouch, which are commonly made of a multilayer material. The same materials used for this kind of packaging (used as a complete package) can be used as lidding on rigid packaging solutions.

The different component from so known as BIB solution proposed by Danone Nutricia Research has the following components (see Table 14 & 15):

77 Table 15 Bag in Box Milk

Category Component Material

Scoop PP

Bag Multilayer Material: BAG in BOX Aluminium / Metallized Product: PE, PET Milk Powder Box Recycled or Virgin Cardboard

Table 16 Bag in Box Milk Cereals

Category Component Material

Bag Multilayer Material: Aluminium / Metallized BAG in BOX PE, PET Product: Milk Cereals Box Recycled or Virgin Cardboard

In this kind of bags, usually the LLDPE or LDPE/LLDPE are the films that provide the sealant. Moreover, due to the high-speed packaging that this category goes through, stiffness the pouch is a must. The main specifications used currently to maintain the product safe and its quality are:

78

Metallized PET / PE PET / Aluminum / PE

Nowadays, their strategy goes either for metallized foils or aluminum foils, both layered with PET and PE polymers, meaning that the products are kept with high barrier foils and therefore this permeability/performance should be considered as a baseline. Within these main specifications, several thicknesses were available depending on the country (this is also due to the packing line requirements). Nutricia Research takes quality and food safety very serious and it is important to remark that end consumers are considered of high risk (e.g. infants) and therefore the materials follow strict regulations of food safety and quality. The barrier performance provides a shelf life between 18 and 24 months depending on the content.

Regarding the barrier properties, those are to be found in the literature (see Table 16):

Polymer Oxygen Permeability Water vapor permeability at 23C 50%RH cm3 at 23C 85%RH mm / (m2 day/atm)] [gmm/(m3day)]

PET 12/ Alu*9/ PE50 0 0 PET 12/ met**/ PE50 1-2 0.1-0.5

Table 17 Barrier properties multilayer films. Adapted from Lange and Wyser 2003 Aluminium ** Vacuum-deposited aluminium layer

Those specifications are to be consider as a baseline when proposing new materials. Components suchs as PVDC should not be consider for future packaging design due to recycling stream contamination (RECOUP (2017)). Moreover, PVDC contains chlorine beaing a major concern due to the end-of-life which usually involves incineration where dioxines are produced (Yasuhara et al. (2006))

79 Pouch

This category of packaging usually is compound of two distinct parts: a pouch and a spout or cap. In general, the industry has been increasingly adopting flexible pouches formats and within Danone, pouches are mainly used to pack fruit purees using different specifications (See Table 18): Table 18 Pouch, fruit puree

Category Component Material

Multilayer Material: Pouch Aluminium / Metallized / Alox / Siox Pouch PP, PE, PET Product: Fruit puree Cap PP

Box Recycled or Virgin Cardboard

This packaging solution is usually compound as well by multilayer structures, being a very challenging category due to heat treatment processes that they go through. For instance, different combinations of foils will be necessary to resist pasteurization or retort process at different temperatures and pressures. The term retort stands for the process of sterilization of the product after it is packed. The main common film structures at Danone are:

PET/ Aluminium/ PE PET/ Aluminium/ PP PET Siox*/ OPA/ PE * Silicon oxide PET Alox**/ OPA/ PE ** Aluminium oxide As explained before, the inner layer of these pouches might vary to heat treatment processes. Nevertheless, the outcome of this research is mainly understanding the complexity of the materials and their recyclability, not being necessary further

80 details on the composition. Moreover, the spouts or caps materials are to be necessarily adjusted for the same reasons of the foils (i.e. heat treatments). Regarding the barrier properties, those are to be found in the literature Tamarindo et al. (2016), see Table 19:

Polymer Oxygen Permeability Water vapor permeability at 23C 90%RH Cc/pkg x 24h x atm

PET / Aluminum/ PE 0,042 – 0,047 N/A PET coated*/ OPA/ PE 0,033 – 0,038 N/A

Table 19 OTR Values from Aluminum and Coated PET pouches. Adapted from Tamarindo et al. 2016. *Silicon oxide, aluminum oxide According to the literature, the performance of a non-aluminium or non-coated PET is 20 times worst with an OTR of 0,76-0,77. In addition, the flexible packaging above mention belong to two different generations of pouches, being the coated PET (i.e. PET Siox or Alox) the most innovative foils in the pouch portfolio:

Figure 27 Aluminum layered pouch Figure 28 SiOx - AlOx Layered pouch

In this direction, according to the 2015 Food Packaging Trends report done by Mintel, 54% of the consumers considered important to see the products through the packaging and 1/3 judge a product’s freshness by its appearance rather than the expiration date.

Stand-alone pouch

The last multi format category found to be using flexible foils within ELN’s portfolio was the stand-alone pouch. This category is characterized for a horizontal bottom, also known as bottom gussets. These pouches will be self-standing when fully or partially filled. These packages are together with Bag in Box, the favorite

81 by many companies as well as consumers due to their cost effectiveness and convenience and the capability of adjusting to different size formats. Standup pouches use their external layer of PET for reverse printing which improve their appealing for consumers. Moreover, this category of packaging can reduce costs for transportation, reduces the amount of material when compared with other rigid plastics or heavier materials (i.e. glass), and as other flexible packaging, before its use, they can be shipped flat in bulk, avoiding transporting empty packages:

Table 20 Stand-alone pouch, milk powders/ cereals

Category Component Material

Stand Alone Pouch Multilayer Material: Bag Product: Aluminium / Metallized Milk Powder / Cereal PE, PET

This kind of foils are like the ones found in the Bag-inbox format, with the particularity that these ones are shaped different to be able to place them standing at the shelves. The main different beside the shape, is the printing which is done thanks to another PET layer before the main high barrier. Within the portfolio, the main structures are: - PET/ Aluminum/ PE - PET/ Metallized PET/ PE As stated before, the current packaging solutions include a metallized version and an aluminum foil version being distributed to different countries depending necessary barrier properties according to the temperature and humidity. Regarding the barrier properties, those are to be found in the literature Tamarindo et al. (2016), see Table 16. Besides the main structures per categories, OTR and WVTR ranges, other parameters need to be considered when developing a packaging and therefore when new films will be proposed. - Tensile strength - Elongation at break - Heat sealing temperature - Heat sealing strength - Coefficient of friction 82 These parameters will be besides the design of the structure itself, which is more focus on the materials, the technical properties that a due films should be adjusted while developing a flexible film.

4.4 Recyclability Issues Identified

As result from the interviews, it was noticeable that an overview of the different recyclability issues from flexible packaging could help the packaging development and packaging design of this category. Thanks to various sources from specialized flexible packaging centers and the bibliography research, the main recyclability issues that flexible packaging encounters when going through a waste stream are summarized in this chapter. The intention is to delimit the different variables and ranges that are necessary to consider when developing and designing a new flexible packaging. Besides the large amount of foils and flexible packaging available at the market due to its convenience, it is noticeable that all them have a drawback e.g. opacity, cost, availability, or perceived as environmental bad-will. (Lange & Wiser (2003)). To have a proper design of the flexible packaging, it was necessary to understand how recycling centers sorted the different materials once arrived into their facilities as well as which materials are currently accepted. In other words, understanding the different steps and understanding why flexible packaging is not being sorted properly and how it is possible to improve this situation by understanding the technologies in place. Moreover, the recyclability of plastics its known to be variable depending on the countries due to all the different parameters that can affect along the collection, sorting and recycling process. In this direction, the recyclability rates might vary depending on the type of plastic resin, the mix of the different resins and the different technologies available from the recyclers side. (Deloitte Recycling Impact Assessment (2015)) During the following chapters, a series of advices and guidelines from various sources such as Cotrep and Plastic Recyclers Europe are described. These parameters will be followed later in this research when proposing new materials and directions for a better recyclability. Moreover, it is important to remark that these guidelines are in constant review due to the evolution of the market in terms of technologies and materials. The last update available used for this research was from December 2017. In addition, the Plastic Recyclers Europe have developed an online tool for a better packaging design: RecyClass™. This tool can be use either to design your packaging or to analyze your current packaging which could be beneficial for a company like Danone to follow European standards for recyclability.

83 4.4.1.1 Multi-material vs mono-material

As mention previously during this research, the main structure of the packaging will affect its recyclability once it reaches a recycling facility. First, not all materials existing nowadays can be sorted and recycled being the main accepted resins: PET, PE and PP for rigid packaging and PE for flexible packaging. Therefore, moving to a simpler structure, PE if possible, seems the right way to be accepted by the current flexible pack streams. Nevertheless, it would be possible as well to use a compatible PE stream polymer such as the PE-derived resin from Dupont, Surlyn®:

Table 21 Properties of Surlyn. Adapted from Dupont material specifications.

Property Value Test Specific Gravity 0.94 – 0.97 ASTM D 792 Flex Modulus (kpsi**) 4.3 – 75 ASTM D 790 Procedure B Tensile Strenght (kpsi) 2.3-5.4 ASTM D 638 Elongation at Break (%) 285 – 770 ASTM D 638 Melting Point (C’) 70 -100 DSC* *Differential scanning calorimetry **kilo per square inch Although this kind of polymer could be an improved for Danone portfolio in terms of recyclability, its barrier properties would need to match the product requirements, meaning that further research would be necessary to conclude that this polymer could replace the current film structure.

4.4.1.2 Bio-based vs biodegradable

Nowadays, Danone Group is starting to incorporate bio-based polymers within their packaging. For instance, a collaboration of Danone Waters and Nestle, will develop a 100% bio based PET bottle. This approach to packaging development will reduce the amount of plastics produce from fossil-based promoting a more circular economy. When considering bio-based and biodegradable polymers in the design, it is important to consider that biodegradable packaging is not currently accepted by mechanical recycling. Therefore, if the aim of this research and goal of the company is to create a more circular economy, this kind of polymers should not be considered when designing a flexible packaging since besides its other benefits, they won’t become a new resource after its recycling. On the other hand, bio-based materials such as Bio-PE and Bio-PET could be a better option since this kind of polymers have the exactly same chemical structure and can be recycle by the current recycling streams. 84 The overall idea is to design a flexible packaging that can be recycled but if a bio- based polymer is available at the market, this kind of plastics could add benefits from a sourcing perspective as well as being recycled.

Figure 29 materials classification. European Bioplastics 2017

As a remark, the bioplastics above mention belong to bio-based and non- biodegradable materials (See Figure 30). Further research will be necessary to address the problematic behind biodegradable packaging and therefore propose those as a valid option in the current recycling streams. Nowadays there is a big misunderstanding of the meaning of biodegradable and compostable materials being most of them only degradable under certain conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity) but not under natural environmental conditions.

4.4.1.3 Multilayer vs Multi-material

The design of the packaging could be done by including barrier materials that are compatible with the main polymer of the structure. For instance, by including multiple layers from the same material with different orientations. This is the case of Borstar®-based Full PE Laminate, a combination of bimodal polyethylene

85 technology and machine direction oriented (MDO) processing technology. These films were developed recently as a cooperation between two Borealis and Borouge:

Figure 30 Full Polyethylene (PE) pouch. Borealis

On the other hand, multilayer structures with aluminum as a high barrier brings complexity to the recycling streams and therefore the same approach should be considered (i.e. moving to mono-material or less complex structures). To substitute this aluminum, a layer of EVOH could be used as a high barrier. Recyclers are accepting this kind of barriers, when it is within a certain range (e.g. 5% of EVOH), meaning that the main polymer stream won’t be polluted and therefore they will be accepted. Another crucial point to consider when designing a certain packaging is the combination of materials besides the laminates. For instance, in pouches, if two different components are considered (e.g. spouts and the pouch), the materials should match to avoid complexity during the sorting step. If the main polymer is PE, then the spout should match the same material or at least be a polyolefin to be accepted by recyclers. This is the case of lids as well, if they are considered to be recycled together with the cup, otherwise, the same approach of removing aluminum by adding another high barrier layer could be applied

4.4.1.4 Inks & Additives

One of the many variables that affect recyclability of flexible packaging and other packaging categories in general, is the presence of inks and additives which goes in detriment of generating a closed-loop when recycling thermoplastics (Hopewell et at (2009)).

86 When it comes to inks and additives there are some restrictions as well. For instance, to have a compatible (i.e. recyclable) film, its printing should be at least lower than 50% of its surface, otherwise it will be considered as a low compatible product and will end up most likely in energy recovery. On the other hand, the incorporation of additives must be limited and adjusted since it could affect the way the materials are optically recognize as well as its density. According to COTREP 2016, the flexible packaging shouldn’t use bleeding inks and the glues should be washable under standard conditions: 80-90C, pH = 12 to 14. Moreover, metallic pigments should be avoided since they could reflect the signals from optical recognition technologies and therefore be wrong sorted or discarded.

4.5 Sales Forecast Analysis

To prioritize between the various categories available at ELN’s portfolio an analysis of the sales forecast was carried out. The idea was to be able to provide a strategy toward recyclability by design since as we have seen in Chapter 4.3.1, there are numerous packing lines that would need to be adjusted while trying to keep the same capacity of production. The data was gathered from different CBU (Core Business Units) and analyzed providing a visual summary of which are the main flexible packaging categories sold in different regions around the globe. The raw data was obtained firstly obtained in packaged unit (i.e. multi packs formats) then converted into “units” meaning that each multi pack format mas converted into units (i.e. 4x Pack + 4 units). The main variables considered were: - CBU (e.g. France) - Pack Format (e.g. Pouch) - Supply Point (FR Villefranche) - Product Brand (e.g. Bledine) - Product (e.g. 250ML X2 Honey) - Division (e.g. ELN) More than 4500 various kinds of products from over 45 different countries were analyzed to build this strategy. The idea behind this analysis was to be able to provide insights as well of which volumes of the sales are being sold to region with higher temperatures and humidity conditions and therefore be aware of the foils requirements that each regional might need. After analyzing the full forecast of the portfolio (See Appendix C), those packaging formats with flexible formats were extracted. The result from this analysis had to be modified confidentiality reasons, being the main outcome shown in Figure 35:

87 Category 5 300,00 Category 3 Category 5 250,00 Category 4

200,00 Category 3

150,00 Category 2

100,00 Category 5 Category 2 Category 3 Category 5 50,00 Category 1 Category 1 Category 1 Category 4 0,00 Region A Region B Region C Region D Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5

Figure 31 Sales in MIllion Units per Region & Pack Category

The outcome of this analysis shown a distribution of the different flexible categories by region, being Region A and C the ones who accumulate most of the sales and Region C the one with more sales of Category 2. This analysis gave a good overview of which regions should be studied to better understand their recycling streams which would led later to higher recyclability rates after a good recyclability design of the flexible packaging. Moreover, the climate conditions of those regions could be considered as a base line for the packaging development, since those specifications could be later on rolled out into the other categories and regions. However, this should be studied more in depth since a tradeoff between harmonization of the flexible packaging portfolio and over-specifying different flexible categories could bring either savings or costs. The study on the various categories by using a forecast can provide the necessary knowledge to see which categories could provide higher benefit towards recyclability due to their volumes in the market and therefore, it could be possible to establish a prioritization to tackle those short term and roll out to the rest of the categories afterwards towards 100% recyclable flexible packaging. However, as explained before, a better understanding of the recycling streams should be done to obtain the best outcome out of this packaging development. For instance, if we develop a new flexible packaging with a more recyclable structure based on the technologies available, but those countries in which are develop don’t count with

88 the technologies at their recycling facilities or don’t have even recycling facilities, the effort could not bring any benefits after all. Nevertheless, some of the categories here analyzed won’t be able to achieve the 100% of recyclability only by changing the flexible films since they are incorporating a plastic scoop which nowadays is not considered to be sorted. However, this is out of the scope of this research. Thank to these results, the company would be able to build a strategy were those formats with bigger sales volumes are optimize towards a better recyclability having a more positive outcome than changing only the part of the portfolio which is being sold less and therefore their overall impact is lower as well.

RECYCLABILITY ROUTE Category 2 Category 3 Category 1 Category 4 Category 5

0% 100%

Current Recyclability by Design Medium High

Category 2 Category 3 Category 1 Category 4 Category 5

After implementing the changes on the categories above mention, the recyclability by design of flexible packaging will be close to 100%: 0% 100%

Future Recyclability by Design High

*The percentage was calculated according to the grammage of each category and all its components (e.g. Box, Spoon, Spout, etc.). Due to confidentiality, the exact percentage of each improvement cannot be shared. However, the study indicates that it’s recyclability might increase to almost a 100% after changing the foils.

89 If the company would implement new flexible foils that could be recycled within the polyolefin streams, the category of ELN flexible packaging could reach almost 100% recyclable by design. However, it would be necessary to have a better understanding of how the spoons and spouts of certain category as being sorted to ensure the 100% recyclability of these categories.

4.6 Possibilities of improvement and Recommendations

As mention earlier, there are different possibilities available in the market with biodegradable materials but according to the technologies available nowadays in most of the countries that have a proper collection, sorting and recycling systems, only bio-based plastics (i.e. those which chemical composition is the same as fossil- based polymer). This means that the production will improve the way the produce their plastics, meaning that instead of produce PE from fossil-fuel they will produce it from glucose. This substrate can be obtained from several types of biomass and transformed afterwards in bioethanol and later bioethylene (Chen & Patel (2012)). In addition, the massive use of biodegradable plastics could pollute the streams of bio-based and non-bio plastics which could go in detriment of increasing the recycling rates (e.g. PET has a similar density as PLA, CE Delft (2017)). During the next chapters two different approaches will be proposed followed by current available films for packaging development at the market.

Proposed structures

The following films proposed are to be further investigated and develop always considering the preservation of the product. As mention before, the idea behind this proposal is to avoid complexity on the structures ensuring that it will be sorted and recycled at end of life but that will perform equality to the current solutions proposed by Danone. Thanks to the results from Chapters 4.1- 4.5 it was identified that the most common structures are not being recycled (only used for energy recovery) and that due to the recycling technologies available in most of the recycling facilities, the design of a simpler packaging closer to a mono-polymer could ease the recyclability since it would be considered (within certain range) a value product that could be recyclable in a polyolefin stream being able to reprocess them into other products. The approach bottle to bottle doesn’t seem feasible at the moment, and only downcycling products are obtained from the recycling of polyolefins. The first proposal is to develop together with a supplier a film based on PE layers and EVOH as a high barrier if necessary. Having this kind of flexible films, it is

90 possible to assure that they will be recycle ready since there are already recycling streams for PE and if the barrier is not enough to protect the product, the development could include a layer of EVOH which will be accepted as well within a certain range. After considering the current packaging solution proposed by different suppliers the main players that are offering foils aligned with the outcome of this research are: Dow and Mondi

Dow This supplier is offering a stand-up pouch that can include different functionalities such as easy opening and closing system and spouts. According to Dow, they manage to develop a more sustainable pouch alternative made of 100% Polyethylene (PE). This material could be implemented in food products and due to its structure would be fully recyclable. The company affirms that their foils are three times more resistant that the conventional PET/PE packaging available at the market and that the barrier properties can be improved by adding EVOH as well which will increase the puncture strength (see Figure 32):

Parameter Unit PE/PE PE/EVOH/PE PET/PE Puncture J/cm3 5,5 3,1 1,6 Strength Thickness μm 125 125 130

Figure 32 Puncture Strength Flexible Packaging. Dow.

The foils offered for dry products (e.g. milk powders) have the following OTR and WVTR performance (see Figure 33):

Stand-Up Pouch Dow 100% PE Pouch PE/PE PE/EVOH/PE PET/PE Steam g/m2/day 1.3 1.5 1.4 Barrier O2 Barrier Cm3O2/m2/day 512 3 133 Thickness Μm 125 125 130

Figure 33 Flexible stand-up pouch. OTR and WVTR comparison. DOW

91

As seen previously, the foils with only PE won’t provide sufficient barrier for milk powders since their barrier against O2 is too poor, but the films which include a layer of EVOH could be proposed for further development in categories such as the Bag-in-Box for milks and cereals and, if available with printable layers, it could be implemented in the rest of the categories above described (i.e. sachets and stand- alone pouch). Mondi

Mondi has developed a fully recyclable PE pouch as well as another version that includes a gas barrier. According to the company, these films could incorporate as well as an opening-closing system, spouts and even a transparent window which could be an excellent feature in line with the consumer trends described earlier in this study. The application of this films for Bag-in-Box should be further developed since the version that they are promoting is an SUP (i.e. stand-up pouch). This means that it could be applied for ELN’s sachets and stand-alone pouch due to its printability and spouts.

Parameter Unit PE/PE PE/PE + barrier

μm Film thickness 95 100

Tensile Strength >N/mm2 150 150

Films Elongation >% 50 50

Tensile Modulus N/mm2 900 900

Seal Strength >N/15mm 30 30 < cm3/ (m2 OTR 900-1200 0,5 day*bar)

WVTR < g/ (m2 *day) 2,7 2,7

Figure 34 Film Specifications PE/PE and PE/PE + gas barrier. Mondi

92 The foils developed by Mondi seem to have a similar performance that the ones from Dow, and as explained before, the PE with a gas barrier would be the best proposal to begin a packaging development.

Besides the mono-material structure of PE with a possible incorporation of EVOH as gas barrier, a combination of polyolefins could be feasible a well. According to Kaiser et al. (2017) “If a multilayered packaging has a high polyolefin content, it is possible that its density is low enough for the multilayer to enter the polyolefin recycling flow.” Therefore, it the barrier properties or the machinability properties are not being reached by only PE and EVOH, it could be feasible to develop a certain foil by adding some PP (their densities vary from 0,91-0,94 g/cm3 of LDPE to 0,9 g/cm3 PP). Nevertheless, the massive use of EVOH as a high barrier could led to the pollution of the main polymer. Nowadays, according to COTREP (2015) (Comite Technique pour la Recyclage des Emballages Plastiques), “the equipment and techniques currently available and used in Europe and given the estimated proportion of EVOH in HDPE/PP streams (less than 1%), EVOH does not disrupt recycling of PP packaging”. This situation could change in the future if the quantities of EVOH increase and the ratio PP or PE EVOH varies.

93 5 Conclusions and Further Research

When key issues of recyclability of flexible packaging were analyzed it was observed that as a widespread practice, a laminated multilayer material for milk powder with a low permeability for water vapor, O2 and light were always within the structure. This barrier has been usually provided with Aluminum foil, which built into a flexible material can provide the performance of a close to an absolute barrier. After analyzing the post-consumer waste stream, it was noticeable that its necessary to simplify the amount of structures available in the market and focus on the collection and sorting technologies to increase recycling rates. Therefore, close to mono-material packaging was proposed as a first step for further development.

If we consider the analysis on the key characteristics that we need to consider on an early stage in packaging development, it is important to remark that the varied sizes of the sachets will have a variation in shelf life if the same foils are applied to all of them due to a volume – area of contact ratio. Therefore, although the harmonization of the portfolio would be an advantage, different shelf life tests will be required to ensure that the quality of the product and safeness are intact after implemented a new foil. Moreover, “external factors such as variations in the physical distribution environment, the retail business setting, the demographic, social, and ethnic conditions, the regulatory environment, and, importantly, the costs of the systems affect the required shelf life and the required packaging performance associated with it” (Sonneveld (2000)).

Thanks to the analysis and overview of the different flexible films specifications currently in used by Early Life Nutrition Division, it was noticeable that due to the complexity of the portfolio and the different matrix that those flexible films are being used for (i.e. fruit puree, milk cereals, milk powders), and specific research on each category should be implemented. As a strategy, the company could tackle together both Bag-in-Box formats (cereal and milk powder), the printable formats such as sachets and stand-alone pouch as another branch and later the pouches, which might be more complex. The pouches usually receive a pasteurization treatment or a retort treatment and therefore it would be necessary to adjust the materials and the spout in this category due to the elevated temperature to avoid any kind of material migration and optimize the performance of the foil.

94 Furthermore, the new materials need to be adjusted according to the multiple packaging lines used within Early Life Nutrition factories, being necessary working together with the suppliers to develop the right material with the right machinability requirements to have at least the same outcome and capacity as the current packaging solutions. In this direction, and due to the need of going deeper into company details, a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) should be established between the selected supplier and the company to begin with the new packaging development. If suppliers can adjust their foils to the current packing lines, the timing required for the transition from their current films to the recyclable ready films should be sufficient to finalize its implementation before Danone’s commitment in 2025 of 100% recyclable by design. To be more time efficient, accelerated shelf life tests could be implemented to the new foils since within the portfolio some categories have up to 24 months of shelf life.

As a conclusion, it was identified that currently flexible packaging is having real difficulties to be collected and furthermore sorted. Therefore, this research has been a challenge in which many factors must be able to pin point the issue and propose a solution for a better recyclability of flexible packaging. In this direction, it seems that the fully recyclability won’t be possible now with the current technologies and waste streams available unless the packaging is made of a mono-material (e.g. PE) with lower than 5% of a high barrier. The reason behind this is to avoid polluting the streams of the pure plastic and therefore reduce their value in the market.

As a way of promoting circular economy, it was identified that according to a report made by Ceflex in 2016, usually flexible packaging that has a mix of polyolefins is being recycled and used for durable goods. This means, that if a packaging is designed by using a mix of polyolefins (e.g. PE, PP), in most of the cases will end up being downcycled products (i.e. not being recovered and use for the same purpose it was designed for). Nevertheless, it is important to remark that this is a field of work in constant evolution and possibly during the next years innovative technologies and barriers will make easier the recyclability of plastic packaging. On the other hand, and as pointed during this research, there is a lot of work to do with the collection of the plastic waste streams, which could boost the innovation of recyclable packaging and create new markets due to its value and availability. In this direction, Tönsmeier (2016) states that in most of the sorting processes nowadays, the flexible packaging is removed from other packaging fractions to meet the quality standards of the other streams which shows again the need of working together with all the key actors of the value chain.

Recyclers will be always looking after the quality of the outcome product since they must find a market for it afterwards. Moreover, they would need to have a sufficient volume to make economically viable the recycling of flexible packaging which makes it a very difficult challenge due to the elevated level of food contamination of most of the flexible packaging. According to Morris (2016), around 10-20% of

95 food remains in the flexible packaging which decreases their value as a recyclates. It seems then, that beside the design of the flexible packaging, a new stream to collect, sort and recycle this category should be developed to achieve a real effective recyclability.

A series of incremental improvements could be the key to achieve fully recyclable flexible packaging during the next years, adapting to the new technologies and regulations and improving the portfolio towards a more sustainable future.

96 List of Figures

Figure 1 Circular Economy. CEFLEX 2018 ...... 16 Figure 2 Steps Considered from Waste Value Chain ...... 17 Figure 3 Danone's Value Chain. ELN Pack Nature 2015...... 20 Figure 4 Danone Global Goals & Commitments ...... 21 Figure 5 Global Flow of Plastic Packaging Materials 2013. Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation ...... 22 Figure 6 Ambitions of the New Plastic Economy. Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation 23 Figure 7 From most to least favored option. Danone Packaging Policy 2016 ...... 24 Figure 8 New Bledina Transparent Pouches ...... 25 Figure 9 Innovation Reactor, Jarrehult 2011 ...... 27 Figure 10 Author’s own figure, data collection approach ...... 29 Figure 11 Author's Methodology Scheme Overview ...... 30 Figure 12 Adapted from Plastics Europe, 2016 ...... 40 Figure 13 Schmid et al., 2012 ...... 41 Figure 14 Permeant Flow through a polymer membrane. Extracted from McKeen 2017 ...... 42 Figure 16 Ethylene and Propylene structure. Extracted from Alexandridis et al. 1995 ...... 49 Figure 17 Polyethylene types. Adapted from Ebnesajjad 2013 ...... 50 Figure 18 PVDC Structure homo-polymer. Eurasian Chemical, 2018 ...... 52 Figure 19 Development of all packaging waste generated, recovered and recycled, EU, 2006-2015 ...... 54 Figure 20 Resin Identification Codes for plastics. * V Stands for PVC...... 55 Figure 21 Magnetic Separation. JM Industrial Magents, 2018 ...... 58 Figure 22 Eddy Current separator. Magna Power, 2018 ...... 58 Figure 23 NIR Sensor attached to a conveyor belt ...... 59 Figure 24 Scheme of a sorting plant in Germany. Extracted from Kaiser et at. 2017 ...... 60 Figure 25 Barrier comparison of different laminates, Amcor 2010 ...... 68 Figure 26 Deinking process. Extracted from Cadel Deinking ...... 71 Figure 27 Packaged Products with Flexible Films in ELN ...... 75 Figure 28 Aluminum layered pouch ...... 81 Figure 29 SiOx - AlOx Layered pouch ...... 81 Figure 30 Bioplastic materials classification. European Bioplastics 2017 ...... 85 Figure 31 Full Polyethylene (PE) pouch. Borealis ...... 86 Figure 32 Sales in MIllion Units per Region & Pack Category ...... 88 97 Figure 33 Puncture Strength Flexible Packaging. Dow...... 91 Figure 34 Flexible stand-up pouch. OTR and WVTR comparison. DOW ...... 91 Figure 35 Film Specifications PE/PE and PE/PE + gas barrier. Mondi ...... 92 Figure 36 Common Polymers used for Flexible Packaging Applications. Ebnesajjad 2013 ...... 108 Figure 37 Adapted from Lehoczki, International polymer science and technology, 2000 ...... 109 Figure 38 Raw Data from Specifications Analysis ...... 111

98 List of Tables

Table 1 Interviews in house ...... 33 Table 2 Interviews with External Partners ...... 34 Table 3 ELN Factories ...... 36 Table 4 ELN & Danone Foods Portfolio ...... 36 Table 5 Different Flexible Plastics Identified in ELN ...... 37 Table 6 Distinct brands within Early Life Nutrition ...... 38 Table 7 Flexible Packaging Convenience Features ...... 44 Table 8 Types of Flexible Plastic Packaging (adapted from R. Hd Beswick and D. J. Dunn, 2002) ...... 45 Table 9 Permeability of polymers commonly used in packaging. Adapted from Massey, 2002 ...... 48 Table 10 Barrier properties of common flexible packaging films. Adapted from Lange and Wyser 2003 ...... 48 Table 11 Plastic Densities. Adapted from Scheirs, 1998...... 57 Table 12 Interview Outcomes 1 ...... 63 Table 13 Interview Outcomes 2 ...... 64 Table 17 Sachet, Milk Cereal ...... 76 Table 14 Bag in Box Milk ...... 78 Table 15 Bag in Box Milk Cereals ...... 78 Table 16 Barrier properties multilayer films. Adapted from Lange and Wyser 2003 ...... 79 Table 18 Pouch, fruit puree ...... 80 Table 19 OTR Values from Aluminum and Coated PET pouches. Adapted from Tamarindo et al. 2016...... 81 Table 20 Stand-alone pouch, milk powders/ cereals ...... 82 Table 21 Properties of Surlyn. Adapted from Dupont material specifications...... 84

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Closed Innovation Principles Open Innovation Principles The smart people in the field work for Not all the smart people work for us, so owe us must find and tap into the knowledge and expertise of bright individuals outside our company. To profit from R&D, we must discover External R&D can create significant value: it, develop it, and ship it ourselves. internal R&D is needed to claim some portion of that value. If we discover it ourselves, we will get We don’t have to originate the research to it to the market first profit from it. The company that gets an innovation to Building a better business model is better the market first will win. than getting to the market first. If we create the most and the best ideas If we make the best use of internal and in the industry, we will win. external ideas, we will win. We should control our intellectual We should profit from others’ use of our IP, property (IP) so that our competitors and we should buy others’ IP whenever it don’t profit from our ideas advances our business model. Source: Chesbrough, H. (2003) Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology.

105

Appendix B

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. Previous to the interview questions, the interviewers had time to introduce themselves and share their research as well and have a brief introduction about the key objectives of this study. Name: Position Company Products/ Scope

• What are the packaging formats you are working on your projects? • Do you usually work with factories? Which products? Which Factories? • What are the main parameters to consider when developing a packaging? • Is recyclability of the packaging considered when developing a new packaging? • Are there any materials that I should not consider? Any foils that were stopped? • What are the key flexible packaging suppliers in Nutricia? Is the company open to establish new partners? • Are there any flexible film innovation projects on going? • How is the shelf-life tested in Nutricia? Does Product Teams work together with Pack Teams from an early stage? • Do you think that removing aluminum will negatively affect the product? • Are different films being used depending on the region? • Do you have any contacts that could be relevant for this research?

106 • Open Discussion

Appendix C

This graph represents the worldwide sales by country and category. The color of the bubble represents the country that is being sold in (not supply point), their position within the graph (y axis) represents the millions of sales and the size of the bubble represent their percentage within their range (e.g. 20% of Category 1 in Country 1). The Figure 35 shown in this research was extracted from this first analysis.

107 Appendix D

Figure 35 Common Polymers used for Flexible Packaging Applications. Ebnesajjad 2013

108 Table 5.3 Examples of Multilayer Flexible Film Combinations

FILM LAYER Thickness Applications

PET/ LDPE 120 Detergents, Chemicals, Cleaning agents, cosmetics, frozen foods

PET/ HDPE 120 Frozen food, hot poured products

PET/ Al/ LDPE 120 Fruit juices, hot poured products, conserved products

PET/ LDPE/ Al/ LDPE 120 Fresh drinks, detergents, paints

PET/ LDPE/ EVOH/ LDPE 120 Mayonnaise

PET/ LDPE 120 Edible oil, dairy products, UV Sensitive products

PET/ Al/ PA/ PP 120 Carved products, preserved foods, non-dry pet foods, sauces, flour, drinks

LDPE/ HDPE (Coextruded) Fresh milk

PP/ LDPE (Coextruded) Fresh milk

Figure 36 Adapted from Lehoczki, International polymer science and technology, 2000

109 Appendix E

Source : Deloitte 2015

110 Appendix F

Figure 37 Raw Data from Specifications Analysis

111 Appendix G

This is a capture from the software used to extract information of the different flexible packaging specifications.

112