Packaging and the Environment

Sustainable development strategy prescribes certain human activities towards protection, recovery and improvement of natural balance in the environment. The ISO 14000 series are related to the environmental management. In this work a specific application of these standards on the production and usage of all types of packaging materials is emphasised. It can be concluded that part of the litter problem is a people problem. Products don’t litter…people do! So, the habits should be changed, which is a matter of education, thus presenting a life-learning process. The production and application of polymeric materials increase constantly, and so does packaging waste. Lack of specific legislation/guidance may be a barrier to the development of closed loop bottle to bottle recycling of polymers. There are number of reasons why to treat packaging waste as secondary source. The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) have three main safety concerns associated with the use of recycled plastics in food-contact applications: i) transfer of adventitious contamination from the recyclate to the foodstuff, ii) incorporation of material not regulated for food contact, and iii) the presence of adjuvants that may not comply with regulations for food contact use in the recycled plastic. Several organisations have developed processes using mechanical and non-mechanical procedures to recycle high quality post consumer material, producing polymer suitable for use in mono-layer applications i.e. use in direct contact with food. Commercially significant European examples include: SupercycleTM PET (Schmalbach-Lubeca PET Containers) ; Wellman received non-object status from the US FDA in 1996 for EcoclearTM recycled PET, or use at up to 100% for food contact applications. EcoclearTM is using a proprietary process based upon automated sorting and chemical / thermal cleaning. Other processes recently achieving US FDA non-object include: OHL Apparatebau and Verfahrenstechnik GmbH (1999) ; EREMA (2000, 2001) ; Visy Plastics Pty Ltd. (2001) ; Buhler AG (2001). So, in this paper some possibilities, which are economically approved, of polymeric waste separation and treatment are presented. It is also suggested that national standards, especially in the non-EU countries, in the area of packaging and packaging waste should be implemented in the near future.