Consumer goods

E5ECO

ADVANCED PACKAGING ECODESIGN USING PCR MATERIALS

THE ENVIRONMENTAL RELEVANCE OF PLASTICS HAS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN RECENT YEARS. In May 2020, the European Commission launched a proposal to reduce the production and use of plastics, including a ban on single-use plastic products. The boost on plastics recycling has led to a number of initiatives in the industry, but they are slow and not yet widespread.

UROLA is a company specialised in designing solutions and manufacturing containers using blow moulding technologies. E5ECO was carried out in collaboration with the AIMPLAS Technology Centre and several suppliers of post-consumer recycled materials (PCR).

UROLA SOLUTIONS
OBJECTIVES
  • Marketing new packaging to meet the necessary mechanical performance requirements, while reducing the use of virgin raw materials by 25%.
  • Combine packaging eco-design strategies that facilitate weight reduction and the use of PCR material.
RESULTS
  • 20-30% recycled material was incorporated alongside virgin material without compromising functionality.
  • Net weight reduction of 12% over the original packaging design.
  • Savings of 12% of virgin raw material with the potential to reach 40%, thanks to lighter packaging and the incorporation of PCR material.
  • Increased production capacity.
  • 11% reduction in energy consumption.
  • Reduced unit cost by 10%.
  • Reduction of all environmental impact indicators by 11%.
  • Emission savings of 27.4 tonnes of CO2e per year.
  • At the distribution stage, eco-designed packaging would cut emissions by 4.21 tonnes of CO2e per 100 km of road transport.
CONCLUSIONS
  • The main difficulty faced by E5ECO relates to the lack of homogeneity in recycled material batches, not to mention the market’s reluctance to bear the costs of the process.
  • An important outcome of E5ECO is the launching of Urola Design, a new design method that has generated a new service which is now a reality on the market.
  • Reducing packaging weight offers a more competitive product and increases the market share, as margins associated with plastic packaging are low and much of the cost of the packaging is based on raw materials.

ENVIRONMENTAL

TECHNICAL

ECONOMIC

COMMERCIAL

ON THE MARKET

COLLABORATORS