Plastic components face new legislation issues

Productivity and profitability have been the foundations of business growth for centuries. Today, sustainability is just as important, if not more so.

As the world looks to rebuild and grow after the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are taking action to reduce their environmental impact. This is especially true of manufacturers.

Business owners and board rooms now see that cutting their company’s carbon footprint isn’t just the right thing to do, it also makes good commercial sense. Manufacturers who put sustainability at the heart of their business have seen real benefits, with 40% reporting higher profit margins and 30% greater competitiveness as a result.

Some of the steps that companies are taking to become more sustainable include:

• improving the energy and thermal efficiency of buildings
• buying power from renewable sources
• replacing older, more inefficient equipment
• sourcing raw materials more locally
• reducing their use of single-use plastics
• using recycled packaging material
• and switching to LED lighting.

Now more than ever, manufacturers are looking beyond their factory gates to measure the environmental impact of their end-to-end supply chain. Doing so accurately means engaging more closely with customers, distributors and suppliers at every stage of the product lifecycle, from design to disposal.

But how can they adopt sustainable manufacturing processes? Particularly when they are sourcing moulded plastic components and other pre-manufactured products? What can they change and present without compromising? They need solutions not only for the long term but also in the short term that reduce the use of natural resources.

Yet, the number of different companies and processes involved can make creating a sustainable supply chain difficult to achieve. Many have found collaboration to be the key to success. By working with like-minded partners and suppliers, manufacturers can better measure their own carbon footprint and that of the creation of their manufactured products, and act to reduce it.

Plastics legislation is being introduced

The pressure for manufacturers to become more sustainable isn’t just coming from customers and internal stakeholders. Greater environmental awareness is leading policymakers to introduce steps to help prevent further climate change.

Globally, new legislation is being introduced to transform how the world produces, uses and disposes of plastic. Of particular emphasis is protecting the world’s oceans by tackling the issue of marine waste.

UK & EU legislation

One example of this is the European Union Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUP). This aims to prevent and reduce the environmental impact of certain plastics, especially on marine life, and on human health.

One way the SUP Directive will affect manufacturers is its focus on plastic packaging. The EU Plastic Packaging Levy came into effect on 1 January 2021 and charges a levy of €800 per tonne of non-recyclable plastic packaging waste.

On the surface, this sounds very similar to the UK Plastic Packaging Tax which – once introduced in April 2022 – will charge €240 per tonne of plastic packaging which contains less than 30% recycled plastic content.

There are, however, two key differences between the UK and the EU’s approach:

1- The UK aims to increase the amount of recycled plastic content in packaging by focusing on how much recycled content packaging materials contain.

2- The EU aims to promote a more circular economy by focusing on the end-of-life disposal of plastic and whether materials can be recycled or not.

3- While the UK’s tax is collected from individual businesses or groups of companies, the EU Plastic Packaging Levy is collected via the national contributions from Member States. Each Member State is able to decide how these funds are recovered.

US legislation

In the US, there is gathering momentum for the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPPA). The comprehensive bill proposes a number of plastic reduction strategies, including:

• Phase out single-use plastics made from fossil fuel
• Hold the plastic industry accountable for its waste
• Invest in domestic recycling infrastructure
• Prohibit plastic waste from being exported to developing countries
• Temporarily pause construction on any new plastic manufacturing plants

Originally proposed in 2020 and building on state-wide laws across the country, the bill was recently re-introduced to Congress by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who also chairs the Environment and Public Works, and Congressman Alan Lowenthal, who sits on the subcommittee for Water Resources and Environment.

Currently, the bill hasn’t passed in either the Senate or House, so isn’t yet a law. However, commentators believe that the arrival of a new Congress and a more environmentally conscious administration make it likely that the bill will pass and become federal legislation.

Extended Producer Responsibility

Something else manufacturers are having to become familiar with is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

EPRs make businesses accountable for the environmental impact of their products at the end of their life. This includes paying for its collection, sorting and recycling after use, as well as helping to raise awareness.

Many countries already have EPRs in place for items such as:

• waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
• batteries
• end of life vehicles (ELVs).

Attention is now turning to establishing EPRs for plastics and packaging.

In the United States, for example, a group of legislators have joined forces in the hopes of seeing such EPR schemes introduced across nine US States. If the group is successful, it’s expected that other States will adopt similar measures.

One a global scale, more than 150 businesses and bodies from across the packaging value chain recently came together to publicly endorse the importance of and need for EPR schemes for packaging.

The joint statement was published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, one of a growing number of organisations looking to influence legislation and encourage change.

What is Essentra Components doing?

Companies can reduce their carbon footprint and comply with new rules by buying components with a lower carbon footprint. Like all businesses, Essentra Components is meeting the new packaging legislation however, the company’s vision of environmental sustainability, means it is going beyond minimum expectations. Essentra Components isn’t just discussing the concept of sustainability but is actually delivering it.

The amount of post-consumer recycled plastics has been increased across low-density polyethylene (LDPE) product lines. At the UK facility, nearly all LDPE plastic components now have at least 40% recycled plastic and sometimes even more [. Plus, the same level of quality, integrity and durability have been maintained.

Production began in April 2021 and has seen zero interruption to service, process or increase in cost to customers. That totals 57 million plastic parts that have been manufactured and delivered across Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Pacific.

To reach the 40% initial threshold, Essentra Components has invested hundreds of thousands of pounds into new machinery at its Kidlington, Oxfordshire plant allowing it to mix both virgin plastics resins with post-consumer resin, primarily made from recycled packaging from the bottled drinks industry. The initial aim was to reach a ratio of 20:80, but it has already been able to achieve a ratio of 40:60 and we want to get to 60:40 over the coming months.

Overall, the aim is that at least 20% of material used across the product portfolio comes from more sustainable sources by 2025.

Green machines

It’s not just the products that are becoming greener; the machines used to make them are on a similar journey. Essentra Components has started a multi-million-pound programme to upgrade our hydraulic injection moulding equipment.

The goal is to ensure the machinery is all-electric by the end of 2031. So far, have 180 machines have been found to be nearing the end of their working lives and, in the next 12 months, 32 more. All will be replaced with modern all-electric or hybrid electric models. The increased energy efficiency and productivity will enable three electric machines to do the work of four hydraulic models.

Essentra Components is also looking at how to make the supply chain more circular. For example, collecting and recycling products from customers at the end of their life.

These are just some of things the company is doing to not only lower its environmental impact, but also support its customers’ sustainability agendas. You can learn more about the sustainability programme here.