Red plastic packaging is being recycled into new red bottles – thanks to a pioneering collaboration between Werner & Mertz and ALPLA.
Since September 2023, rorax pipe unblocker bottles have been made with 50% red post-consumer recyclate (PCR). This marks a major step forward in sustainable packaging, as red plastic from household waste was previously considered unrecyclable for high-quality use. By adding a fine-sorting step, the partners successfully isolated red flakes for reuse – closing the loop on red coloured plastic.
Creating a market for coloured recyclate
Recycling plants typically sort only transparent, white, and mixed-colour plastics, with the latter often downcycled. Werner & Mertz, a long-time advocate of Design for Recycling, teamed up with ALPLA to change that. ALPLA’s mono-colour sorting technology enabled the production of red rHDPE flakes, which Werner & Mertz now uses in its signature red rorax bottles.
From downcycling to upcycling
This innovation prevents red plastic from being downgraded and instead keeps it in a high-quality loop. “Processing red recyclate for use in our rorax bottles is yet another milestone for our Recyclate Initiative. We have successfully used mechanical recycling to extract another colour – red – that can be kept in a high-quality closed loop. With our cooperation partners, we are advancing the technological exploitation of used plastic from the Yellow Bag,” said Alexander Schau, Head of Packaging Development at Werner & Mertz.
This pioneering achievement proves again the feasibility of high-quality recycling of material from the Yellow Bag.
“ALPLA supports recycling processes in that we sort by ‘mono colors’ in our recycling facilities and process the material into colored rHDPE. So we can offer our customers the option of producing bottles of the same color. Together with Werner & Mertz we have succeeded in putting a higher proportion of red recyclate into new bottles.“
Michael Heyde, Head of Technology at ALPLArecycling
“Processing red recyclate for use in our rorax bottles is yet another milestone for our Recyclate Initiative. We have successfully used mechanical recycling to extract another colour—red—that can be kept in a high-quality closed loop. With our cooperation partners, we are advancing the technological exploitation of used plastic from the Yellow Bag.”
Alexander Schau, Head of Packaging Development at Werner & Mertz.
More information at the Werner & Mertz Website:
https://werner-mertz.de/en/presscenter/red-recyclate-is-now-recyclable/
