R-Cycle Receives the 2021 German Sustainability Award

The award is conferred by the German Institute for Service Quality (DISQ), the German news channel ntv, and DUP UNTERNEHMER (German Entrepreneurship Platform for Digitalization and Sustainability). The award is patroned by Brigitte Zypries, former Federal Minister (ret.).

R-Cycle is a cross-company initiative to develop an open and globally applicable tracing standard for sustainable plastic packaging. The R-Cycle consortium includes ARBURG, BRÜCKNER MASCHINENBAU, COMEXI, EREMA GROUP, GS1 GERMANY, Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung (IKV), KAMPF, KAUTEX MASCHINENBAU, MULTIVAC, PRODATA, REIFENHÄUSER GROUP, STEINERT

Plastic packaging has become an indispensable part of our everyday lives and there is often no alternative - such as in medical technology or in the packaging of perishable foodstuffs. However, the problems associated with the growing global demand for plastic packaging cannot be overlooked and are becoming increasingly acute. For example, even in the "recycling land" of Germany, only about 6% of plastics from domestic waste are recycled to make equivalent new products.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO (Sept. 27-29, Las Vegas Convention Center) will reunite the packaging and processing community. With over 1400 exhibitors, no other event in 2021 will bring together a more comprehensive gathering of suppliers offering new products, technologies and solutions. Attendee registration is now open.

One reason for the low recycling rate is the present difficulty to identify the different compositions of plastic packaging in the recycling process. Sorting is considerably improved when a digital product passport is affixed to plastic packaging to display this information. R-Cycle is such a digital product passport. It is based on an open standard and is machine-readable via special markings. R-Cycle automatically registers all recycling-related properties during packaging production and passes this information along the value chain. Waste sorting plants can then identify recyclable packaging and form recyclable fractions. This is the basis for obtaining pure and therefore high-quality recyclates as part of efforts to set up a functioning circular economy.

"We are delighted to receive this award," says Dr. Benedikt Brenken, Director of the R-Cycle Initiative. "Digitalization and sustainability are two megatrends that we have integrated beneficially in R-Cycle. The use of a digital product passport, as also required by the European Union, offers enormous potential to increase the recycling rate of plastic packaging."