PCR doesn’t always look like you picture it: three myths that are stopping its use in packaging

When we talk about incorporating postconsumer recycled plastic in packaging, known as PCR, there are still a lot of questions regarding appearance, the amount to be used, and the final performance.

Many of these ideas come from the previous generations’ experience with recycled materials or assuming that all PCR resins behave the same way. However, behind a packaging with recycled content there is a selection, transformation, formulation, and validation process that allows for solutions to different needs to be developed.

That’s why, before dismissing PCR as a trend, it is worth reviewing what is really possible.

Myth 1- All packaging with PCR is opaque

It is common to associate recycled plastic with black, grey, or non-uniform appearance packaging. Although the recovered material color influences the result, using PCR does not mean that the packaging will necessarily be dark.

This tends to surprise people during visits to our facility. When looking through some PCR pellets, their tonality can seem brown. However, when this material goes through the formulation process and is transformed into a film, the final result is a lot clearer than expected.

This happens because the packaging’s appearance does not depend only on the pellet’s color. The recovered material’s quality and classification, the amount of recycled material, the packaging’s structure, the rest of the formulation’s components, pigmentation, and the visual requirements also affect the final product.

Within Grupo Plastilene’s Ciclolene® ‘s resin portfolio we have transparent and polycolor alternatives, developed to answer to different transformation and presentation needs. This means that any PCR resin can produce any visual result, and that the recycled content does not equate to opaque packaging.

The starting point must be the client’s concrete need. Does the packaging require transparency? Does it allow for a slight variation in tonality? Will it be printed on? What is its primary, secondary, and tertiary function? With these answers we can define what material will be used and how must it be formulated?

Because of that the amount of PCR present in a packaging is not always easily identified. A dark packaging does not necessarily have recycled content and a clear one is not necessarily only made with virgin resin.

Myth 2- To use recycled material you need to start with using 100% PCR

100% tends to become the amount that dominates conversations about recycled content. It is easy to understand why: it is a strong argument, communicates an evident change, and in some applications, offers important legislative and environmental benefits. But it is not the only way.

The adequate PCR percentage depends on the application, the structure, the expected performance, the productive process, legislative conditions, and each company’s sustainability goals. While some products are made with 100% PCR, others start incorporating a lesser amount and progressively increases after testing and certification.

At Grupo Plastilene we have worked on both scenarios. Altalene has bags made with 100% plastic bags or 100% national postconsumer recycled content, backed up by certifications and a validation by the ANLA. We have also developed in Guatemala secondary packaging references with 30% Ciclolene®, certified PCR resins.

These examples show that there is not one unique correct percentage for all the products. What matters is that the incorporation responds to a technical process, is measured, and traceable.

For a company that is just starting with these types of processes, an initial percentage helps them understand how the material behaved in their process line, evaluate the visual result, review their team’s response and validate the packaging’s performance. With this information, there are new stages and there is a gradual increase in recycled content when the conditions allow.

To begin with, a lower proportion does not make the achievement lose value. On the contrary, it can make sustainability into a viable transition, capable of maintaining and growing with time.

Myth 3- Using PCR has to decrease the packaging’s resistance

Another frequent concern is to think that using recycled materials will lead to the package breaking more easily, losing stability, or not achieving its function.

The origin of a recycled resin is not determined just by its final performance. The packaging’s resistance depends on the quality of the material, its characterization, formulation, the designed structure, the transformation process and the testing done to make sure it complies with the application’s requirements.

Incorporating PCR requires understanding what the packaging will withstand, how it will be transported, how much the content will weight, what factors it will be exposed to, and what conditions it will be in during its use.

With this information, the technical teams will adjust the formulation and review its related properties with mechanical resistance, perforation, seal, stability, and the behavior during the productive process.

Alatalene’s bags made with 100% PCR, for example, meet the same technical standards established for virgin material bags within the scope of its certification. This result is not automatic just by virtue of using a recycled resin; it is the consequence of the control over the material, formulation, tests, and the processes’ traceability.

That’s why it wouldn’t be accurate to say that the entire PCR packaging will have the same exact characteristics of any conventional packaging. Each application must be evaluated. What we can confirm is that using recycled content does not mean giving up quality or resistance.

When the development comes from data, tests, and clear requirements, it is possible to formulate packaging with PCR that meet the standards defined for their function.

Using PCR is a development process, not a unique formula

These three myths have one thing in common: they present PCR as a raw material with a single appearance, a unique possible percentage, and a predetermined performance.

Reality is much different.

At Grupo Plastilene we have an integrated recovery and transformation chain for postconsumer materials, a process through which Reciclene produces recycled Ciclolene® resins. After which, Plastilene, Altalene, and Technofilms (in Guatemala) uses these resins in extrusion and conversion processes, with the necessary technical knowledge to transform them into packaging solutions that respond to the needs of each application.

This work has allowed us to evaluate each project according to its application and help our clients build a realistic PCR use roadmap. Some roadmaps begin with partial percentages; others achieve 100%. Some require to preserve certain visual characteristics and others prioritize resistance, functionality, or meeting specific requirements.

Sustainability does not move forward when we apply the same answer to all packaging. It moves forward when we get to know the material, measure its performance and find the adequate equilibrium between circularity, functionality and productive viability.

Using PCR does not have to be a fall into the abyss. It can be a gradual process, with support, and with technical backup.