Can you believe that a rose sleeve was a plastic bottle?

This is the story behind the PET sheet that today is a real example of circular economy in Colombia.

Rose packaging and circular economy

Closing the plastic loop is a universe that goes beyond the recycling of bags, packaging and post-consumer food and cleaning containers. GR Chía, Plastilene Group and Bouquet Collection demonstrated that it is possible to recover PET sheets used as packaging in the export of roses to Miami, to transform them back into PET sheets for new sleeves in Colombia. 

This initiative was born at the end of 2019 thanks to the environmental awareness of GR Chía, a company oriented to enhance the operation and functioning of flower companies that export their roses to various countries in the world, and Plastilene Group, to take advantage of the benefits of PET as a recyclable material and with the purpose of reducing waste in the places where the bouquets are made. Six months later, the pilot of the closing the loop project was launched, which to date is proving to be a success. In the post-harvest performance report, it was confirmed that the mechanical properties were adequate and that there was no difference in handling between the usual film and the new film used.

To date, sixteen tons of PET sleeves have been shipped from Miami to Colombia. Fifty percent of them have already been recycled and are gradually being reincorporated in the manufacture of new sleeves at Plastilene.

But why do we talk about circular economy? These sixteen tons were, at some point, more than 880,000 PET bottles that consumers disposed of correctly, waste pickers collected and delivered to Plastilene Group and its suppliers to be transformed into rose sleeve foil. With this project, the waste from the foil in the bouquets is converted into raw material to make new rose sleeves, demonstrating that circular economy is not only a nice speech, but also a reality.

What is the key to success in this project?

Undoubtedly, the commitment of all parties has been fundamental for the project to come to life and materialize.

This project has already passed the technical validation phase, production, costs and import logistics, and now continues with the operation of the model on an industrial scale. 

Bouquet Collection in Miami is currently participating in the project, where the material is first sorted and compacted, ensuring that it is in the best possible condition (clean, without other contaminating materials). The shipping company is in charge of transporting the containers to the port in Colombia and then to one of Plastilene Group’s plants, where the sleeves, are prepared and milled. Finally, Plastilene manufactures the new sleeves, and delivers them to GR Chia so that hundreds of roses can be exported.

What is Plastilene Group?

It is a carbon neutral Group of companies, current supplier of rigid sheets and plastic growing films for GR CHÍA and, as in a marriage, from the beginning of their business relationship there was a strong connection with their customer: there was an affinity between the human component and a tangible value proposition… they practically spoke the same language from the point of view of efficiency, innovation and development.

Plastilene Group produces BIOPET sheet for the rose sleeves, in addition to being recyclable, it is manufactured with 100% recycled raw material from PET containers such as soft drinks, detergents, cosmetics and other products marked with the triangle and # 1, from the management of waste pickers. GR Chía uses BIOPET sheets and thus contributes to circular economy in the country, since it reincorporates plastic waste into the economic cycle and reduces its carbon footprint by not using virgin raw materials.

Plastilene Group has developed a Sustainable Innovation Strategy that seeks to promote circular economy and establish a transparent dialogue with social and environmental sense with all its stakeholders.