Sustainability in Printing & Packaging - What’s the problem?
There are many stories in the media that the current recycling infrastructure is inadequate. It burdens the consumer as well as relies on them to do the right thing to avoid contamination. The current infrastructure requires a high degree of sorting leaving much that goes to landfills or incineration. Plastics recycling is actually “down-cycling” to lower specification applications. Paper board is the most recycled of all the material classes in US according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), yet this only captures 68% leaving 32% going to landfills or incineration. Some brands are turning away from plastics to paper and all LCA’s indicate this is worse for the environment. Much is being said about banning plastics, replacing plastics with alternative materials, compostability, biodegradable plastics, and boosting current recycling. This work is classified as upstream material alternatives. This requires the ability to recover pure streams of materials and the capability to do this is poor despite decades of investment in education and technology to sort waste. We have proven that recycling based upon sorting waste is destined to fail. A material-by-material approach in solving the sustainability crisis is proving to be problematic because it tends to focus on incremental improvements at best.

While all of this is well intended, we must step back and ask, “What problem should we be solving?” The problem we should be solving is recycling ALL waste, not just plastics. At some point all products and packages reach an “end of life” and that is where there should be focus on downstream technology to ideally take all that remains beyond current recycling and process this with no further sorting to useable and valued products. The goal should be creating true circularity of all materials to end landfills and incineration.

Urban centers are reaching landfill capacity and will face transporting waste to a farther landfill location or incineration. Neither is a good solution. Landfills are reported by the EPA as the third highest contributor of methane gas warming the planet. Once land is polluted, it is not returned to residential housing, farming or industrial use and requires monitoring even after reaching capacity and closure. Lastly, there is the potential for ground water contamination despite newer landfills having liners. Residents living in the nearby surrounding area to landfills are unfortunate as they are subjected to odor and biological hazards.

Besides health and environmental issues, landfills and incinerators also pose an environmental justice issue. People in the lower economic bracket are the ones living in close proximity and exposed to the risks. We should can do better with our Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and end these archaic end of life practices.

But what if we could recycle everything without relying on sorting? What if we could employ robust recycling processes that can accept everything in waste and convert it into a primary building block for new products, plastics and packaging? If sorting waste is the problem, robust recycling is the solution. The key to a successful recycling ecosystem is robustness. Many forms of recycling can thrive so long as robust recycling processes are available to process what can’t be sorted or recycled and ends up to be landfilled or incinerated.

Gasification is a technology whose origin began over 400 years ago. Gasification produces Syngas (CO +H2) and was later commercialized for lighting streets before electrification. Syngas, is a clean chemical feedstock. The advancement of gasification technology created the subsequent production of many products such as fuels, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, other chemical feedstocks such as methanol, useful for production of plastics. Today, syngas is primarily produced from coal, natural gas and petroleum. But what if the feedstock was MSW in place of fossil fuels?

Through trials on the packaging industry’s most difficult-to-recycle materials, Professor Bruce Welt of the University of Florida’s Packaging Engineering program, is showing that Regenerative Robust Recycling can accept everything found in MSW, including spent, cross-linked photopolymer used in flexographic printing plates, multilayer, packaging with fitments, halogenated materials and more.

Regenerative Robust Gasification (RRG) is the most advanced gasification technology that can accept everything in MSW without exception. Contamination is not an issue for RRG, whether food, chemicals, mixed materials, etc. This process is not to be confused with incineration, which fully extracts the chemical energy of waste while emitting copious amounts of carbon dioxide and other emissions that must be mitigated. In contrast, RRG produces valuable syngas that is as versatile as fossil fuels for production of new products, plastics and packaging. As a result, RRG does not require smokestacks, produces very low emissions and is generally recognized as safe for the environment.

The conversion of waste (all waste) into Syngas and then into Eco-Methanol™ is the pathway to create new “virgin” products, plastics and packaging. These become waste and the end-of-life processing back through RRG makes this circular.

After several industry gatherings with brands, printers and packaging suppliers, a motivated group of “founders” came forward to fund the creation of the Consortium for Waste Circularity (CWC). CWC is a non-profit (now 501C3 status) whose purpose is to advance the transformation of landfills by using the carbon and hydrogen-rich content to create valued end products. CWC has the interest of brands, print, and packaging suppliers as members and sponsors to align on a common long-term comprehensive solution for waste that ends landfills and incineration. This focuses on a solution for existing materials that don’t have recycling streams today or are contaminated such as; flexo plates, styrofoam containers, fresh meat packaging materials, blood bags to name a few.

The print and packaging industry needs to look to the airline industry for inspiration on a sustainability path forward. The airline industry has aligned in a non-competitive approach to a common sustainability goal and pledging to become carbon neutral by 2050. They are also aligned to a common plan to create fuel from waste. Their first commercial facility is already up and running outside of Reno, Nevada using gasification technology to produce Syngas that is then converted to “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF). This demonstrates the technological viability of robust regenerative waste processing. The airline industry has other sites in construction in Europe, Latin America and Canada to get ready to meet their 2050 goal.

The CWC vision is to transform landfills by co-locating Regenerative Robust Gasifiers (RRG) and changing the forever burial ground approach into waste processing facilities. The logistics are already in place transporting waste, plus that which is not recycled from curbside to landfills, adding no additional transport and avoiding dumping waste into the ground.

RRG converts all organic waste; food, yard waste, rubber tires, medical waste, paper, corrugate, plastic film packages, with fitments, foils, PVC, flexo plates, ink, sleeves, etc. without further sorting into Syngas. Converting Syngas into Eco-methanol™ creates a valuable base chemical to achieve circularity for the packaging industry. The revenue streams include: tipping fees, metals and vitrified glass and Eco-methanol™. Eco-Methanol represents a fungible, globally demanded chemical feedstock that will carry post-consumer recycled content value back into the circular economy. Preliminary financial analysis indicates a net positive present value on investment, requiring no subsidies for economic viability. The emerging market for Eco-Methanol represents the proper approach for extended producer responsibility (EPR), where the market supports robust recycling by sourcing Eco-Methanol and/or subsequent products produced from Eco-Methanol.

RRG technology has been demonstrated at both the pilot and commercial scale accepting MSW and converting this into Syngas. A landfill has already agreed to host the first facility with waste to syngas to Eco-Methanol production. The packaging industry should look to the airline industry as an example of solving the sustainability problem by aligning toward a comprehensive long-term solution. Keeping waste out of burial in the ground or being burned is how to achieve sustainability and circularity. Eventually the carbon and hydrogen rich landfills can be deconstructed by the RRG process to reclaim and restore the land. RRG is not a replacement for the current recycling technologies instead is compatible with all of them. Whatever remains for whatever reason and is destined for landfills and incineration can be processed with RRG with no exception. It is the “keystone” technology that completes the recycling eco-system and allows all others to work more efficiently. This is the path forward to end landfills as we know them today.

Early in 2022 Professor Welt, University of Florida Packaging Engineering Professor began a testing program endorsed by the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) and CWC allowing brands, printers and packaging suppliers to test their hard-to-recycle manufacturing waste and/or post-consumer waste. The program is a low-cost way to validate the capability of RRG using a laboratory size unit.

Packaging industry stakeholders participated in the test trial of their post consumer use print and packaging waste. Those attending the trials were able to see first hand their waste successfully converted to high quality syngas using robust gasification technology.

MacDermid was one such company testing their manufacturing waste and their customers’ flexo plate waste. According to Ryan Vest, Director of Innovation, “MacDermid is aggressively pursuing multiple routes to repurposing printing materials, but what we found the most appealing upfront about Regenerative Robust Gasification was the potential to address multiple elements of the printing supply chain. This droves our thought process towards the materials we provided for testing - we wanted to include more than just plates.”

“From the testing, it became abundantly clear that the technology works, and can work for the larger supply stream of waste,” said Vest. “We were able to combine used plates and used non-woven material - a common combination for our customers who have invested in thermal plate processing technology - to produce high quality Syngas very easily.”

“MacDermid became an early sponsor of the CWC”, said Vest, “and looks forward to being able to provide continued support for this technology as it evolves and expands into a true solution for the printing industry.”

Brands, printers and packaging suppliers should take action and join the Consortium For Waste Circularity. This is a journey that can’t be taken alone. It is a long-term transformative approach to deal with all waste at “end of life” that isn’t recycled by current infrastructure. Joining CWC creates a strong voice for solving the recycling problem and should be added to your sustainability strategy, not as a replacement for your current short-term plans. Testing continues to be available for anyone interested in trials with their manufacturing and/or post-consumer waste. You can find more information on the CWC website.

drupa will create a perfect opportunity to discuss sustainability and have an entire industry to align on a common approach. Today we have separated paths across countries/continents and industry that dilute the efforts versus if we all work together.

Mike Ferrari is Founder of Ferrari Innovation Solutions, a brand packaging consultancy to help leaders bring delight to consumers. Mike is also the President of the Consortium For Waste Circularity, a non-profit 501C3 to align the industry on a future without waste by supporting the transformation of landfills to a circular economy. Previously Mike completed a 32-year career with The Procter & Gamble Co. delivering initiatives for some of the world’s leading billion-dollar brands.

You can reach Mike under LinkedIn or under www.mike-ferrari.com

Interview with Malte Seifert, Director Metals & Autonomous Technologies, about XPONENTIAL Europe 2025

From February 18 to 20, 2025, Messe Düsseldorf will host XPONENTIAL Europe for the first time. As a global meeting point for uncrewed systems, mobility and robotics, it stands at the forefront of autonomous technologies. We spoke with Malte Seifert, Director Metals & Autonomous Technologies, about the background, challenges and opportunities of this event.