Global Tube Laminates is continuing to work on improving sustainability: using “Critical Guidance Recognition”, the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) in North America has now officially confirmed the recyclable credentials of tubes made with blueloop™ tube HD tube laminate
Back in issue 04/2021 we reported that Global Tube Lami-nates was setting new standards in sustainability by develop-ing blueloop tube HD; the laminate solution can currently be found in a number of dental care and cosmetic products.
The first step back then was to have its recyclability tested in Europe and certified by RecyClass, a leading provider in the area of recycling management. Now comes the second step – confirmation of its recyclability in the HDPE bottles and tubes stream for the North American market.
“This step is important so that we can en-sure that the products consistently end up
in the correct streams and are recycled. This is the case for Europe and now also for North America,” explains Dr. Detlev Schulz (Senior Manager Sustainability, Global Tube Laminates).
We submitted a series of tubes made from blue-loop tube HD 220 laminate to APR for the test-ing procedure. These tubes had HDPE shoulders and caps, as they are being used on the market, and had a diameter of 40 mm.
A process consisting of several steps was required to gain the coveted certification: from sorting test through re-granulation to the testing of the extruded sample.
“The process is demanding, but it does mean that we can be sure that the laminate is recyclable. We achieved a 100 % match in the sorting and the final test, and this confirms that our laminate has successfully met its development goals. We would like to express our gratitude to Zalesi, who manu-factured the tubes from our laminate and thus laid an important foundation for successful certification,” says Dr. Schultz.
The compatibility letter issued by RecyClass for blueloop tube HD and the critical guidance recognition from APR for blueloop tube HD 220 mean that blueloop tube HD laminate is now firmly recognised as suitable for the manufacture of recyclable tubes, both in Europe and North America.