In response to higher demand for recyclable packaging options, Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com) has launched “RecycleReady”, a technology that enables PE-based barrier packaging to be recycled in existing drop-off programmes across US grocery stores. The collaborative effort with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC, Charlottesville, Virginia / USA; www.sustainablepackaging.org) and other unnamed industry players incorporates Dow’s “Retain” polymer modifiers in stand-up pouches. Combined with other PE resins, the Retain compatibiliser enables the packaging to be recycled without compromising the pouch’s inherent barrier characteristics.

“This technology is a breakthrough in packaging design for recyclability. It possesses the properties of a multi-layer pouch, but behaves like a pure polyethylene bag in the recycling stream,” said SPC project manager Kelly Cramer. Using RecycleReady technology enables processors to produce recyclable pouches that still ensure barrier protection, stiffness, toughness and sealability, Dow said. Although the pouches include multiple layers, their main base polymer is PE.

Retain is a reactive, ultra-low viscosity compatibiliser, which helps “coat” the polar components in a pouch – the EVOH or polyamide layers – and thereby encapsulates them into micro-domains, which allows for ideal dispersion in the recycling stream. The amount of compatibiliser required varies according to the percentage of barrier polymer used as well as the targeted physical and optical properties of the new packaging structure, Dow said. The US group launched the first members of the Retain family in the autumn of 2014.