Conventional black plastic packaging poses a challenge to the recycling value chain due to the amount of carbon black used in the past. As a rule, the lower the proportion of carbon black is, the more successful NIR sorting will be. “The higher the proportion of carbon black is, the more relevant it becomes how modern the technology in the sorting plant used is,” a spokesperson for recycling group Alba (Berlin / Germany; www.alba.info) told Plasteurope.com.

In the interests of a functioning recycling economy, more pigment and masterbatch manufacturers are therefore offering alternative black pigments that do not contain carbon black, including BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com), Berry (Evansville, Indiana / USA; www.berryglobal.com), Gabriel Chemie (Gumpoldskirchen / Austria; www.gabriel-chemie.com – see Plasteurope.com of 20.08.2019), Clariant (Muttenz / Switzerland; www.clariant.com – see Plasteurope.com of 09.09.2019), Ampacet (Tarrytown, New York / USA; www.ampacet.com), PolyOne (Avon Lake, Ohio / USA; www.polyone.com), the Rowa Group (Pinneberg / Germany; www.rowa-group.com) and Unnox (Vacarisses / Spain; www.unnoxgroup.com) .

Black is the new green here – not only when it comes to closing recycling loops but also more literally: instead of carbon black, “neighbouring” dark colours are used, including dark green, blue, violet – or brown, in the case of BASF’s carbon black-free black pigment “Sicopal Black K 0098 FK”. The pellets are suitable for food contact and dyed with “C.I. Pigment Brown 29”.

For their packaging, brand owners do not really have the choice between deep black high-finish surfaces on the one hand or a minimal colour cast on the other. And the recycling industry is currently in a struggle for survival – caught in a “triple lock” of slumping sales, unavailable input materials and low prices for primary products (see Plasteurope.com of 20.05.2020). In the long term, only those packaging solutions that are 100% recyclable are likely to have a future.