Alliance to End Plastic Waste Scales Solutions for Flexible Film Recycling: Packaging World

What role can cross-industry collaboration and emerging sorting technologies play in scaling flexible film recycling in the U.S.?

Senior editor Anne Marie Mohan talks with Pranav Goenka chief advisor, global program development at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste about the organization's U.S. Flexibles Program and its report on flexible packaging recycling. 

Goenka outlines a three-step strategy—mapping end markets, designing targeted interventions across the value chain, and demonstrating solutions in partnership with communities and other organizations—to build trust and scalability into the system.

Watch the full featured video on Packaging World.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Through the Line, the podcast exploring innovations and information across the packaging and processing landscape. From topics impacting consumer packaged goods and healthcare packaging to the latest technologies in food processing operations.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hello, I'm Anne-Marie Mohan, Senior Editor of Packaging World. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Pranav Goenka, co-chair and senior advisor for advanced sorting and recycling solutions at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. We discussed the organization's latest report on unlocking scalable solutions for flexible film recycling, as well as the progress of its U.S. Flexibles program. I hope you enjoy the conversation. So to begin, could you provide me with some background on the U.S. Flexibles program? For example, what was the impetus behind the formation of this group? What gaps does it aim to address? Who's involved? And what does it hope to achieve?

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Thank you very much, Anne Marie, for having us and a chance to speak about the Alliance's Flexibles program. Yeah, I think the US Flexibles Program, as you probably know, is part of a broader thematic program we have operating across the US, Canada, and Europe. This is basically a program that's designed for action. So we're looking to implement solutions around some of the gaps we see in relation to flexibles, whether it's relating to design, whether it's related to collection, sorting, or recycling or end market. And we are doing that with partnership, partnerships with producer responsibility organizations. We're doing that with uh value chain players, but also communities on the ground. This program was started in January 2025. So we are a year and a little bit more into it. But we have been implementing flexible projects across the globe for many years now. So our strategy around the US Flexibles program and our broader flexibles program is really grounded by some of the experiences we've had from these projects and the learnings we have on what works and what doesn't work. If I may, there are basically three main aspects that we consider when we are devising our approach or strategy towards the flexibles program, particularly in the US. The number one step is really starting with the end markets. It's really about understanding and having a clear assessment of where these end markets exist and what will be required in terms of quality and cost to incorporate uh secondary raw materials from flexibles into these end-use applications. By understanding them, it leads us to the second step, which is being very targeted about designing our projects to close gaps across that value chain from design all the way to uh reclaimers and processing, to make sure that every intervention we are making in our projects are really designed to be able to target making the quality better at an acceptable cost. So that those end markets can accept flexibles into their particular incorporation. And then the third step is once we have actually designed these projects, we've demonstrated these projects, we are not doing it alone. We are doing it within partnership with other organizations. So we are coordinating our action. And then as a result, we are demonstrating it from a system viability end-to-end point of view in a local city or a local community. Because that's when you start to instill trust in the system that the flexibles can be designed right, but also it's flowing through the system all the way to the end markets and is being recycled. So, in summary, it's about understanding the end markets, uh the quality and the cost, designing projects to intervene in gap closure, and then really coordinating our activities with others. So I think if we follow these three steps, in our view, it will really get to the heart of the issue around what we face in the US today, around gaps in infrastructure, gaps in access, gaps in supply chain connectivity, and above all, instilling more trust in the system. So, yeah, we continue to use our platform on Flexibles to be able to invite companies and organizations to join us and help collaborate and coordinate our action towards circularity. So, yeah, we're really excited about what's ahead.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Okay. So you've mentioned collaboration and partnerships. And I recently had a discussion with US Plastics Pact, and they just released their framework for film and flexible packaging. And there are definitely other organizations that are trying to address the flexible film issue as well. How where do you fit in that puzzle of different organizations and frameworks, et cetera?

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Yeah, I think that's a great question, Admarie. Um, I think all of these organizations have a common goal to be able to really bring flexibles to a much higher level of recycling and outcomes there. I think what what we are seeing is that there's a coordination going on with these organizations to really identify what each of these organizations do well and where their strength lies, and then ensuring that at a very minimum level we're coordinating, but at an ideal level, we are complementing our action on the ground together. From an alliance standpoint, I think where we bring in our value proposition is a a global view on what has worked and what hasn't worked, and trying to integrate some of those best practices in the US ecosystem while also realizing that the US system has its own local context and a local uh challenges on its own. So you cannot force fist a system from outside, but also bring some of the best practices. For example, we've done a lot of work in Europe or other regions as well. But at the same time, it's also trying to ensure that we are leveraging some of the know-how and on-the-ground experiences from other organizations as well. So we are really in the process of really coordinating that and complementing each other. We I would say over the last year, I have seen much more coordinated and complementary actions happening on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

The Alliance uh recently released a report called The Challenges and Solutions for Flexible Plastic Packaging Waste. So, who is the intended audience for this and how should stakeholders use it to guide action?

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Yeah, thank you for the little bit of the advertisement around this report. Um, it's available on our website for anyone who's interested. I think it's a culmination of five, six years of our work in the area of flexibles. And it's really talking about what we see on the ground across the globe with respect to making flexibles more circular. So it's really made up of our on-the-ground experiences. The intended audience is actually quite broad. Uh, what we're intending to do with this type of sort of white paper, insights paper is that it's really meant to address to stakeholders that are involved in the packaging systems, how they are currently working, but also how they will evolve. Whether it is governments and policy makers, whether it is waste management operators, also for brands and plastic producers, but also investors. We've tried to keep the paper quite broad in terms of having some technical bits, certain business model considerations, but also certain policy and regulatory clarity that can really help with making flexibles more circular. At the end, it's highlighting challenges that we face here, but also some practical solutions. And how we see this being used ideally is to inform policy to really help with how we can define collaboration in really getting higher collection and recycling outcomes on flexibles.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Okay. Okay. It sounds like something everyone in the supply chain can learn from or get guidance from.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

So the report outlines a strategy that includes market mapping, demonstration projects, and replication, and it emphasizes collaboration across the entire value chain, as we just mentioned. How might these elements work together to help scale practical recycling solutions for flexible packaging in the US?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

I think, you know, I think this is giving me a chance to go a little bit deeper into what I had addressed in the first question, Anne-Marie. I think by allowing us to follow these steps around market mapping, which is really about identifying where the demand for recycled materials exists today, but also where it potentially can be broadened, you are able to really identify what these core issues are from an end market standpoint and an end use application standpoint. And then really work back into the value chain to designing projects, either by us or by other organizations, on what really is required to intervene. If we do that, we are able to actually design projects that are much more targeted. If we are doing that, we are able to, coming to your point, be very clear about the roles each organization is able to play in terms of creating that solution on the ground. And above all, demonstrating those solutions so that they can be replicated. And that's really the heart of the issue about scaling, because one thing is about demonstrating. The other thing is about ensuring that we are collaborating with system actors. Who are these system actors? We're collaborating with policymakers, we're collaborating with communities on the ground, municipalities, but eventually the producer responsibility organizations. Because organizations like us can demonstrate what that solution looks like end-to-end, but it is really the system actors that can take that and say, okay, now we've got a blueprint, let's now replicate that across, you know, municipalities in one state or many states. And that's where you will have scalable action. So that's really why we believe that a bit of that assessment on market mapping can lead to targeted action in a demonstration way, but then you can blueprint it for replication.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Okay. Something that we've been talking a lot about is um some of the advanced sorting and recycling technologies. We're talking about the MERF level. What do what role do some of these innovations, such as AI-based object recognition, digital watermarking, and dedicated plastics recovery facilities, play in improving and the identification and processing of flexible plastics?

SPEAKER_02 10:53

They play a very critical role. But before I go into that, let me just contextualize that a little bit, Admiral. Today, conventional sorting technologies that we have, near infrared, spectroscopy, they are actually solving the major part of the problem today in terms of sorting plastics, including flexibles. So it's not that those technologies are not working. It is just that these technologies sometimes are able to detect, but sometimes are not able to quantify, uh, for example, the number of polymers that exist in a packaging structure or the additives that are included in that packaging material. Or, for example, have product information that is really required by recyclers. For example, meltflow of the packaging. So, what we believe is that these new technologies help complement, along with the conventional sorting technologies, that additional information that helps improve recycling of these packaging materials. So let me take it one by one: uh digital watermarks. Digital watermarks is basically a size of a post-it stamp that is essentially embedded into the packaging material. It's like uh, you know, essentially barcode that's invisible in the packaging and it includes information about the product, mechanical properties, product information. And when it goes through high-speed optical scanners in a sorting facility, that information helps the sorting facility to identify these packaging materials in a different way. Similarly, AI-based sorting, object recognition, what it does is it relies itself on visible cues, like, for example, colors, shapes, formats, or logos. And with that help, it is able to identify the packaging material. We believe that these technologies are technologies we've actually funded and demonstrated across the globe now. One example is the Holy Grail project we funded in in Europe that essentially helps validate digital watermark technology in industrial environment now to the technology readiness level of nine. And essentially, it is ready to commercialize and adopt in an industrial environment. We believe that all these technologies are really moving the needle because it helps with sorting of precision. But what is really the outcome we are aiming for? We are aiming for higher quality of recycling that can meet the end market demand and the demanding application quality that is required. And we believe that these technologies are doing that and have the potential to do that.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

The Alliance also operates a flexible thematic program globally. Could you describe how that program works and if you could share one or two examples of projects that illustrate the types of solutions that are being developed to improve flexible plastic recycling?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you for giving me a chance to talk a little bit about the broader flexibles program we have. I'm quite excited about what we're doing in the US, but also in other regions. Actually, the thematic program on flexibles has a very similar approach that I explained that we are doing in the US program around market mapping, demonstration, and then replication. However, we're designing our portfolio of projects in line with what gaps exist in that relevant region. So let's take Europe, for example. In Europe, as you know, EPR, extended producer responsibility is well established. The enabling environment is going to meet or drive the recycled material demand in the future. So the need of the hour in Europe, from our point of view, is really upgrading the quality of materials in existing systems to really elevate the quality of the recycled that is at the end of the chain. So, for that, for example, we I'll give you two examples of projects we have in our portfolio as part of that. One of them is in UK with Nexttech that we are deploying, which is called CO2 clean. That is basically a waterless cleaning technology that helps clean polyethylene film without any water use through supercritical CO2. And that's a demonstration unit in the UK to demonstrate that you can actually remove contamination in polyethylene film to really aim for very high value application. That's one example. The second example is that we are also testing a number of sorting and recycling pathways, including dissolution, de-inking, decontamination technologies in Belgium around polypropylene, taking polypropylene as secondary raw material into actually testing it into BOPP applications for food and non-food applications through other pathways. And for that, we are partnering with the relevant uh producer responsibility organization, but also brands and recyclers on that. This is really about validating from all the way from collection to the end-use incorporation into BOPP certain materials that are sorted in a certain way and go through certain sorting pathways. We intend to actually do that this year in really testing out what incorporation levels we can achieve in BOPP and for what type of applications.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

The last question uh really talks, or I wanted to find out what our readers, brand owners, what can they do to help with this issue, to whether it be using more materials, recycled materials, therefore, to expand that end market or their design for recycling in the beginning, what should they really be looking at?

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Yeah, I think that's a great question. Uh, you're getting heart of the uh the area where I think brand owners and retailers are absolutely critical to the puzzle of actually solving this issue. We see a lot of brand owners and retailers coming on the floor to take ownership and leadership in doing that, actually. What we really, I think doing with them, or we see them really providing a lot of value is number one, being very clear about what it will take for them to be able to incorporate these materials into their packaging and into their applications, at what quality, at what cost, at what other conditions required. And then really for us to work on solutions, but then when we work on those solutions, to be able to scale them, really provide the long-term commitment to be able to create that demand for the investment required, whether it is in infrastructure or technology. So I think they are a critical piece in the entire puzzle. And as part of that collaboration, I think we really can't implement solutions on the ground without their active collaboration. You know, thank you for asking that because that they are really at the forefront of solving this issue.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Wonderful. Thank you. And thank you so much for your time. We're wrapping up our questions. So we're thank you for giving me an opportunity, Yanwory.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Really appreciate it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Thank you for listening to Through the Line Packaging and Processing. You can listen to more episodes on all streaming platforms. Be sure to visit us at packworld.com, profoodworld.com, and healthcarepackaging.com for more packaging and processing news. This podcast was edited by Brady Guns.