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Q&A: Macpac Unwraps Clarity and Sustainability in rPET Thermoforming

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BP&R caught up with Simon Firth, sales manager, Macpac, to discuss the company's approach to sustainable thermoforming, ensuring clarity and quality of the final packaging, and challenges like educating consumers about recycling.

Key Highlights:

What innovative technologies or processes is the company using to make its thermoforming more recyclable or biodegradable? 

Recyclability is a given now and there are options in the marketplace for biodegradable material, but retailers tend to prefer rPET because of its recyclability and commercial viability. 

We can offer Breakdown PET as an alternative. It is a revolutionary material made from recycled clear PET and is fully recyclable and biodegradable. It provides an end-of-life solution for the packaging as, if discarded into landfill sites all over the world, it will naturally decompose in less than a decade rather than centuries. In simplistic terms, Breakdown PET attracts microbes in landfill where they secrete acids that break down the polymer chains. Once the polymer chains are opened, the microbes use the plastics as a source of food and energy and biodegradation occurs at an atomic level. The end result is the same as organic matter which can be captured to produce clean and cheap energy. Unfortunately, this technology has a 50% cost increase compared to standard rPET. 

However, rPET is one of the most recyclable materials available and 97% of our products are produced from it. 

Macpac’s focus is on the front-end design aspect which helps make our thermoformed packs more sustainable. Better packaging design makes recycling easier, and we design with the entire life cycle in mind - ensuring minimum resources during manufacture, use and for recyclability at end of life.  

Our in-house design team works with customers to help them make informed decisions. Smart thinking when creating new packaging designs, allows us to downgauge the raw material content where possible and so the packs are lighter, which in turn reduces cost and improves sustainability without affecting performance.  

Choosing the correct overall pack size for each product whether it is a stock or bespoke item is important to eliminate excess material. Designing optimal de-nest features also provides the ability to pack as many as possible into a box which reduces the packaging’s carbon footprint. 

Beyond material choices, how is Macpac working towards a circular economy for thermoplastics? Are there any take-back or upcycling programs in place? 

Remember that Macpac is simply a converter of material. The rPET we use has an ABA structure where the A layer is virgin and core B layer contains a large proportion of recycled post-consumer and post process waste. Typically, this is at least 50% post-consumer recyclate and up to 30% post-industrial recyclate.  

Macpac operates a value creation process. As with all processes, thermoforming generates a certain degree of waste such as skeletal waste. However, 100% of this waste is granulated and returned to our suppliers for reprocessing – allowing us to reuse the material again and again.  

In 2018, we improved the recycling processing at our manufacturing site and sales office. This involved extensive work in developing quantifiable processes with our recycling partners. Our quality assurance team has been able to monitor our monthly performance and we are now proud to say that as of January 2019 we have achieved zero waste to landfill. Only 0.7% of our waste ends up as general waste and is sent to an energy from waste plant. 

Turning waste into a resource is part of closing the loop in circular economy systems. 

What are the biggest challenges Macpac faces when manufacturing sustainable thermoformed packaging? 

Since the PPT was implemented most major beverage manufacturers, for example, are choosing to use rPET for bottle production. This sudden increase in rPET usage is contributing to a reduction in the quality of feedstocks (raw materials), and affecting the clarity of rPET being produced. The knock-on effect is that our customers were starting to see a reduction in the clarity of thermoformed packs.  

To counter this issue, we worked with suppliers to set a max / min tolerance requirement of what is acceptable in terms of material clarity supplied into Macpac. This was set using the latest digital optical equipment to determine the correct tolerance settings. It allows us to control what is supplied and ensure the packs we produce and ship out to our customers has the correct clarity and quality we deem acceptable.  

However, rPET is still a great material to use for thermoforming. Adding certain additives to the material makeup enables it to be modified so it is capable of deep freeze applications as well as deep draw forming ability but keeping the ABA structure and allowing it to be 100% recyclable. It also lends itself to different pack designs, styles, and shapes for a wide range of markets including food, beverage, medical device, pharmaceutical, retail, horticulture, electronic components, and other industrial products. 

How are you addressing concerns about the recyclability or end of life management of your thermoformed packaging? 

Our packs are fully recyclable but successful end of life management is still about educating the consumer and having the right waste collection infrastructure in place to cope with the increasing demand on the recycling system. When end users recycle our thermoformed packaging, it has the potential to feed into a closed loop scheme and prevent it from ever becoming waste. 

It is often reported that consumers find recycling logos confusing. Therefore, we include a simple ‘please rinse and recycle’ message on packs alongside the recycling logo where possible and allowed. 

Do you see any emerging trends or technologies in thermoplastics for 2024?

In terms of thermoforming equipment, the market is fairly static. Machine manufacturers continue to build systems with reduced energy consumption and improved cycle efficiency.  

Material wise, lightweighting, sustainability and durability will continue to be key.  

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