“Design for Recycling” Initiative

“Grønt Punkt Norge”, in collaboration with major producers and suppliers such as Orkla, Tine, Unil (NorgesGruppen), Bama, Fjordland, Nortura, Mills, and Jotun, initiated the “Design for Recycling” project. The goal was to modify packaging to enhance material recycling capabilities.

Key household products in Norway were selected to examine how changes in the material choices of packaging could increase material recycling without compromising the functionality of the product or its packaging.

Desire to Incorporate Recycled Plastic

A challenge with plastic packaging is that sorting facilities receiving the packaging struggle to separate the increasingly prevalent black plastic. It has also been observed that if the label or sleeve on the packaging is made of a different plastic material than the packaging itself, the entire packaging may be sorted incorrectly. This can disrupt material recycling or result in the packaging being sent for incineration.

These were some of the challenges the project aimed to address. Additionally, efforts were made to explore how producers could increase the percentage of recycled plastic in new packaging.

Unique Collaboration Project

The discovery that certain types of packaging were poorly recycled in the central sorting facility at Romerike Avfallsforedling (ROAF) prompted many producers to make changes in the material choices for packaging. New prototypes were developed and tested in Tomra’s test facility in Koblenz, Germany, based on the results of these tests.

This project stands out both for the collaboration among producers and suppliers and for the significant results achievable by facilitating increased material recycling.

Mepex served as the project leader for this Green Dot Norway project. Together with the Tomra team, they played a key role in the execution of the testing process.