New study outlines challenges of flexible plastics recycling in Canada

Recovery rates for flexible plastic packaging (FPP) recycling in Canada will have to improve dramatically – requiring years of work, and tens of millions of dollars in investments – in order to hit the targets that some Canadian provinces have set, a new report from the Canada Plastics Pact says.

The report, “PRFlex: Perfecting the Recycling System for Flexible Plastic Packaging in Canada,” notes that FPP recycling rates are currently at between three and four per cent in Canada – far short of the 25 per cent-plus rate that some provinces are calling for.

“Today, [FPP] is one of the most prevalent forms of packaging used for consumer goods due to its versatile applications across primary packaging (e.g., chip bag or standup pouch), secondary packaging (e.g., produce bag), transportation packaging (e.g., shipping bags for e-commerce or pallet wrap), and much more,” the report said. “[But] while there is potential for FPP to be collected and recycled into new products or packaging, currently it is mostly disposed of at end-of-use due to several factors”.

According to the report, these factors include the inclusion of FPP in municipal collection programs being limited to some materials or depot collection, which affects the opportunity for recovery; municipal recycling facilities (MRFs) not being equipped to effectively separate FPP; the diversity in the FPP resin composition of multi-material FPP complicating the ability to separate the materials in MRFs and recycling facilities; and the interest of recycling markets for sources of FPP of higher mono-polyethylene (PE) purity, mainly from institutional, commercial, or industrial (ICI) collection.

“These challenges highlight the need for measures to be implemented to improve recovery and recycling rates, such as the establishment of regulations for extended producer responsibility (EPR) with high-target goals (e.g., a recycling rate of 40 per cent in Québec by 2027 or 25 per cent in Ontario by 2026), and the development of new sorting techniques and technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence or AI, digital watermarking, etc.),” the report said.

And the challenge of recovery and recycling of FPP becomes more complex because there’s a rise in FPP replacing other inflexible plastic or paper packaging, the report said, along with the introduction of new innovations and products. “In short, the collection and processing infrastructure has not kept up with the pace of FPP packaging placed in the market,” the report said.

The report concludes by noting that, while “no miracle solution for sorting and market development is possible,” the deployment of new infrastructure adopting the latest technologies, as well as a synergy between producers and end-market recyclers who take charge of the materials once collected, will be necessary. “It is unthinkable to believe that performance targets will be reached quickly; it is more reasonable to envision a development and optimization plan that will extend over a ten- year horizon,” the report concluded. “The actions and pilot projects proposed in this report will also make it possible to identify opportunities in the coming months that will enhance this development and optimization plan.”

The report was produced by NovAxia Inc. and its partners Lichens Recyclability, Crow’s Nest Environmental, JTL Squared Consulting, and Policy Integrity.

The Canada Plastics Pact is a multi-stakeholder, industry-led, cross-value chain collaboration platform which aims to tackle plastic packaging waste and pollution by bringing together businesses, government, non-governmental organizations and other key actors in the local plastics value chain.