Sustainable Packaging: The Renewliner
What if we could reduce plastic pollution and create a truly circular economy?
TSS Thermalist
November 11, 2022 | Products
Sustainable Packaging Solutions: Transforming the Industry
The circular economy is a system in which materials are designed to be used again and again, without being put back into the environment as waste. Sustainable packaging is one of the key components of the circular economy. Simply put, it’s any packaging that reduces the negative environmental impact of its production, distribution, and disposal.
While sustainable packaging is a step in the right direction, making the switch is not always so simple.
Why use
sustainable
packaging?
Consumers expect it. Governments demand it. Your competitors are doing it. The real question is, why not use sustainable packaging?
- Sourced, manufactured, transported, and recycled using renewable energy sources
- Beneficial, safe & healthy for communities throughout the life cycle
- Performance and cost meet market criteria
- Utilizes renewable or recycled source materials
- Products are manufactured by clean technologies and best practices
- Effectively utilized in material closed loop cycles
- Reduce your carbon footprint and warehouse/transportation costs
- Reduce existing cold-chain packaging space and sizes
Our vision is to advance packaging and to promote materials, systems and solutions that enhance both economic and environmental health. The Renewliner, sourced from the globe’s most recyclable plastic, PET, is leading the way in sustainable cold chain packaging.
Why recycle plastics?
There are many advantages to recycling plastics, including:
- Recycling reduces the amount of waste in landfills.
- Recycling reduces the energy needed to manufacture plastic.
- Recycled plastics can be used as fuel at the end of its lifecycle.
- Less water is consumed in the recycling process than in primary production.
Types of plastic
You’ve likely noticed that many plastics are stamped with a small triangle made of arrows with a number in the middle. That’s called a resin code, and the number corresponds to a type of plastic. There are seven classifications of plastics, each with its own number.
No. 1: PET or PETE
PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) is the most common plastic for single use bottled beverages, as well as cooking oil containers, plastic peanut butter jars, and other food containers.
No. 2: HDPE
HDPE (high density polyethylene) is another very common plastic with many uses, such as milk jugs, shampoo bottles, cleaning product containers, and detergent bottles.
No. 3: PVC or V
PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and V (vinyl) is tough plastic used for things like pipes and tubes. It is also used in kids’ toys, plastic trays, and furniture.
No. 4: LDPE
LDPE (low density polyethylene) is a flexible plastic used in grocery bags, produce bags, bread bags, newspaper bags, and more.
No. 5: PP
PP (polypropylene) has a high melting point and is often used in containers that hold hot liquid. It’s also found in packaging for yogurt, sour cream, and margarine, as well as used in the manufacture of straws, rope, carpet, and bottle caps.
No. 6: PS
PS (polystyrene) is what Styrofoam is made out of. It’s found in disposable coffee cups, packing peanuts, coolers, and to-go food containers.
No. 7: Other
Many of the plastics that don’t fit into classifications 1 through 6 are classified as other. It is often found on products made from multiple types of plastic or plastics that cannot be recycled.
Why we use PET
TSS chose to use PET to create our Renewliner because we wanted to give our customers something that would enable them to reduce carbon emissions and contribute to a closed loop economy without sacrificing affordability, scalability, or aesthetics.
PET is one of the only materials in existence that has technology available to make it infinitely recyclable. In addition, it provides the thermal protection necessary to ship even the most temperature-sensitive products, and its cushioning capabilities are superior to most other insulating materials.
PET is also naturally inert and contains anti-bacterial properties, which is why it is used widely in food packaging products and is approved by the FDA.
PET does not contain BPA, phthalates, dioxins, lead, cadmium or endocrine disruptors. In addition, drinking water from a PET bottle that has been left in a hot car, frozen, used more than once, or repeatedly washed and rinsed does not pose any health risk.
Types of PET Recycling
There are two types of PET recycling: mechanical and chemical.
Mechanical is the most common way PET is recycled. It involves washing, sorting, and grinding down old plastic to create or recover new plastic. Mechanical recycling is less efficient than chemical recycling, but it is more widespread because it allows for the capture and reuse of raw materials in more traditional ways, similar to downcycling paper in that it has a limited number of lifecycles for the raw material collected and recycle.
Chemical recycling, on the other hand, depolymerizes PET using chemical agents that break down the plastics into raw materials of virgin quality. Once this process occurs, PET can be used in products over and over.
How mechanical recycling works.
Step 1
The product is shredded into small pieces, which is then transported to a condensing unit to further decreases the size of the pieces.
Step 2
A polymer is then introduced into the extrusion line to be vacuumed in a 2-zone vacuum system, removing any volatiles or gasses.
Step 3
The material is then filtered & injected through a dye where it gets cut into smaller pieces, captured in a water stream, and transferred through a quench loop.
Step 4
Finally, the material is sent to a dryer where water and pellets are separated. The pellets go into the box, while the water is returned to the tank to be re-used – creating a closed-loop recycling process.
The finished rPET pellets can then be used to produce other products, like bottles, apparel, carpet, soundboard, and underlayment.
Plastic recycling would turn once plastic waste into valuable secondary raw materials. This thinking could shift our economic outlook from “waste-oriented” to “resource oriented.”
Products like Renewliner and RenewMailer are made from PET, and after they are used the PET can be recycled back into the Renewliner, and other products like bottles, containers, carpet, clothing, industrial strapping, rope, fiberfill for winter jackets and sleeping bags, automotive parts and even construction materials.
This closed loop process allows us to divert waste from the environment while reducing pollution throughout the manufacturing process to produce a high-quality finished product that helps protect both perishables and the earth.
The Renewliner and RenewMailer are products of the circular economy. As a company, we take our responsibility to do things in an eco-friendly way very seriously, and are committed to a greener world.
