From the beginning of 2023, Spain will apply a tax of EUR 0.45 per kilogram of non-recycled plastic used in the production of single-use packaging, which will also have a significant impact on ceramic packaging, such as shrink film. Aliplast, the European leader in plastic recycling, can turn this problem into an opportunity with its Reload products. In the scenario of a fully operational Plastic Tax, using an Aliplast film leads to a saving of up to 450 euros per tonne compared to the costs of using a 100% virgin product.
The importance of choosing recycled material
The Spanish ceramic district - like the Italian one - is used to working according to a 'just in time' logic and makes extensive use of shrink film for packaging tile stocks. This is temporary packaging that is undone and redone during the various phases of product processing and therefore lends itself well to recovery and recycling logics. This is the speciality of Aliplast, an Italian company, part of the multi-utility group HERA, which has more than forty years of know-how in the field of plastic collection and regeneration, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the Iberian market, having been present in Spain with its own factory for more than twenty years. The company also has specific expertise in 'closed loop' projects: those involving the recovery of waste material from the customer, its regeneration and re-introduction into the market.
Reload
If the main road is therefore that of recycling, another choice becomes immediately important: that of using a material that can be efficiently recovered and processed and that at the same time has high mechanical flexibility and resistance characteristics. In the specific case of tiles, these are often stored outdoors, at the mercy of atmospheric conditions, and must therefore be adequately protected. For this specific need, Aliplast is able to offer 'Reload' type films, a brand that identifies product families with a very high percentage of recycled material. The value of the Reload brand is tangible: in the case of films, the percentage of recycled material is over 80%, while in the case of rPET sheets, another Aliplast production excellence, this value rises to over 90%. In practice, use in the ceramics field has been taking place for some time in the Italian industrial district, where Aliplast is a leader and serves most of the companies in the sector.
Real savings, for the customer and the environment
The savings only apply to the recycled plastic part of the product. In practice, the use of Aliplast film, in the case of a product made with 80% recycled plastic, for example, results in a saving of 360 euros per tonne compared to the cost of film made entirely from virgin material. In addition to the economic saving, there is also the concrete reduction of the environmental impact, which Aliplast assesses by applying the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology, which aims to analyse the impact of a product on the environment throughout its life cycle (from the production of the material to the end of life). If we consider PE film specifically, relying on an Aliplast product has an impact of just over 1 kg of CO2 Equivalent for every kg processed and produced, compared to 3 for a virgin plastic film. In practice, Aliplast film is three times less impactful in terms of carbon footprint.
