Belgian dairy producer Lactel has wrapped all its milk bottle packs in a polyethylene (PE) plastic film made from 50% recycled material.
Companies take the sustainability of their packaging very seriously. Reflecting this priority, Belgian dairy producer Lactel has wrapped all its milk bottle packs in a polyethylene (PE) plastic film made from 50% recycled material. This makes it the first milk brand in Belgium to use recycled content in its outer packaging.
Lactel’s new plastic film is partly made from recycled polyethylene (rPE), and represents a more environmentally sustainable solution. This multipack film made of 50% recycled PE material cuts Lactel’s use of “virgin” or new plastic by an impressive 125,000 kg per year. The use of recycled content also represents a 15% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 16% decrease in water consumption.
Anastasia Vanherrewegen, Senior Brand Manager Lactel Belgium explains that ‘Lactel has been promoting local and sustainable milk in Belgium for more than a decade. In addition to its concern for animal welfare and biodiversity, our dairy plant in Walhorn has been working for several years towards more environmentally friendly production. This led us to think about the design of our packaging, which was why it made sense to work with the film Recyplast ® from our partner Barbier in France for a more sustainable alternative for our multipack films. At Lactel, we believe we all have a role to play in preserving our planet’.
What’s more, this PE plastic film will soon be recycled in Belgium. Work recently started on a new recycling centre that will recycle old PE film into new PE film (find out about the ECOO Beringen recycling centre). Among other items, it will process packaging bags and the plastic film used in the outer packaging of multipacks, including around Lactel’s milk bottles. A true circular economy for packaging will thus be created.
The multipack film made of 50% recycled PE material cuts Lactel’s use of “virgin” or new plastic by an impressive 125,000 kg per year.
Plastic film such as Lactel’s 50% recycled PE plastic wrapping can be sorted by households into the New Blue Bag for further recycling. This extension of PMD sorting rules now applies in Brussels, all of Flanders and most of Wallonia. The last Walloon intermunicipal companies will join the scheme after the summer. With this simplified, uniform sorting system, we reached the 51% mark in the recycling of plastic packaging in 2020.
Patrick Laevers, Managing Director of Fost Plus: ‘Our goal is to create a circular economy for packaging. The use of recycled content in household packaging is the last link in the chain, which begins with the systematic collection of household packaging waste. This ensures that as much material stays in the chain as possible’.
‘Since we began manufacturing our own bottles at our Walhorn site, we have been continuously improving our packaging to make it more environmentally friendly. Our bottles are 100% recyclable and made from 30% recycled materials. More recently, bottle weight has been optimised to further reduce the volume of material we use. Remember to sort bottles properly and put them in your blue PMD bag to give them a second life.’, according to Anastasia Vanherrewegen.