Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, had its award-winning BarrierPack Recyclable all-polyethylene film certified for recyclability. This lightweight mono-material offers a more sustainable packaging solution for diverse applications ranging from stand-up pouches for dishwasher tablets to resealable pouches for organic dog food.

Institute cyclos–HTP GmbH, the Institute for Recyclability and Product Responsibility, independently tested the material and issued a certificate, rating it as 95 percent recyclable in those areas where a suitable recycling infrastructure is in place.

Mondi recently partnered with Yarrah Organic Petfood BV to develop more sustainable packaging for its certified organic Yarrah and DANO pet food brands. Yarrah wanted to introduce a fully recyclable pouch to replace a multilayer laminate packaging — which was difficult to recycle — to keep it in a circular economy. The pouch also needed to be resealable to keep pet food and snacks fresh, while adding convenience for pet owners.

“At Yarrah we are committed to make a change for the better –– for pets, for the people we work with, and for our planet. We continuously investigate how we can improve what we do, and our plastic packaging has been on our wish list for a long time. With this alternative from Mondi, we make another step in reducing our carbon footprint. And we will not stop here.” says Bas van Tongeren, CEO of Yarrah.

Similarly, working in partnership with a private-label products manufacturer, Mondi helped UK supermarket chain Tesco bring to market a fully recyclable mono-material pouch for its dishwasher tablets. With the switch to BarrierPack Recyclable, the individual tablets can now be wrapped in a water-soluble film instead of polypropylene (OPP) wrapping, further reducing waste.

Tesco already has a system in place to recycle polyethylene carrier bags used to hold customers’ purchases, and BarrierPack Recyclable pouches can also be recycled in this system. It encourages customers to bring the dishwasher tablet pouches back to the store, where they are collected and then recycled back into new carrier bags.  

“We believe that there is no single route towards sustainability. With our customer-centric approach EcoSolutions, we collaborate closely with our partners to create bespoke solutions ensuring that our customers can deliver on their sustainability commitments. We ask our customers about the needs of their business, the product and our planet – and BarrierPack Recyclable is one of these solutions that came out of asking the right questions,” said Graeme Smith, Head of Product Sustainability, Flexible Packaging and Engineered Materials, Mondi.

Mondi is a signatory of The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, committing to 100% of plastic based packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable and 25% being from recycled content by 2025 (food regulations permitting) and are co-founders of the Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX).

Mondi offers many more applications for fully recyclable mono-material pouches, and as part of its customer-centric EcoSolutions approach, they continue to explore new opportunities to close the loop in the circular economy.