How to recognise packaging that is truly recyclable?

Cluster members Gerovė share their knowledge and raise awareness on plastics recycling on Lithuanian media.

• Company is convinced that the key is to produce recyclable packaging. Since 2012, the company has been looking for ways to use as much recycled material as possible in its products. Currently, Gerovė uses as much as 86 % recycled plastic in its products. The factory buys plastic packaging waste and uses it to make new products – plastic bags.
• According to the company, sustainability should not be achieved by giving up plastic (which today would be a huge inconvenience), but by recycling it as many times as possible. This helps to reduce CO2 emissions and, at the same time, to stop climate change. A new plastic product can be made using 100 % recycled material.
• In Lithuania, industrial waste is recycled quite easily, but the main aim is to recycle consumer and household waste, because recycling industrial waste alone does not solve the problem.
• In order for recyclers to recycle plastics, they must be made of a homogeneous material, i.e. of one type. The number in the triangle on the packaging should ideally indicate 1, 2, 3 or 5. If the number is 7, the packaging is not recyclable because it is made of several different plastics or a mixture of plastic and paper.

Full article on 15min.lt.