A clothing-store mannequin made from UK-sourced household plastic packaging as been demonstrated to the IdentiPlast 2013 audience in Paris.
Containing 50 per cent recycled post-consumer flexible films, the plastic male torso was produced during a project coordinated by Axion Polymers as part of an on-going research project and trials funded by WRAP.
Recycled polyethylene was prepared for use in a UK roto-moulding process to demonstrate an example of converting plastic waste back into useful, high-quality products.
Green Warehouse director Will Hayes won the EPRO Best Recycled Product 2013 award for his uBin – a recyclables container using 100 per cent polypropylene plastic derived from pots, tubs and trays.
Axion Polymers director Keith Freegard said: “While it’s true we’re lagging behind places like Germany and Scandinavia, most of their pots, tubs and trays and flexible films are diverted to energy from waste incineration schemes, which are not seen to be the desirable route in the UK as these non-renewable raw materials are then lost forever.
“With investment in new recycling technologies happening here and our infrastructure developing to handle more complex packaging waste, the mannequin and uBin are two excellent examples that demonstrate our emerging successes and are helping to improve our credentials.”
WRAP key account manager on plastics Gareth Hollinshead said: “These products are great examples of what can be manufactured with recycled plastic packaging from households.
“It shows that the UK is innovating to keep this valuable resource in a circular economy. WRAP is supporting industry to sort and reprocess more of this waste through the Mixed Plastics Loan Fund, as well as research projects that demonstrate commercially viable end markets for these types of plastic packaging wastes, which have been traditionally viewed as difficult to recycle.”
