Sustainability Report 2016 / 2017

Initiative Frosch 20 Recyclate Initiative – Effective Recycling Until recently, PET recyclates for the manufacture of new PET bottles were obtained from sorted bottles in the beverage industry. The great potential in materials from the Yellow Bag went unused. A large portion of packaging waste from household collections is still inadequately recycled. Often the waste lands in community incinerators, where it is used as auxiliary fuel. That’s not sustainable. From the collected packaging waste it is possible to obtain a ma- terial that can be upcycled into new packaging. “We are pursuing a genuine recycling principle with the goal of doing without crude oil in the production of plastic packaging,” says Schneider, who established the Initiative in 2012. “Instead of using oil, we are processing reusable materials from a previously untapped source to yield packaging of such high quality that it can even be used with foodstuffs.” The Recyclate Initiative from Werner & Mertz intends to drive this genuine so- lution forward. We are pushing for use of innovative recycling processes that will make material from the Yellow Bag useful in the manufacture of new pack­ aging. The Goals of the Recyclate Initiative • MaximumproportionofPETrecyclates in PET bottles in general (excluding beverage industry) • Higher proportion especially of PET recyclates from the Yellow Bag collec- tion system • Use of innovative, more effective sort- ing technology for high-level reuse of PET from the Yellow Bag, including foodgrade applications (foodstuff packaging) • Creation of an effective recycling loop