Sustainability Report 2016 / 2017

22 Initiative Frosch The Partners The Recyclate Initiative would be only half as successful if not for its partners. Established as an open innovation project, the Recyclate Initiative thrives on the participants’ technical know-how and engagement in sustainability. Avail- able knowledge is shared with the goal of winning over new partners for the innovative process and integrating them in the supply chain. To date, partners include Green Dot Dual System Deutschland (DSD, Yellow Bag); the Austrian pack­ aging manufacturer Alpla; the trading, travel and tourism company REWE Group; Unisensor of Karlsruhe, the manu- facturer of sensor systems; and the Frosch brand, the core of the Recyclate Initiative. NABU Germany has also lent its sup- port to the initiative. The partners in the Recyclate Initiative are committed to using new technologies like the laser fine sorting and to optimizing their potential uses in large-scale manufacturing of packaging. Ef fective Cooperation Frosch supports value-adding development by providing its ecological expertise. NABU supports the Initiative as the interface to consumers and helps to raise consumers’ awareness of sustain- ability in packaging. REWE manufactures high-quality PET bottles from the recovered material. Bottles now have a share of 20% recyclates from the Yellow Bag. The next goal is to increase use of PET from the Yellow Bag to 40%. ALPLA is the collection system (Yellow Bag) for consumer packaging waste; provides access to sorting and recycling capacities. Green Dot ensures fine sorting of PET flakes from Yellow Bag by means of high-speed laser spectroscopy. Unisensor is the initiator, driving force, filler and implementer of the innovation; has put six million recyclate packages with 20% share of recyclates from the Yellow Bag on the market, with a total of 100% use of recyclates in its PET bottles. The Recyclate Initiative is off to a good start. Now the partners have to keep the trade andmanufacturers interested in effective and sustainable recycling and expand the cooperation by recruiting new participants. Political powers should contribute by providing economic incentives to fully exploit the potential of the 1.2 million tons of collected PET waste in the Yel- low Bag. Werner & Mertz would welcome a provision in the planned recyclable material legis­ lation, for example, which rewards companies for using plastic from the Yellow Bag in the manufacture of new packaging. Schneider is con- vinced of the effectiveness of his idea. “Our goal is to expand the pilot project of this joint initiative into a comprehensive sustainability concept that establishes itself in the consumer’s consciousness.”