Amcor Flexibles has been named as winner in the Manufacturing and Consumer Goods category of the Australian Financial Review Sustainability Leaders List for 2024, recognised for its AmPrima packaging solution.
This recycled, heat-resistant film offers a sustainable alternative to non-recyclable materials such as PET and nylon, significantly reducing the environmental impact of packaging.
AmPrima’s mono-polyethylene structure allows for compatibility with existing polyethylene and polypropylene recycling streams. This innovation is expected to remove 300,000 kilograms of non-recyclable packaging from the consumer goods supply chain in Australia and New Zealand this year alone.
Richard Smith, sustainability director at Amcor Flexibles, highlights the challenges of traditional PET film, stating, “Mechanical recycling needs materials that are compatible with each other, and when you have things like PET and nylon and other films, they’re just not compatible. Depending on how much is in there, all you can do is throw it into landfill, or use it in down-cycled applications, which is not really the circular economy.”
AmPrima overcomes these challenges by using polyethylene and polypropylene, offering heat resistance, stiffness, and run speeds that meet the demands of top consumer goods brands.
One of AmPrima's key successes is its adoption by Fonterra as recycle-ready packaging for its cream cheese blocks, eliminating over 72 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic. The heat-resistant PE-based film used in AmPrima ensures durability and maintains product integrity, addressing the specific challenges of hot-fill products. Amcor says this innovation simplifies soft plastics recycling, offering a practical solution to packaging across Fonterra’s cream cheese blocks for commercial and retail consumption.
Smith said, “AmPrima is a significant step forward in our journey towards recyclable packaging. This versatile, recycle-ready solution meets the high-performance standards required by our valued customers, and also addresses the urgent need to reduce non-recyclable plastics. Amcor’s recognition by the AFR Sustainability Leaders List is a testament to the collective efforts of our team and partners.”
AmPrima's development aligns with Amcor's broader sustainability goals, including the commitment to design all products to be recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2025. This innovation supports the company’s objective to reduce resource usage while promoting circular economy principles.
