The new tool 'Design Check' provides valuable guidance to flexible packaging designers, technologists, customers and suppliers, helping them collaborate and innovate throughout the design process.
Thousands of organizations in Europe and around the world have adopted the CEFLEX 'Design for a Circular Economy' (D4ACE) guidelines since its launch in 2020. It aims to ensure that all flexible packaging is optimized for collection, sorting and recycling, and to produce higher quality. Recycled materials to be used again in the circular economy.
Now CEFLEX has teamed up with recyclability experts Recyda to publish design-check.ceflex.eu. This free service is available to anyone who wants to make a quick and efficient assessment on their design journey. The new 'Design Check' tool was developed in response to guideline users who requested a way to check whether a design or design specification Packaging fits them by evaluating their packaging portfolios and developing new products with partners, suppliers and customers.
“The tool can be used to evaluate an existing package, facilitate the R&D and design process, interact with other parts of the value chain or prepare for recyclability testing,” explained CEFLEX design lead Liz Morrish. . A team of CEFLEX stakeholders developed and tested the tool (including confidentiality and data protection elements) and many interested companies have already used it successfully.
“The assessment covers all parts of the guidelines, including their classification and recyclability principles. Indicates whether a specification or design is supported, has limited support, or is not supported in terms of D4ACE categories. Users can also perform evaluations of multiple specifications or designs,” she added.
Graham Houlder, CEFLEX project coordinator, said: “The Design Check tool makes our guidelines easier to use, providing a record to track improvements over time and helping the value chain to continue to accelerate progress in the circular design. “It specifically addresses the particular needs of our stakeholders and the broader flexible packaging market.”
“The tool could also play a key role in the implementation of the long-awaited conformity assessment procedure of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). This will require producers and importers of packaged products to collect relevant technical information and declare that the packaging they market complies with legal design requirements,” he added.
The tool is based on the current CEFLEX D4ACE guidelines, which cover monomaterial PE and PP structures, as well as mixed PO, in a mechanical recycling process. It will be revised to reflect updates based on an extensive testing program and new materials that fall within the scope of Design for a Circular Economy, such as flexible packaging containing aluminum foil.
