NGR Working with Woody on Recyclable Wood-Based Plastic

Woodly Ltd is a Finnish company developing a new kind of plastic. The packaging material, also named Woodly, is made of wood cellulose that comes from sustainably managed and FSC certified forests. The company says that the material has the same qualities as regular plastic, and it can be used in the production of different kinds of recyclable packaging.

Woodly is working with Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen GmbH (NGR) on a pilot project. The company says that the material has been designed to be recyclable with existing plastic recycling technology, which was verified.

“Recycling Woodly material from film to pellets was easy and the pellets were of high clarity. From the recycled Woodly pellets, a clear, 20-micrometer thin cast film could be produced in our lab under typical polyolefin processing conditions and extruder settings, indicating that the material is suited for blown film processes as well. This is rare, as typically the reprocessing of bio-based plastics into thin films is not a simple task. Woodly's material is a perfect match for NGR's existing equipment,” said NGR’s Development & Process Technology Engineer Peter Hierzenberger.

"We believe that the future of plastics is both renewable and recyclable,” said Martta Asikainen, CTO of Woodly. “That is the only way to meet the growing material demand in a sustainable way. Our goal is to reduce the need for fossil feedstock as well as for virgin material. With NGR we have found a reliable partner for recycling, with whom we will be glad to expand the collaboration."

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Woodly is still planning to launch the material this year in various packaging applications.

"In our opinion the current situation with the coronavirus has highlighted the urgent need for sustainability. Our mission to accelerate the shift toward circular economy is now more relevant than ever. Fortunately there are many like minded brand owners that have it in their strategy to look beyond this current situation and invest in future. Now that we have demonstrated the recyclability of Woodly material with NGR, we expect there will be even more interest toward our material,” Asikainen said.

According to the European Strategy for Plastics (2018), by 2030 all plastics packaging placed on the EU market must be either reusable or easily recyclable.