Taghleef Industries for a sustainable future

Collaboration and partnerships to lead positive environmental impact

Seven years ago, Litoplas established their own recycling operation, Polyrec, with the goals of optimizing eco-design capabilities for flexible packaging, understanding the complexities of the process, and ultimately improving the design of sustainable products.

At first, Polyrec ran the recycling operations for Litoplas's internal waste; then, more complex and even external materials were sourced for recycling. Most recently, Polyrec has expanded its recycling operations to manage PCR and PIR with higher contamination levels in a new facility located in Barranquilla, Colombia, with more than 9000 tons per year of capacity.

For several years, Polyrec researched and identified different materials that would better support recycling operations; this is when the possibility of creating a partnership with Taghleef Industries took shape. The aim of this partnership was to collect and use Polyrec's industrial waste alongside Taghleef's - which contains neither ink nor adhesives - thus increasing both the quantity and quality of recyclables plastics.

Other Polyrec partnerships have contributed to the Circular Economy.

For example, Polyrec collaborated with PepsiCo to create the Boomerang Project, an initiative to use PIR plastic boxes instead of cardboard boxes to promote a closed-loop cycle in PepsiCo's distribution system. The PIR materials go through a rigorous process of filtration and disinfection to create the reusable and returnable plastic boxes that can be recycled again.

This project has not only reduced the company's environmental footprint, but has also improved the supply chain since the boxes can be used up to 500 times.

Collaboration among companies is fundamental not only to achieve cost-effective benefits, but also to establish partnerships that lead to long-term productivity and positive environmental impact.