UPM Raflatac
 

Sustainability partners –
Collaborative projects and third-party validation

We actively develop new solutions to speed up the transition to a circular economy and promote the sustainable use of renewable materials. But we cannot do it all on our own.

We have partnered with multiple organizations that share our vision of a more circular future. Our partners act as global experts in a defined area of sustainability, offering guidelines and certifications that allow us to validate our level of sustainability on an international level. We actively collaborate with our partners on projects, ranging from sharing our data to developing new recycling-friendly adhesives and much more.

 
 

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation

We have signed up to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy Global Commitment among hundreds of organizations including many of the world’s largest packaging producers.

As part of the movement, we have made six concrete commitments to drive sustainability and circularity in our work, such as 100% sustainable plastic packaging, 100% recycled liner waste, and 100% sustainable production plastics.

Visit Ellen MacArthur website

 
 

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RecyClass  is a cross-industry initiative that aims to advance the recyclability of plastic packaging to improve recyclability and recyclate quality. With its scientific approach, RecyClass enhances and evaluates the recyclability of plastic packaging by developing methodologies and guidelines necessary to assess the recyclability of a package.

UPM Raflatac is working alongside other industry members, collaborating with different parts of the value chain, to endorse consumer plastic packaging recycling. Our collaboration with RecyClass includes the development of Recyclability Evaluation Protocols and scientific testing of innovative materials, which serve as the base for the Design for Recycling Guidelines and the free online tool. Some of our pioneering SmartCircle product technologies have already been approved by RecyClass to be recycling compatible according to the current European Recycling Stream standards. Our ambition is to receive RecyClass technology approvals for the entire SmartCircle portfolio.

 
 

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The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) is a membership-based collaboration that believes in the power of industry to make packaging more sustainable. SPC is the leading voice on sustainable packaging and is passionate about the creation of packaging that is good for the people and the environment. Its mission is to bring packaging sustainability stakeholders together to catalyze actionable improvements to packaging systems and lend an authoritative voice on issues related to packaging sustainability. ​

Through our collaboration with SPC, we innovate and improve packaging systems and demonstrate leadership for positive change by offering industry expertise on diverse workstreams to solve sustainability challenges.

How2Recycle

Variation in local recycling programs, inaccurate recycling claims, and differences in labeling all make navigating the recycling landscape more challenging. Through our participation in How2Recycle, we aim to increase accurate recycling by promoting a standardized labeling system that clearly communicates recycling instructions.

 
 

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Together, UPM Raflatac and WWF Poland are building a smarter future beyond fossils. The current collaboration focuses on promoting circularity through waste management and sustainable forestry practices while engaging UPM Raflatac's internal and external stakeholders.

The waste management initiative aims to reduce the amount of non-recycled packaging waste through legislative changes, cooperation with businesses, and educating Polish consumers to drive the change. The sustainable forestry initiative is driven forward by setting up a knowledge base with key stakeholders, creating guidelines on biodiversity conservation and carbon storage-friendly afforestation, and assessing the restoration potential of degraded ecosystems.

UPM Raflatac operates two factories in Poland, employing 635 people. Collaboration between UPM Raflatac and WWF Poland first started in 2012.

 
 

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The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) is an international trade association representing the plastics recycling industry. APR member companies are committed to the success of plastics recycling. Membership spans the entire industry and through their participation, APR member companies are shaping the future of our industry.

As an APR Demand Champion since 2018, we are committed to promoting circular packaging solutions and incorporating post-consumer recycled content into our materials, as well as ensuring the highest level of recyclability of our products.

 
 

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The U.S. Plastics Pact is a collaborative, solutions-driven consortium led by The Recycling Partnership and the World Wildlife Fund, launched as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global Plastics Pact network to unify diverse public-private stakeholders across the plastics value chain to rethink the way we design, use, and reuse plastics, to create a path forward to realize a circular economy for plastic in the United States. 

In line with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's vision of a circular economy for plastics, the U.S. Plastics Pact brings together organizations and other stakeholders to work collectively toward scalable solutions tailored to the unique needs and challenges within the U.S. landscape, through vital knowledge sharing and coordinated action. In addition to actively working towards the four pillars of the USPP 2025 roadmap, UPM Raflatac is collaborating with USPP to develop a list of Problematic Materials to be eliminated by 2025.

 
 

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PET is the largest plastic material recycled in Europe. Petcore Europe is the association based in Brussels representing the complete PET value chain in Europe, from PET manufacture to conversion into packaging and recycling, and other related activities. Petcore association is at the forefront of working with all stakeholders to ensure the sustainable growth of PET as a packaging material of choice, and also to further increase post-consumer PET collection and recycling.

UPM Raflatac has many roles in the PET value chain – as a material user and supplier – making cooperation with other stakeholders in the value chain essential and highlighting UPM Raflatac's influence on the PET collection and recycling cycle.

 
 

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Enhancing recyclability was a key target when UPM Raflatac, UPM Communication Papers, and UPM’s Central European Research Centre joined forces with INGEDE, the International Association of the Deinking Industry.

Through this cooperation, we developed a new recycling-friendly adhesive that ensures that labels are no longer an issue in the paper recycling stream.

 
 

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CELAB – Toward a Circular Economy for Labels – is dedicated to building a sustainable self-adhesive labeling industry. Working together, we will create greater circularity for our products by enhancing and promoting matrix and release liner recycling around the world.

UPM Raflatac is acting as one of the key collaborators in CELAB to boost matrix and liner recycling in the pressure-sensitive labeling industry, bringing more than a decade of experience to the table. Our RafCycle recycling service and its service offering has been continuously developed for over 10 years. It gives label release liner waste a new life as release liner, face papers, magazine paper, and composite material.

 
 

Read more about UPM’s cooperation and memberships

Visit UPM.com