The world of packaging is changing rapidly and increasing pressure from consumers and legislation for more environmentally responsible options has put aluminium and tin packaging under the spotlight as a viable alternative.

Kishan Singh, CEO of MetPac-SA, believes the SA Metal Packaging Industry offers a proven, sustainable solution to the imminent penalty clauses that are expected to be imposed by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

“The world has undoubtedly shifted to a much more sustainable one, and metal packaging is finding itself on the right side of this equation,” he notes.

High collection and recycling rates

The appeal of metal packaging lies in its high collection and recycling rate with Singh pointing out that aluminium cans have the highest recycling rate of all packaging materials.

“It is infinitely recyclable with little loss of the yield of aluminium.  It is estimated that roughly 75% of the aluminium ever produced, is still in use today,” he says.

Economically viable

The reason aluminium can collection and recycling is so successful is because it is economically viable.

“It makes financial sense to all the stakeholders in the value chain to collect and recover as much aluminium cans as possible.  Buy-back centres pay well for cans that are collected and brought in by collectors,” Singh explains.

“In SA, the combined recovery for tinplate and aluminium was recorded at 75.8% in 2017, benchmarking effectively against European recovery rates for the same materials, and MetPacSA is committed to driving this recovery rate to just over 80% over the next 5 years.

Functional and environmentally friendly

Aluminium cans are very light which reduces the transport costs and CO² emissions.  In addition, they are stackable, physically strong and allow brand owners and packaging designers the freedom to be creative when it comes to sizes, design and colours that can be used for on-pack printing to attract the attention of potential buyers.

“For brand owners, the ideal packaging must make sense on all the levels and should tick all the boxes – financially, environmentally and practically. Aluminium packaging offers a solution that is workable, easy to implement and makes sense on a financial and environmental level.” Singh concludes.