TrakRap’s film is an 8-micron linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) that uses a particularly pure polymer that has long carbon chains, a mixture of C6 and C8, this makes it very strong and stretchy, but also means it can be recycled time and time again.
As the carbon chain of our film is so long, it means that it can be returned and recycled many, many times, eventually becoming a durable hard plastic. As a hard plastic it has many uses such as building material and garden furniture, where it then continues to be used multiple times without ever releasing its carbon.
By comparison a cardboard box can only be recycled 4 – 7 times until its chains are too short to be woven into boxes, at which point it’s destiny is incineration or land fill, where it releases a considerable quantity of carbon back into the atmosphere.
With long carbon chains, we are able to keep the film ultra-thin yet it is still strong enough to be stretched around products to create a stable and reliable pack, that guarantees the protection of products all along the supply chain. For retail packs usually as little as 2 to 5g of film is all that’s required, which is typically 70% less than traditional shrink films.
GreenRap is our latest film that we have introduced to tackle the problem with segregating good and bad plastics in-store and enable a closed-loop recycling solution for retailers. Our GreenRap is tinted green, making it easy to identify and segregate from bad, non-recyclable films at the point it is removed, just before the product goes onto the shelf.
Once store merchandisers have identified it as a good plastic that can be recycled many times, they then place it into our GreenSac, a returnable, reusable sack supplied by TrakRap with our address to return.
We are actively seeking major retailers to trial this system, TrakRap will supply the GreenSacs and take care of postage and recycling. We believe it will be self-funding when netted off against PRNs and plastic surcharges. If you’re a big food retailer and want to get involved in trialling this closed loop system, get in touch.
Part of our mission is to identify how we can lower costs right throughout the supply chain. One such opportunity is the removal of safety knives typically issued in ambient grocery to remove shrink wrap films during merchandising.
By perforating our film along the edge of the pack it can be torn very easily, without compromising the pack integrity during transport. Just another little innovation that saves time and money for our customers.
Another area that saves our customers time and money is our commitment to using just one film size to wrap every pack whatever the shape and size! This significantly reduces the complexity, cost and waste associated with managing and stocking multiple film sizes which we often see in traditional shrink wrap systems.
