Henkel partners with Jokey and Akpol to drive circular economy initiatives in construction
Henkel has announced a partnership with Jokey, a leading manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging based in Germany, and with Akpol, a Polish specialist for plastic recycling. The three companies aim to build an ecosystem to drive progress towards a circular economy in the construction sector. As a starting point, the partners are already engaged in a pilot program to create fully recycled and circular ecobuckets for Henkel´s construction products in Poland.
“Henkel has a longstanding proven track-record in sustainability, and we are deeply committed to drive progress towards a circular economy across industries. In our construction business we are constantly striving for a sustainable future. We invest and partner to develop energy efficient solutions as well as sustainable construction materials, with focus on the three key areas of CO2-reduction, safe homes and circular economy,” explained Adrian Orbea, Corporate Director Global Marketing, Digitalization and Sustainability for the construction business at Henkel. “As part of our engagement for this last pillar we are now launching new sustainable packaging that are fully recyclable, as well as maximizing the share of recycled content inside the packaging.”
“Today, in the construction industry, packaging plays a big role in contributing towards construction waste. To recycle the packaging material which contains construction materials is a huge challenge around the globe, and it needs strong partnerships to foster new solutions. Together with Jokey and Akpol we aim to promote recycling initiatives and programs in Europe”, added Sai Seshasai, project leader and Global Head of Sustainability for the construction business at Henkel.
“For us, this project is significant in several ways,” emphasizes Lukas Heller, Key Account Manager at Jokey. “We launched the first buckets made from post-consumer recyclates back in 1991 – for our customer Henkel. At that time, these were regarded as dreary ‘eco-buckets’. Today, however, they are seen as a clear statement for the circular economy. This is precisely what our successful ‘Grey is the New Green’ campaign aims to achieve. We are, therefore, delighted that this renewed collaboration closes the circle in two respects: on the one hand, with regard to our early shared sustainability ambitions, and on the other, with regard to a plastic circular economy.”
“We are very pleased to be able to take part in this project together with Henkel and Jokey. We will recycle the waste buckets that we receive and produce pure post-consumer resins of polypropylene which will be used for producing recycled buckets. Closing the loop is a good solution for all parties, especially for the environment”, said Rafal Topolski, Regranulates Sales Manager at Akpol.
The three companies have already teamed-up earlier this year to define and create a pilot program for circular buckets of Henkel products under the well-known Ceresit brand in Poland. The buckets are collected by Henkel´s distributors “B plus B” across local construction sites and shipped to Akpol. The recycling specialist mechanically recycles the buckets and produces high-quality post-consumer resins (PCR) out of them. Jokey in Poland finally produces new ecobuckets for Henkel based on 100 percent recycled materials. The partners aim to collect and re-process about 1.000 kilogram of empty buckets until end of this year.
